Beachwood’s loss at West Geauga on Feb. 6 reflected how the Bison’s season has transpired.
After Beachwood played a flat first half to fall behind by double-digits, the Bison closed within a point in the game’s final minute. The rally ended with a layup at the final buzzer, and a one-point deficit on the scoreboard.
“It seems like every time something goes right, another two things go wrong this season,” coach Jon Mannarino said. “The best part about it, we still get to play tomorrow.”
Hopes ran high for the Bison entering the year. Beachwood surprised many a year ago when, after the team graduated 11 players and changed coaches, it won 17 games and the CVC Chagrin title.
The Bison’s season ended painfully in a Garfield Heights District semifinal to Villa Angela-St. Joseph. But Beachwood left Garfield Heights last March confident in its near future.
Leading scorer Jayson Woodrich and other key rotation players Josh Sizemore, Cam Thomas and Michael Gordon would return. Add in standout freshmen Collin Albert and Sirr Hughes to the backcourt, and Beachwood appeared primed for an excellent season.
Instead, Woodrich suffered a foot injury in the preseason that held him out for the first half of the season. The sharpshooting junior is still working to find his rhythm.
Beachwood held its own while Woodrich was injured. The Bison opened their season with losses to Solon, St. Edward and Lutheran East before they won seven games in a row.
Soon after Woodrich returned on Jan. 16 in a loss to Gilmour, Mannarino’s rotation was crippled by players who were sidelined due to academics. Mannarino clarified the players were in violation of Beachwood’s in-house policy for student-athlete eligibility.
As a result, inconsistency has plagued Beachwood.
The Bison have now lost five of their last eight games. They slipped to third place in the CVC Chagrin with losses to Chagrin Falls and West Geauga.
Now at full strength with three games remaining in the regular season, Mannarino hopes the final minutes of the loss to West Geauga serve as a model.
“I told these guys I was proud of that effort,” Mannarino said. “Now it needs to start being four quarters. We can’t just play when we want to play, we can’t turn it on when we want to turn it on. We’re not good enough to do that.”
Beachwood plays at St. Ignatius Feb. 10, at Garfield Heights Feb. 13 and hosts Harvey Feb. 16 to conclude its season.
With VASJ departed for Division II, the D-III Bison will likely be joined by Elyria Catholic, Kirtland and Lutheran East — the defending D-IV state champion — as the top seeds at Garfield Heights.
Before the Bison can think about postseason success, Mannarino hopes for Beachwood to use the coming weeks to develop positive habits and consistent effort.
“We talk about it on a daily basis right now,” Mannarino said. “We’ve tried to preach that they have to bring it every day. Looking in our district, yeah, we’re capable, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before that March 2 date that we’re probably going to end up playing.”
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