Sports

Mentor High Boys Basketball Team Beats Princeton Day

The Cardinals never trailed and ultimately topped the taller team 80-60

A 20-point margin is what passes for a close victory in this early portion of the season for the Mentor High boys basketball team.

The Cardinals are still undefeated for the season (7-0) and at the Arby's Classic basketball tournament (2-0) in Tennessee after never trailing and topping the taller Princeton Day 80-60 Friday evening.

However, the tests will get tougher at the tournament, which attracts some of the top schools in the country.

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Conner Krizancic led all scoring against Princeton Day. He was perfect from the field -- scoring 22 points. He also made all six of his shots from behind the 3-point line.

Caleb Potter added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.

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"We can shoot the basketball and we are playing hard, now it is time to clean up some little things and take care of the ball a little better, but I really like the prospects of this team," said Coach Bob Krizancic, who is also Conner's father, to Ohio Varsity after the game.

The Cardinals started the game with a 7-0 run, never trailed and were already up by 20 points at the half.

They also won the battle of the boards for their seventh straight game, outrebounding their opponent 28-26.

That is all the more impressive when you consider that Princeton Day has 6-foot-7 standout Emmanuel Omogbo ( who scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds) and 7-foot Malik Kuwornu.

The height disadvantage did not intimidate the Cardinals.

"No fear - that's a big part of what my dad preaches to us and our bigs came up huge and we just kept shooting the ball and coming at them," Conner Krizancic said.

The Cardinals play 7 p.m. today in the tournament semifinal against Memphis Melrose.

"We are going to be challenged in this next game against Memphis Melrose. They are extremely athletic and very big. We are going to have to play well to have a chance to win, but I like a lot of things we are doing as a basketball team right now," Bob Krizancic said.

"This is the kind of tournament that will get us prepared to play some of the elite teams coming up on our schedule. I love the competition and the atmosphere our guys are experiencing here."


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