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Lake Catholic vs. NDCL boys basketball: Cougars' aggression inside guides them to 71-51 victory

ben hercik, the news-herald, willoughby, ohio
·4 min read

Jan. 27—From the opening tip, Lake Catholic turned on the aggression inside against visiting NDCL in their Crown conference clash Jan. 27. The Cougars used their control of the paint to build up a lead as large as 22 points in the contest.

That along with strong ball distribution from Lake Catholic allowed for the Cougars to record a 71-51 victory put the Cougars in sole possession of second place in the conference standings.

Paint control was something Lake Catholic (11-6) wanted to establish early as it knew NDCL had a strong inside game led by Noah Rogers. Dylan Wimbs and Aidan Fitzgerald took it upon themselves to make their early mark inside.

The duo had combined for 10 boards before the half and both went on to finish with eight rebounds apiece.

While they controlled the paint, the Cougars also were able to flash their speed in transition as they forced 10 NDCL turnovers. Turning offense into defense is something that Coach Matt Vespa has put an emphasis on this season.

A team of multiple styles is what @LC_Hoops head coach Matt Vespa sees. He talks about his teams ability to do a little bit of everything against NDCL #NHBasketball pic.twitter.com/jFA6PHtDZH

— Ben Hercik (@BHercikNH) January 28, 2023

"We're a team that can play in a variety of different ways," Vespa said. "We can get up and down, we can shoot and we have guys that love to be in that weight room and they get ready for a game like this. Whenever you have a rival come in you know it's going to get chippy but we did a good job of matching their physicality and exceeding them at times."

With the transition and physicality inside working, Fitzgerald and Peyton Budrys-Rini went to work to handle the scoring duties. The duo finished with 18 points apiece as Fitzgerald converted three 3-point attempts.

Fitzgerald also finished with three assists as the Cougars totaled 11 in the contest.

His abilities beyond the arc are well known but with his focus on rebounding and finding the right pass on display against NDCL, Fitzgerald showed his development as an all-around player. He's made an emphasis on being able to do whatever the team needs in a contest to be able to be called upon.

Aidan Fitzgerald showed off his work on the inside tonight against NDCL. The @LC_Hoops senior talks about his 18 point, 8 rebound and 3 assist performance against their rivals #NHBasketball pic.twitter.com/lUNWPIqgZ8

— Ben Hercik (@BHercikNH) January 28, 2023

"Over the past two weeks I've been trying to crash the boards a lot more," Fitzgerald said. "Our team has struggled at times on the boards this season with our size, so I've been working to improve in there for myself and as a team. Coach always stresses to us about moving the ball. We know if we move the ball we're way more successful as a team and it was on display tonight. We got everyone involved and we're going to continue to work on that the rest of the season and continue to get better at it."

Also in double figures for the Cougars were Robert Russell (12 points) and Evan Sims (10).

With issues inside as well as settling for the first shot that they saw, it was a rough start for the Lions (8-6). But even with the big deficit, Coach Pat Vuyancih knew this served as a teaching moment for his team.

After a four-game win streak, NDCL is 1-2 in its past three games, both losses came in conference play. Having a teachable moment against a rival is something Vuyancih hopes will provide a quick spark for his young team.

The physical style of play from Lake Catholic was a challenge for @NDCLathletics. Head coach Pat Vuyancih talks about what he wants to see from his team after this loss and what they can learn from it #NHBasketball pic.twitter.com/3vSyAhQGhv

— Ben Hercik (@BHercikNH) January 28, 2023

"They were a lot more aggressive inside than we were and that falls on me," Vuyancih said. "We needed to be more prepared for the physicality and the speed that they came out with. They were able to run the ball all night and we weren't able to stop them in transition all game. They were physical with rebounds and on ball defense and used their experience and strength to their advantage over us."

Evan Dugger led the way for NDCL with 15 points, 13 in the second half, while Jaxon Mangelluzzi added 11 off the bench.

The Lions look to rebound when they travel to Padua on Feb. 3 for the first leg of a back-to-back. Lake Catholic also stays in conference play on the same day when it welcomes Walsh Jesuit as the first leg of its own back-to-back.