by Rob Barrone

Correspondent

Twinsburg -- The boys basketball game Jan. 22 between Twinsburg and Hudson was true clash of styles.

It pitted Twinsburg's up-tempo, aggressive mentality vs. Hudson's deliberate offense.

In the end, the tempo favored the Explorers, but the scoreboard favored the Tigers.

An 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter helped Twinsburg cement a 42-27 victory over Hudson. Twinsburg improved to 9-2, 4-1 in the Northeast Ohio Conference River Division. The Tigers are tied with Brush for the River Division lead after the season's first go-around.

Twinsburg was set to play Walsh Jesuit Jan. 26, but results were not available at press time. The Tigers will next see action at Parma Senior Jan. 29.

"We knew what they were going to do -- they do what they do well. They were very selective on their shots and we were prepared for that," Twinsburg coach Bob Pasci. "I guess Coach decided he didn't want to run with us. It was tough in the first half; our shots weren't dropping and they (the Explorers) did a really good job of running their offense. In the second half we played a little better defense and we scored off our defense. Our defense creates a lot of our offensive opportunities."

While the Tigers defense was big late their offense did the job with a streak of big three-pointers in that fateful fourth-quarter streak.

Leading by just 25-19 with seven minutes to play. The hosts found their outside shooting touch. Martel Watson (six points), 6-8 senior Jonathan Harris (a game-high 15 points and five boards) and Bruce Alexander (six points) each hit threes sandwiched around two Hudson turnovers.

Josh Edmondson's breakaway lay-in at the 4:43 mark completed the 11-0 string that put the game away at 36-19.

The Tigers also dominated on the boards against a smaller Hudson squad grabbing 22 rebounds including 12 on the offensive glass to just 11 total for the Explorers.

The Tigers struggled a bit from the floor in the third quarter, making just 3-12 shots but scored four of their nine points in the period on second chance opportunities as they hauled in six of their own misses.

For the game the hosts shot 40.6 percent (13-of-32) compared to Hudson's 37.5 percent (9-of-24). The Tigers were also 11-of-18 from the foul line to the visitors' 8-of-9.

Hudson came out in the ball-control mode running the first 83 seconds off the clock before taking their first shot. Senior Richie Piekarski (12 points) finally got separation from the close defensive pressure of Edmondson and drained a three-pointer from the left wing.

On the Explorers next touch, Zack Barley found Gabe Adams inside for a lay-in and the visitors were on top 5-0.

The rest of the first half soon became a back and forth struggle. Edmondson hit a three late in the second period to help the Tigers to a 16-13 lead at intermission.

The third quarter took a bad turn for the hosts when Piekarski and the Tigers' Doug Talentino dove for a loose ball Talentino suffered a dislocated finger on the play. Twinsburg also lost Michael Timm to a sprained ankle in the fourth quarter.

Barley tied the game for the first time when he drove to the hoop and was fouled. Barley flipped up the shot on contact and found the net; he also found the net on the and-one converting the three-point play to make the score 16-16 with 5:08 left in the third.

On the ensuing Tiger possession, Harris gave his team the lead for good with a put-back layup. Moments later an Edmondson steal and Watson's subsequent old fashioned three-point play on a run-out gave Twinsburg a 21-16 bulge.

With Hudson turning the ball over twice more in the final minutes of the period and missing a couple of lay-ins the hosts stretched the lead to eight (25-17) and set the stage for the fourth period wrap-up.

Watson, Harris and Alexander wrapped it up with their threes.

"Those threes gave us some extension. We got stops defensively and they were running out of time. Josh Edmondson did a heck of a job on Piekarski limiting his shots and touches," Pasci said.

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