No. 400 for Mark Kinsley: Green boys basketball grinds out Federal League win vs. GlenOak

PLAIN TWP. — Explaining the success of his head coach, Green senior Brady Rollyson basically stressed two points about Mark Kinsley.

Discipline and defense.

Those traits, along with the foul line, certainly were at the forefront of the Bulldogs gaining a milestone win for him Tuesday night.

Green absorbed a big second-half run from host GlenOak but was the more composed team down the stretch in earning a rugged 61-53 Federal League win.

It was the 400th career win for Kinsley in his 29 years as a head coach, 26 of them at his alma mater Green.

His first three years were with Ravenna, a place from which Kinsley says he cultivated relationships that remain to this day. Now he's at a quarter century and counting with a Green program he's built into one of the area's best.

"We have really good players who are really good young men," Kinsley said, now 400-252 overall. "I just can't thank those guys enough. I have great support from the administration and our parents. I'm truly blessed."

The Bulldogs — winners of two straight league championships — are once again very much in the race, which got a little more interesting Tuesday.

Green (7-2, 4-2) moved into a second-place tie with GlenOak (7-2, 4-2) and Jackson (8-3, 4-2). The Polar Bears handed first-place Canton McKinley (6-3, 5-1) its first league loss Tuesday.

Rollyson scored 20 points for Green, which led by as many 13 on multiple occasions before weathering the GlenOak storm.

Senior Jarrett Taylor totaled 15 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. Senior Luke Jansen scored 13 points, while junior point guard Antonio Martin added 10 points and seven assists.

"It's huge coming off the loss at McKinley," Rollyson said, referring to Green falling 58-55 at Memorial Field House on Friday. "This was a must-win game if we wanted to keep our chances alive at a Fed championship. They're a talented, physical team and it was just a huge win."

GlenOak head coach Rick Hairston sought his own milestone, entering Tuesday with 299 career wins. He'll have to wait until Saturday against Central Catholic for another shot at it as his Golden Eagles' six-game winning streak was snapped.

"Lot of credit to them, lot of credit to coach," Hairston said. "Four hundred wins? That is a lot of damn winning, and there is a reason why. The guy can just flat-out coach, and I think he did a better job with his guys tonight than we did. They played a little bit harder and were a little bit more physical. It took us a while to match that physicality."

GlenOak roared back in the second half, fueled by its pressure defense. Reese Zerger's put-back bucket at the third-quarter buzzer had the Golden Eagles down just 47-44.

Then fellow junior Bryce Broom opened the fourth with a 3-pointer from the right wing, capping a 15-2 GlenOak run and tying the game.

But Green answered with a Rollyson bucket off a feed from Martin, marking the Bulldogs' only field goal of the final period.

They soon were in the bonus, leading to a whopping 18 attempted free throws in the final 5:02. They made 12 as they successfully navigated (for the most part) GlenOak's trapping, gambling pressure.

Still, the Golden Eagles were down only four points when, after failing to rebound a missed Green free throw, they were whistled for a common foul and an ensuing technical foul with 1:03 left.

Green's parade to the foul line included GlenOak being called for an intentional foul and another technical with 30.4 seconds left.

"I'm not one to complain about the way a game is officiated, but they shot (18) free throws in the fourth quarter," Hairston said. "To me, that is ridiculous."

Meanwhile, GlenOak went cold on the other end, shooting just 2-for-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter and 18-of-52 (.346) for the game.

Senior Ja'Corey Lipkins scored 15 points, Broom 13 and Zerger 11 for GlenOak. Dai'Jhon Robinson added eight points and seven rebounds.

GlenOak finished 15-of-24 from the foul line, Green 19-of-31. Rollyson shot 6-of-8 in the fourth quarter.

After watching his own team come up short after fighting back from a double-digit deficit last week against McKinley, Kinsley liked the role reversal Tuesday.

"You only have so much of a run in you," he said. "It's so hard.

"We needed this. I thought it was a huge win to be able to go on the road and do this against not only one of the top teams in our league but in Northeast Ohio. I think there are so many really, really good teams in our league and this is going to continue over the next 6-7 weeks."

Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com 

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio high school basketball: Green vs. GlenOak in Federal League