by NORTH OLMSTED, OH – 9 different River Pirates scored tonight as once again the team used excellent ball movement and patience to make open shots on their way to a 63-39 victory over the host North Olmsted Eagles. They broke it open midway through the third quarter and never looked back.
The Pirates were led by sharp shooting Jacob Radcliffe who scored 20 with 12 of them coming from deep. Rowan Kennedy scored 12 while Colin Hunt had 6. Danny Berg scored 5 powerful points as did Jeff Maslar. Brady Kennedy, Alex Giordano and Brandon Nazette all scored 3 while Rocco Baon finished the scoring with 2.
Dominic Martin was a presence in the middle for the Eagles as he led them again with 17. Aj Ryant who has been playing well since returning from injury with 7 points as did junior point guard Anthony D’Alessandro with 7. Brett Zatta has 6 points with buckets from beyond the arc in the first and fourth while Jake Perkins capped the scoring with 2.
The Eagles used a three from Zatta along with the inside presence of Martin to take an early 10-8 lead before the Pirates finished the quarter on a 7-0 run with big shots from Radcliffe and Rowan Kennedy.
It stayed close until midway through the second quarter when back to back three balls from Giordano and Hunt to build the Pirates first 10 point lead of the game at 24-14. From there it bounced back and forth until the Pirates took a 29-19 lead into the break, the Pirates couldn’t add to the lead.
The Eagles kept it within 9 to for the first part of the third quarter as Martin scored 6 and it was 38-29 about halfway through. That is when River got red hot and finished the quarter on a 12-0 run to finish the third with big shots from Radcliffe who had 11 in the quarter. The Pirates took a 50-29 lead after three and never looked back from there for the 63-39 win.
The Eagles will look to bounce back this Friday night as they take to the road to compete with the Westlake Demons while the Pirates host Normandy.
