NORTH
RIDGEVILLE, Ohio – A swashbuckling season of Pirate Boys’ Basketball ended Thursday.
Rocky River was defeated by Holy Name, 60-23, in a DII North Ridgeville
District semifinal, capping off a fine 24-game season for the Maroon &
White.
That
season – the 100th in the history of Rocky River High School
Basketball -- included a win streak early, a holiday tournament hosted by RRHS,
victories over Holy Name and Bay, a 300th career victory for Head
Coach Mike Murray, a win streak late, and a postseason bracket victory on home
hardwood. Moving on past that was not meant to be against a talented Holy Name
team on a night when shots weren’t falling for the Pirates.
Holy
Name – the tournament’s No. 2 seed – ran off 12 straight points early as part
of a first quarter that saw the Green Wave shoot 66.7% (12-of-18) from the
floor. Holy Name made a dozen baskets in the opening eight-minute period; five
of those were from 3-point distance.
With
senior Quentin Richardson and sophomore Jack Kenneally leading the way, the
Green Wave opened a 30-8 lead through the first quarter and a 45-17 advantage
by halftime. Holy Name outscoring River 9-2 in the third sent the contest into
mercy-rule-running-clock mode in the fourth.
With
the running clock perhaps as an asterisk, River finished the game with the program’s
lowest single-game total since 2005, which is as far back as a game-by-game
database goes.
Holy
Name (17-6) now advances to a district final against Cleveland Central
Catholic. Rocky River (14-10) clocks out being over .500 for a second straight
year, a first since 2013.
The
Roundball Raiders will go back on the account in season No. 101 without three
talented players – Connor O’Toole, Tommy Ruma, and Jack Schill. The 2020
graduating class of River Hoops helped the Pirates get to the program’s first
district semifinal since 2013.
Or,
to continue the pirate comparison, that three-man vanguard would see Murray’s
Marauders into uncharted waters – their season ending on the shores of distant
brackets.
Plundering
treasure from those distant shores will be the next step.
CANNON FIRE ...
TOMMY TWO-MORE: Senior guard Tommy Ruma finished the season with a team-high 361 points. That marks River's most points in a single season since Jack Corrigan (RRHS 2016) scored 548 in 2015-16. Ruma logged nine 20-point games this season; he notched a season-high 28 at Fairview on Jan. 10.
29-WIN SALUTE: Rocky River won 14 games this season after winning 15 last year. The combined 29 victories mark the program's most over successive seasons since 2011-12 and 2012-13 produced 30 (15 each).
by
Skip Snow
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