JACKSON TOWNSHIP: It would have surprised absolutely no one if the Federal League basketball season would not have been decided until the final minute of the final game on the final night of the regular season.
Pre-season favorite Jackson made sure it didn’t on Friday — and then received a helping hand from McKinley — when it turned back visiting Hoover 66-49 in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,150.
The victory gave Jackson a share of its third consecutive league title. The pot sweetened a few minutes later when the talent-laden Polar Bears learned that McKinley had upset Lake 55-51 to destroy the Blue Streaks’ hopes of at least a title share.
With one game remaining, Jackson is uncatchable with a 10-1 record and the Polar Bears, ranked third in this week’s Division I state poll, are 16-1 overall. Lake and Hoover, ranked fifth in the state, share second place at 8-3. Jackson hosts Lake next week in the season finale while Hoover, which inflicted Jackson’s only loss in early January, plays Green.
“There were a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure on this team to win and I am proud of them,” Jackson coach Tim Debevec said. “People expected them to win every game by 20 points. But, they kept it on an even-keel all year.”
Special games produce special moments, and that was the case for Jackson on Friday when several unsung players took on a hero’s role.
Yes, star players Kyle Young and Logan Hill, made an impact as the two Division I recruits combined for 24 points and 10 rebounds. But it was the play of 6-3 senior Kyle Nicolas, 6-5 junior Jaret Pallotta, 6-2 junior Ethan Stanislawski, 6-2 senior Dillon Dingler and 6-8 senior Michael Zitney that carried the Polar Bears to what may have been their most impressive victory of the season.
Hill, averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, spent all but 1:57 of the first half on the bench with two fouls. In stepped Zitney and Dingler to provide valuable minutes defensively, and Dingler hit a big 3-point shot that gave Jackson a 10-point lead just before the end of the first half.
Nicolas — the nephew of Hoover coach Todd Blackledge — was the real key, however, as he finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals on a night he was the steadiest player on the floor.
“When Logan went out, I felt I stepped up and my teammates really helped out,” said Nicolas. “We are deeper than most teams and people talk about how deep we are, but they don’t realize just how talented our guys are. Our bench has been great all season.”
Pallotta, the starting quarterback on the football team, finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Young, who will attend Butler, had 12 points and eight rebounds and Hill, who had played less than three minutes, returned to score eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter when the Polar Bears pulled away.
“We’ve been angry since that loss,” said Hill, a Toledo recruit.
Senior Matt Chufar did all he could to keep the Vikings in the game. The 5-10 senior scored a game-high 27 points on a night 6-7 Eli Blackledge and 6-4 Nathan Fox were kept in check by the Jackson defense.
After combining for 41 points in Hoover’s earlier victory, Fox and Blackledge had a combined 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Vikings also hurt themselves by committing 16 turnovers.
Jackson never trailed. It made eight of its first 11 shots to take the early lead and used a 10-0 run to close the half for a 36-21 lead. The Vikings trimmed the deficit to 10 by the end of the third quarter, but Stanislawski opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and Hill followed by scoring the team’s next six points, four on a pair of ferocious dunks off passes for Nicolas and Pallotta.