'Whatever needs done': Green boys basketball beats McKinley, wins share of Federal League

GREEN — Safe to say the Green High School boys basketball team wasn't trending in the right direction entering Friday's Federal League showdown with Canton McKinley.

Season-ending injuries to starters Lucas Bitong and Antonio Martin have taken their toll. Green's level of play suffered, bottoming out with a four-point fourth quarter in Tuesday's home loss to Hoban.

Green head coach Mark Kinsley felt no one really believed in his squad in this battle of the Bulldogs.

"Except us," Kinsley added.

Battled-tested seniors Brady Rollyson and Jarrett Taylor led the way in host Green pulling out a 67-65 win in overtime against McKinley, securing at least a share of the program's third straight league championship.

Green (14-4, 9-2) can win it outright by beating GlenOak on Feb. 16, the final night of league play. If Green loses that game, it opens the door for the winner of McKinley (12-7, 8-3) and Jackson (14-4, 8-3) that same night to grab a piece of the title.

Friday's outcome wasn't decided until McKinley's Reed Sims Jr. missed a difficult 3-pointer at the OT buzzer. What made it difficult was the 6-foot-4 Rollyson and the 6-6 Taylor jumping out and challenging the dangerous Sims Jr., throwing off his timing and forcing him into a slightly off-balance look.

"These guys have been through about everything," Kinlsey said about Rollyson and Taylor, who are four- and three-year varsity starters, respectively.

They played like it Friday, with Rollyson totaling game highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds to go with four assists. Taylor affected the game in a vareity of ways, with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.

"It's an absolutely surreal feeling," Rollyson said about another league title. "It meant a lot sophomore and junior year, but to do it as a senior is just awesome."

Rollyson hit the shot of the game just after maybe making maybe the biggest mistake of the game. His turnover led to Je'Cis Moody's transition bucket for McKinley, tying the score at 65-65 with 40 seconds left in the extra session.

Undeterred, Rollyson took the inbounds pass on the run, brought the ball up the floor and calmly sank a 15-foot jumper to put Green back in the lead.

"I knew I had to be careful with four fouls," said Rollyson, who had been saddled with that fourth foul since late in the third quarter. "They were waiting to take a charge. I brought the ball up the court and I saw a guy just sitting in the paint, so I didn't take it all the way to the rim."

After a McKinley timeout with 21 seconds left, it worked the ball around searching for a look. Fittingly, it was Taylor with the final challenge on the 6-5 Sims Jr. to force the miss.

Taylor did a little bit of everying on Friday, including splitting a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. His deflection and transition bucket in OT put Green in the lead 61-60 with 2:18 left.

Taylor is a unique player, with the skill to shoulder a lot of the ball-handling with the point guard Martin out, and the size to protect the rim (as he did when he stone-walled a McKinley dunk attempt in the first half).

"I just see how the game is being played. Whatever needs done, I'll try to do that," said Taylor, with the league championship trophy at his side. "At the end of the day, everyone knows we need to work as a team. It's a group effort."

Kinlsey has talked about other guys on short-handed Green needing to step up and help Rollyson and Taylor on offense. Anthony Fortunato got the message. The junior hit six 3-pointers in scoring 20 points, with four of the 3s coming in a deflating third quarter for McKinley.

Senior Luke Jansen totaled seven rebounds and four assists for Green. Senior Samino Manson was a big part of the defensive effort in limiting Sims Jr. to 12 points after he had scored 31 and 33 points, respectively, against Brunswick and Massillon his last two games.

Green outplayed McKinley for three quarters, leading by as many as 14 and going to the fourth up 52-40. Then things got hairy, with the road 'dogs dialing up the pressure and forcing Green into nine fourth-quarter turnovers.

McKinley head coach Sean Weatherspoon pointed out that it helped Rollyson was on the bench for the start of the quarter because of foul problems.

"And guys started fighting a little harder," said Weatherspoon, "which is unfortunate in a game like this, where you know what's on the line, that you wait until the fourth quarter to really play our style of basketball.

"Credit to Green. They were ready to go from the start and it looked like to me they wanted it more."

Sophomore Anthony Chavers led McKinley with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Moody, McKinley's lone senior starter, scored 20 points, with all it coming after halftime.

It was Moody's bucket off a turnover with 2:09 left in the fourth quarter that gave McKinley it's first lead since the start of the second quarter. After a Rollyson hoop, Chaver's put-back bucket with 14 seconds left had McKinley ahead again, leading to Taylor's game-tying free throw.

"There were a couple of times that maybe some teams that weren't as mentally tough as these guys are would've folded," Kinsley said. "A couple of times we had some bad turnovers that led to some easy buckets. But the thing that impressed me about our guys is we came right back down the floor and scored. It just says a lot about the character of these guys."

McKinley suddenly has lost three of four games in a brutal stretch that continues Saturday night against Warren Harding.

"It's a learning experience for these young guys," Weatherspoon said. "We talked about trying to finish the season on a high note."

Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com 

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio high school boys basketball, Green vs. Canton McKinley