By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
WEST UNITY (December 6, 2025) – What it says in the books, people will assume that Bradley Williams and William Donovan were the reason that Stryker got their first win of the season.
True, the Panther duo combined for 53 points, but there were plenty of other large contributions in Stryker’s 71-38 rout of Hilltop.
Stryker is now 1-2 on the year, while the Cadets are still searching for their first victory.
“It’s great to get our first win after coming off two losses, especially the way we lost against Pettisville two days ago,” Panther coach Tyler Woolace said.
“We were pretty down in the dumps, then have only one day of practice and come out and execute the way we did tonight is huge.”
After Anthony Jiannuzzi scored the first four Cadet points to give Hilltop an early 4-3 lead, it was Donovan who took over to vault Stryker on an 18-4 scoring burst to finish the first quarter.
The senior point guard scored off a turnover, used a spin move in the key to get a three-point play, got another three-point play when he stuck back his own miss, then drove the lane for the last of his 12 first quarter points to bolt the Panthers up 21-8.
“The start of the game was the most important in our defensive rebounding, we didn’t give any second chance points,” Woolace explained of the big first quarter run.
“We stressed that because they are much bigger than us. Eli Capps, he was probably our player of the game just because of what he did underneath. He boxed out and got a lot of rebounds, I think he had eight or nine and that was huge.”
“That was what we needed, obviously Bradley and Will being able to score the way they did was important, but what we did on the boards got us what we needed to get us going.”
Williams scored off a turnover to start the second, but that basket was countered when Micah Rossman put in a hi-lo feed from Jiannuzzi to keep the Cadets within 13.
Again, the Panthers went on a scoring run, this one 11-2, led by both Donovan and Williams. Donovan dished to Dean Shindledecker for a layup then scored one of his own.
Williams laid in a stop and shot move, then drained the first of seven triples the senior guard would hit on the night to make it 34-12 with 2:38 left in the half.
Hilltop got seven straight, capped by Drew Bailey’s three-ball, but Williams countered with one from the deep wing off a loose ball with 3.9 on the clock to boost the Panthers back up 37-19 at half.
The Panthers used a 19-13 rebounding edge over the bigger Cadets to get the transition game going, as they shot 14-24 in the half.
Rossman opened the third with a triple, but Stryker rattled off a 17-2 run, keyed by seven Hilltop turnovers, to ice the game.
“Getting steals and getting touches on the basketball we talk about a lot,” Woolace explained of the big scoring runs the Panthers had.
“If we can get touches, good things will happen. Our goal is 20 and we had 24 tonight and if that happens and we get our hands on the ball 24 times, we will be pretty successful.”
Williams hit two more triples, Andrew Batterson canned a third, Shindledecker put back his own miss and Donovan scored six points during the burst that made it 57-24 with two minutes left in the quarter.
Hilltop momentarily avoided the running clock rule as Rossman hit from inside then another three-ball but the Panthers reached the 35-point margin with 5:50 left in the game when Williams bagged his seventh and final triple before leaving the contest.
Williams led all scorers with 30 while Donovan had 23. Rossman paced Hilltop with 12 with Jiannuzzi adding 11.
Stryker ended up 24-46 from the floor and committed 16 turnovers. Hilltop was 12-45 from the field, including 3-22 from the three-point line. The Cadets had 22 turnovers. Stryker held a 29-24 advantage on the glass.
STRYKER (71) – Donovan 23; Ab. Batterson 0; Williams 30; Gonzalez 0; Capps 0; Rivas 2; An. Batterson 8; Stewart 3; Shindledecker 5; Lloyd 0; Juillard 0; Totals: 15-9-14 – 71
HILLTOP (38) – Grubbs 0; Jiannuzzi 11; Hartman 0; Carter 0; Burdine 1; Thompson 0; Rossman 12; Bailey 7; Dempsey 7; Verdin 0; Totals: 9-3-11 – 38
SHS 21 16 23 11 – 71
HHS 8 11 10 9 – 38