It was choppy waters in the early going for Mentor in its home Greater Cleveland Conference contest with Shaker Heights. The Raiders were able to break the press and relay easy transition buckets. Mentor turned up the defensive intensity and control of the boards in the second. Ayo Olulami and Kobe Frasure-Azzano cleaned up the glass as the Cardinals wore down the Red Raiders. Mentor took the win, 88-73, and improved to 4-1 on the season. Early on, ball control was an issue for both sides as they combined for 16 turnovers and fouls allowed both a plethora of looks from the line. Krizancic knows they can’t let transition defense be their downfall. “It was one of the most unique games I’ve ever coached,” Krizancic said. “We have to force turnovers. We need to disrupt every pass and wear them down, which we did. It was similar to our first game of the year where we were down, 23-9. I like our effort, but that may have been the only thing I liked. Everyone but Ayo was under 50% overall, and we had 23 turnovers. I guess if you’re talking about future, if you can win a game by 15 with that turnover margin and our shooting performance, I like the team but that’s a big if.” Mentor trailed, 24-23, after the first but found a shooting rhythm. Rather than its normal pace from beyond the arc, the Cardinals turned inside. Olulami and Frasure-Azzano found their ways to the line early and often. Add in Dominic Baroni inside as well, and the inside was controlled by Mentor. Olulami’s work on the inside was going to be valuable, especially with his ability to drive from beyond the arc to the rim. “It was the halftime talk that made a huge difference,” Olulami said. “We thought we should be up 30 at the break. We knew we needed to up the pace and tempo. We played hard, made the right plays and were ready to work in that half.” Mentor went on a 12-3 run and held a double-digit lead for most of the second quarter before a Quinn Coggins runner beat the buzzer. Olulami almost had a first half double-double with 16 points and eight rebounds. He finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds for the mark. Frasure-Azzano also finished with a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Luckily for the Cardinals that the two of them were going as they finished 3-for-21 from beyond the arc with all three 3-pointers coming from Marcus Sierputowski. Olulami’s assistance inside has been fueled by Frasure-Azzano, making his workload easier and providing a different look for Mentor. “We’re a team that is historically been known to make 3-pointers. So when those aren’t falling, we need to work inside,” Olulami said. “Me, Kobe and Tony work a lot together on the glass. We need to focus on the inside and be able to control it. We need to do that, get boards and get layups.” While it took a half, Mentor found its defensive rhythm in the second half. They forced 15 of their 28 turnovers in the second half. There is a lot more needed to be able to up the tempo. A pair of sophomores and freshmen playing significant minutes. They are still getting used to the pace of the game. But with games against Brunswick, Strongsville and Medina on the line, they need to get used to it a lot sooner rather than later. “When we get the basketball quick, we’re slow and not making good decisions,” Krizancic said. “We’re playing underclassmen, but they need to grow up quick. We’ll be a lot more confident when we mature, but we need to soon. Jack (Kennedy) will be playing a lot better in January than now. We knew there were going to be growing pains and we want it to come together quickly.” Shaker Heights was led by Chris Cunningham with 15 points and seven rebounds. Reggie Appleby had 12 and eight, while Ezra Epstein had 12 as the Red Raiders juggled foul trouble all contest with a short rotation. Mentor returns to the court Dec. 27, when it travels to Geneva College for the CV Classic. The Cardinals take on Aliquippa, which is 2-0 and the defending 2A state champions in Pennsylvania (Division II of Pennsylvania). They follow that up with a game against Abington Heights on Dec. 28, which were the 5A Pennsylvania state champions. THE SCORE Mentor 88, Shaker Heights 73