He’s back.
After missing the last 10 games that spanned a month and a half with a broken thumb, North Ridgeville’s Griffin Turay has returned to the court. The senior point guard didn’t miss a beat, dropping a game-high 21 points to get the Rangers back on track with a 68-59 win over Amherst on Jan. 29.
Heading into this Southwestern Conference matchup with the visiting Comets, North Ridgeville (8-6, 4-5 SWC) was struggling without its leader on the floor. Since the beginning of January, the Rangers had lost four of their six games.
As hard as it has been for the team to play without him, it was even harder for Turay to not be out there with his teammates. He didn’t have to wait anymore.
“It felt great man,” Turay said. “Basketball is just a big part of who I am, and just getting back on the floor and being with my teammates was a great feeling tonight.”
PHOTOS: North Ridgeville vs. Amherst boys basketball, Jan. 29, 2024
Within minutes of this game, Turay’s fingerprints were all over it. He runs the fast break from his point guard position, gets to his spots in the paint, and forces multiple defenders to help.
Not only did he score in bunches with 21, he pulled down seven rebounds and his kickouts were a big reason that his teammates combined for nine made 3-pointers. He’s a veteran impact player the Rangers have sorely missed.
“He would’ve been the Player of the Year this year,” North Ridgeville coach Ben Chase said. “Any high school team, I don’t care what level you play, when you have a scholarship player missing, it affects your entire team. It emphasizes little problems into big problems, and you saw that all year with us so far. It’s an incredible difference having him back.’
Even with Turay out of the fold, North Ridgeville has a lot of pieces that can put the ball in the hoop. Jayden Parish has thrived this season as one of the area’s best pure shooters, and he even got a little more open with the attention that Turay drew. Parish drained his first four 3-pointers on the way to 17 points.
With Turay out, Collin Jones has done a solid job this season as Ridgeville’s No. 1 option. He finished with 12 points in this one. Dean Ighneim also provided a spark with 11 points for a fourth double-digit scorer. The offense was humming.
“It feels great playing in this offense,” Parish said. “Coach Chase works tirelessly with the offense in practice, he told us that he loses sleep figuring out stuff for us. Just letting it flow through in the game is just great and it makes us win all around.”
From the beginning to the end, this was a game of runs. The Rangers were scoring all night long, but Amherst (5-9, 1-8 SWC) came to play and was scoring right with them. Although Ridgeville got out to a 10-3 start that included the first seven points of the game, the Comets hung around and cut it to four by the end of the first quarter.
North Ridgeville got the lead up to 10 early on in the second, but Amherst rallied with a 10-0 run to tie it up at 26. Eli Solak scored 15 points to lead the Comets, and he knocked down two 3’s in a row to tie the score. After all was said and done in a back-and-forth first half, the Rangers led by three at halftime.
Jones had a quiet first half, but erupted for six straight points out of the locker room. Turay added a bucket to build the lead up to 11. However, the Comets battled right back into it with another run, this time with eight unanswered. They’ve shown the ability to hang with the SWC’s best, but just haven’t been able to finish the job as of late.
“Our shirts that we got this summer say, ‘Do it the right way’. At times we don’t do it the right way,” Amherst coach Pat Bray said. “When we get tired, we stop doing things the right way. When we get tired, we have to get smarter, start jump-stopping and take care of the ball. You can see that take the ball right out of our hands.”
Both teams traded baskets in the midst of the third quarter, but this time, North Ridgeville went on a run that would effectively end the game. Leading by five, the Rangers went on a 9-0 run to end the frame. Turay started it with a basket, and both him and Charlie Steinmetz scored to make it an 11-point game. Parish added on with his fifth 3-pointer of the game.
“My teammates were very selfless and distributing tonight,” Turay said. “Everybody contributed and it was a great team win.”
Now with its identity firmly back in place, North Ridgeville heads into a big SWC clash with Elyria on Feb. 2. Amherst is right back at it on Jan. 30, hitting the road once again to play Elyria Catholic.
THE SCORE
North Ridgeville 68, Amherst 59