NORTH RIDGEVILLE — No, that was not a typographical error.
Vermilion and North Ridgeville really were tied for first place in the West Shore Conference at 3-1 before Friday’s meeting. The standings only look a little suspect now, after the Rangers’ dominating 57-37 win over the Sailors that left them all alone in first place.
“We came in this week knowing this was going to be a big game,” North Ridgeville coach Bill Noggle said. “We had the best week of practice we’ve had all season. We stressed to the kids the need to play defense and it showed tonight. I had to show them that good teams will win games with defense.”
The Rangers’ 6-foot-10 center Drew McGhee led the way, scoring 19 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking five shots, while Keene Cockburn scored 12 points and had three blocks. Adam Quinones came off the bench to score 14 points, including two
3-pointers.
 After leading just 14-11 after the first quarter, the Rangers turned up the defense another notch and outscored the Sailors 18-2 in the second quarter. Vermilion’s only basket came with 4:24 left in the half as North Ridgeville’s defense forced 10 Sailor turnovers in the quarter.
As if a 32-13 halftime lead wasn’t enough, North Ridgeville (4-1, 7-2) came out and did something unusual in the third quarter. Well, unusual for them.  
“Usually at halftime we die,” McGhee said. “In the third quarter we usually have a hard time getting going. But tonight we were so fired up in the locker room that we just kept going through the whole entire game.”
Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl saw some unusual things from his players, too. Mainly, he saw them not playing Vermilion basketball.
 “First of all, I thought we were too afraid of getting our shots blocked,” Habermehl said. “Obviously he’s (McGhee) a great shot blocker, but we settled for so many jump shots. That’s not us. We’re a team that goes to the basket. We’re a team that makes good post moves.  And tonight we wanted to be jump shooters.
“That’s not us. I thought we were too timid and, defensively, we weren’t very smart. That just about sums it up because we didn’t do a whole lot of good things tonight.”
It didn’t help that the Sailors (3-2, 5-4) were without point guard and floor leader Andy Pena, who suffered an injury in practice and will be lost for at least the next three to four weeks.
“That definitely hurt us, but he’s out and we just have to make adjustments,” Habermehl said.
Something, Noggle said, his team did at halftime.
“We knew they would take Drew out of the game after scoring 18 in the first half,” Noggle said, “so we had to have other people step up and they did. Adam and Keene took their shots. Danny Montgomery, Matt Murphy and Will Mahaffey did a nice job of distributing the ball. It was a total team effort.”
“I just can’t believe we’re in first place,” McGhee said. “We’ve never been there since I’ve been playing.”
The Rangers have no time to enjoy their new position in the conference because they travel to Avon (3-2, 7-3) tonight.

North Ridgeville 57, Vermilion 37

NORTH RIDGEVILLE (57): Drew McGhee 7-5-19, Keene Cockburn 3-5-12, Adam Quinones 6-0-14, Will Mahaffey 0-0-0, Tim Ice 0-0-0, Dan Montgomery 2-0-4, Jeff Hammond 0-0-0, Matt Murphy 1-0-3, Nick Rogerson 1-2-4, Jacob Rigsby 0-1-1,Tim Ice 0-0-0, Jason Ice 0-0-0, Devan White 0-0-0, Ryan McNamara 0-0-0. Totals: 20-13-57.
VERMILION (37): Justin Turner 5-0-11, Nick Faerley 3-0-6, Derek Hoebing 3-0-6, Tim Clark 2-1-5, Kurt Innes 2-0-4, Derek Barbato 1-1-3, Matt Liljegren 1-0-2, Paul Kishman 0-0-0, Kyle Herchler 0-0-0. Totals 17-2-37.
North Ridgeville     14    18    16        9     —   53
Vermilon    11    2    18    6     —   50
Three-point goals: NR (4) Quinones 2, Cockburn, Murphy. V Justin Turner. Field Goals: N Ridgeville 20-40, Vermilion 17-41. Free Throws: North Ridgeville 13-18, Vermilion 2-8. Rebounds: N Ridgeville 20 (McGhee Vermilion 24 (Hoebing 7). Turnovers: N Ridgeville 10, Vermilion 20. Fouls: North Ridgeville13,Vermilion 21.
Junior Varsity: Vermilion 41 North Ridgeville 39

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