Hot shooting leads Eagles past St. Paul
Dec. 4—NORWALK — When the Monroeville basketball team hits easy shots early, the task becomes tall.
But when the Eagles are hitting tough shots and making almost everything in sight — they are dangerous.
That was on display on Friday night when Monroeville blitzed host St. Paul by a 78-56 score in Firelands Conference play inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium.
Monroeville (3-0, 1-0) was 9 of 13 to start the contest, which included six 3-pointers from all over the floor.
"It just fuels us," Monroeville senior guard Jimmy Clingman said. He scored 21 points with three 3s and was 8-of-12 shooting. "We try to get some easy baskets first, but we have guys who can hit those tougher shots, too, and tonight we did.
"It was a big game. We haven't beat St. Paul in a long time, so we had to bring some energy tonight."
As will be the case most nights, it started — and ended — with Monroeville standout Isaac Roeder. Not only did he make three 3s in the first half, but the four-year standout made his first 10 shots of the game before missing a 3 early in the fourth quarter.
He finished with 31 points and seven rebounds. That included a stretch in the first half where he scored eight straight points and 10 of his team's 12 points in one stretch.
"It feels great. I didn't even look up at the scoreboard, and it felt like I couldn't miss," Roeder said. "But we have a new defense and it felt great to make them take some tough shots as well.
"They did hit a few, but overall we're happy with how we played on defense."
The Flyers (0-1, 0-1) trailed 34-14 with 5:50 left in the first half, but closed the second quarter on a 10-2 scoring run to stay in the game.
Ben Burger, Dylan Deppen and Kaden Maxwell provided most of the points, then Jayden Hipp hit a 3 just before the halftime buzzer to make it 36-24 at the break.
However, the Eagles had an instant answer in the form of Roeder. He opened the third quarter with a 3 just 11 second sin, and scored three more times in the quarter as the Eagles outscored St. Paul by a 26-14 margin to remove all doubt.
"We tried as best we can as far as being able to counter back," St. Paul coach Steve Minor said. "We were able to cut into the lead, but we weren't able to get it to striking distance.
"And it's not a surprise because I've seen Isaac do that for four years now," he added. "He's a great player and it's hard to defend that. They have those big three with him, (Aidan) Goodwin and Clingman, and it's hard for anyone to defend."
Monroeville coach Paul Roeder cited his team's defense early, as it set the table for the hot shooting.
" And when those three get going, the momentum just continues," Paul Roeder said of Goodwin, Clingman and Isaac Roeder. "It was a good game for us tonight. We have to work on some things still, but those three played really big."
Goodwin added 15 points for the Eagles, who visit Danbury on Saturday.
"It was a good team win and nice to see us scoring both inside and outside," Paul Roeder said. "We had too many turnovers, especially in the second quarter. It could have been a blowout at that time and it was much closer than it should have been.
"But also credit St. Paul," he added. "This is a game of runs and they went on one, then hit that last-second shot before halftime. They got some momentum. Our challenge to the kids at halftime was to get the momentum back with a big third quarter, and we did that."
For St. Paul, Travis Herner had 11 points and five rebounds, while Maxwell scored a team-high 13 points. Deppen added seven points.
"We tried stealing any type of momentum and we just couldn't get it any closer," Minor said of the third quarter. "The guys were hustling and scrapping, which coming up with loose balls and getting on the floor is something we were lacking in scrimmages.
"There was more urgency tonight. But Monroeville is a good, strong team. Paul has done a nice job with them and it showed tonight."
St. Paul is in non-league play on Saturday at Fremont St. Joseph.
MONROEVILLE (3-0, 1-0)
Aidan Goodwin 8-0—15; Josh Burrows 2-0—4; Isaac Roeder 13-1—31; Aaron Allen 2-1—5; Jimmy Clingman 8-2—21; Ian Schafer 1-0—2. TOTALS 32-4—78.
ST. PAUL (0-1, 0-1)
Eli Fisher 1-3—5; Dylan Deppen 3-0—7; Logan Rogers 1-0—2; Kaden Maxwell 6-1—13; Brock Tice 1-0—2; Ben Burger 3-0—6; Jayden Hipp 1-0—3; Sam Scavuzzo 2-0—4; Travis Herner 3-4—11; Jack Dvorak 1-0—3. TOTALS 22-8—56.
Monroeville 25 16 26 11 — 78
St. Paul 12 17 14 13 — 56
3-point FGs: (M) Roeder 4, Goodwin 3, Clingman 3; (SP) Deppen, Hipp, Werner, Dvorak
JV: St. Paul, 49-40
