Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Howland’s Anthony Massucci puts up a shot as John F. Kennedy’s Hayden Wait defends. Massucci scored a game-high 20 points in the Tigers’ 67-46 win.
WARREN — Howland looked like a team with four games under its belt Tuesday night, while John F. Kennedy looked like a team playing its season opener with no prior scrimmages.
Making 28 field goals with nine different players scoring, the Tigers showed off their offensive versatility in a 67-46 win over the Eagles.
“When we play with spacing, we’re very good,” Howland head coach Dan Bubon said. “It doesn’t matter what we run, every offense we have involves spacing.”
Using that spacing, Howland moved the ball around the floor and found the open player, whether it was a shooter on the perimeter or an extra pass in the paint that led to an easy layup.
Like he has been all season, senior Anthony Massucci was the focal point of the Tigers’ offense — scoring and distributing the ball. He led all scorers with 20 points. Senior Bobby Sullivan finished with 15, while four other players scored at least five points.
“He just opens things up for everybody,” Bubon said. “He can score, he’s a great passer and he plays under control, which makes it easier for everyone else. We’re still learning how to play when he’s off the court, that’s when we struggle a little bit. But it’s nice to throw him back in and get things under control.”
Having not been able to schedule any scrimmages since most teams were already in season, the Eagles were getting their first taste of live game action this season.
As a result, they were still “a step slow” defensively as they tried to keep up with Howland’s offensive ball movement.
“We were trying to figure out what defense to run because in practice we looked much faster than we did (Tuesday),” JFK head coach Mark Komlanc said. “Howland is smart, they took advantage of what they needed to. There were times where I thought we were playing good defense on the perimeter and they found the mismatch in the post…It’s a tough game to open with, but in the long run, I think it’ll make us better.”
Early on, JFK settled for a lot of three-pointers offensively as they struggled to get the ball into the paint against Howland’s physicality, which took its toll on JFK, as well, according to Komlanc.
Sophomore Jaden Rishel and junior Patrick Valent provided the breadth of JFK’s offense, with Rishel leading the Eagles with 18 points and Valent finishing with 16, including nine in the fourth quarter.
Tuesday’s game also marked senior TJ Harden’s return from injury for the Eagles. Harden suffered a knee injury in JFK’s season ending loss to Richmond Heights on March 12 and spent the entire offseason in recovery and rehab. He was cleared this week and started against the Tigers.
“TJ hasn’t even had much live practice, so it was like throwing him out there to the lions tonight,” Komlanc said. “I’m sure he’d like to have played a little bit better than he did, because his expectations are high. But he’s going to be feeling himself out to try to figure out what he can and can’t do.”
Because of the late start to their season, the Eagles will now play three games over the next week, starting with a visit from Mogadore on Friday. Howland will next travel to Ursuline on Friday.
