SHEFFIELD TWP. — For Clearview coach John Szalay, it was a question of how his team would respond against a much bigger and experienced North Ridgeville team.
For Rangers coach Bill Noggle, it was a question of whether or not his team would come out strong against the Clippers.
Both got positive responses from their teams.
North Ridgeville (5-2) came out shooting. At least Keene Cockburn did. He hit four
3-pointers (three in a row to start the game) in the first quarter to help stake North Ridgeville to a 21-3 lead en route to a 70-51 win over the Clippers on Thursday night. Drew McGhee added eight points in the quarter.
Clearview (4-6) woke up in the second quarter with 17 points, but still trailed 35-20 at halftime.
With McGhee (26) and Cockburn (25) accounting for 51 points between them, along with 16 rebounds and 12 blocked shots, the Rangers looked like they would have an easy time of it down the stretch.
Clearview, however, had other ideas, rallying in the fourth quarter with some strong defense to cut the lead to just 54-49 with 4:03 left to play.
Clearview used a lot of energy cutting into the lead and North Ridgeville went on a 14-2 run to close out the game.
“We really wanted to focus on coming out strong and we did,” Noggle said. “I thought the kids did a real nice job of coming out and playing with energy. That (Clearview) is a well-coached team, but they didn’t hit many shots tonight. But it still was a good win for us.”
“Keene and Drew really stepped it up tonight, not only in their points, but in their blocked shots. People don’t understand how their blocked shots change the game. We can play more aggressively on defense and not worry so much about getting beat to the basket.”
“I thought we were going to get beat 100-3,” Szalay said of the Rangers’ hot start. “For a young team to get smacked in the face like that and to come back and battle … I think this could be a good thing. This could be a blessing in disguise. You never like to lose, but this game could be something to catapult us.
“I’m proud of the way we came back and made North Ridgeville work hard and I told the kids that in the locker room. We ran out of gas at the end and to their credit they finished it the way they should have. But I think we grew up a little bit tonight.”

North Ridgeville 70, Clearview 51

NORTH RIDGEVILLE (70): Drew McGhee 12-2-26, Keene Cockburn 10-0-25, Adam Quinones 0-4-4, Will Mahaffey 1-4-6, Tim Ice 0-0-0, Dan Montgomery 1-2-5, Jeff Hammond 0-0-0, Matt Murphy 0-2-2, Nick Rogerson 0-0-0, Jacob Rigsby 0-0-0, Jason Ice 1-0-2, Devan White 0-0-0. Totals: 25-14-70.
CLEARVIEW (51): Jordan Celestino 5-2-14, Tony Williams 3-7-13, Ricki Perkins 3-0-6, James Washington 1-4-6, Kyle Baughman 2-0-5, Anthony Henson 1-0-3, Lucas Wright 1-0-2, Anthony Hitchens 1-0-2, E J Neely 0-0-0, John Rosser 0-0-0. Totals 17-13-51.
North Ridgeville     21    14    15        20         —   70
Clearview    3    17    16    15        —   51
Three-point goals: North Ridgeville (6): Cockburn 5, Montgomery. Clearview (4): Celestino 2, Baughman, Henson.   Field Goals: N Ridgeville 25-47, Clearview 17-45. Free Throws: North Ridgeville 14-21, Clearview 13-14. Rebounds: N Ridgeville 22 (Cockburn 8, McGhee Clearview 15 (Williams 5) Turnovers: N Ridgeville 21, Clearview 11. Fouls: North Ridgeville 11, Clearview 15.
Junior Varsity: Clearview 46 North Ridgeville 40 

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