The Wadsworth Boys Basketball team began the 2015-16 regular season on a good note. The Grizzlies traveled to Akron Firestone Friday night and came away with a 55-49 win over the Falcons.
Wadsworth head coach Mike Schmeltzer Junior was very proud of his young basketball team. “95% of our roster had never played in a varsity game before and none of our five starters had every started a varsity game”. Wadsworth has 7 sophomores, 1 junior and 7 seniors on the team.
The Grizzlies scored only 26 points through the first three quarters of the game. Then Wadsworth erupted for 29 points in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Tony Hewitt hit 5 three-pointers in the game; three of those came in the final period.
Wadsworth trailed 38-28 with 6:03 to play when they started their comeback. A Hewitt three-pointer closed the gap to 42-40 with 3:39 to play. On the next Grizzly possession, Hewitt hit from long distance to tie the score at 43. Hewitt’s final three-pointer with two minutes remaining gave Wadsworth a 47-44 lead. It was a lead that the Grizzlies would not give up.
“Tony can shoot the basketball. He hit some big three’s down the stretch” said Schmeltzer. Of the 13 baskets the Grizzlies score in the game, nine were from beyond the arc.
Another plus for Wadsworth in the game was free-throw shooting. In the final two minutes, Wadsworth went 8-10 from the charity stripe while Firestone was 2-6. In the game, Wadsworth was 20-30 from the line while the Falcons were 14-31.
The Grizzlies play their first regular season game at Wadsworth High School on Tuesday night against Akron Ellet. Varsity game time is 7:30.
In the JV game, Wadsworth defeated Firestone 59-18.
