Tag: Paul Boggs

Valley over Beaver Eastern

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Valley59Win
Beaver Eastern40Loss

Valley grounds Eagles for SOC II win

By Paul Boggs

 

LUCASVILLE — The flu epidemic, floating around bad enough in Scioto County, closed Valley Local Schools among others on Friday.

But the host Indians, in Friday night’s Southern Ohio Conference Division II tilt against Eastern, looked — and played — very much alive and well.

Valley scored the opening eight points and never trailed, grounded the Eagles to only six first-period points, and extended its advantage to as large as 22 twice in the third quarter —en route to routing Eastern 59-40 on The Reservation.

With the victory, the young Indians completed the season sweep of the Eagles, which are completing their debut boys basketball season in the SOC II.

Valley, in also scoring 59 points against the Eagles again, raised its record to 8-10 — and to 6-6 in the division.

The Indians indeed are improving, overcoming injuries and roster changes, to be playing some of their better basketball of the season.

Valley head coach Eric Horton ranked Friday night’s outing “right up there”.

Horton also explained that the Indians are learning to gel together at the right time — and after losing freshman impact player Carter Nickel to injury.

“Carter went down four or five games ago, and it has taken us that long to adjust without him in the lineup. We knew we were going to put it together before the end of the season. Tonight was a big step forward for us,” said the coach. “We were able to interchange guys and go with different lineups. No matter who we had out there, we were able to move the ball and find the right guy and get good looks. Some nights, we haven’t made those shots. But tonight, those went in. When we make our shots, we feel we’re going to be a very hard team to beat.”

In limiting the Eagles to only a Neil Leist three-point play and a Dillon Mattox three-pointer in the first quarter, Valley locked down defensively —not allowing a single solitary point in the first five minutes.

Then, after Eastern got to within 17-15 at the 5:37 mark of the second quarter following first-quarter deficits of six (12-6) and seven points (10-3), the Indians ended the half on a 16-3 run to lead 33-18 at halftime.

In the third frame, Valley built the lead to 22 points twice —at 45-23 with 2:14 to play and 47-25 just 25 seconds later.

The Indians’ advantage never dipped below four points for the final 23 minutes and 15 seconds, as only a Drake Ferguson old-fashioned three-point play prevented the Eagles from being shut out in the final 5:37 of the second quarter.

The Indians’ defense indeed did the job, holding Eastern to only 40 points —and prolific scorer Hunter Cochenour to only eight over the middle two cantos.

“We wanted to limit them to one possession, and I thought if we could get it down to a half-court game, our defense would show up and it did,” said Horton. “We held them to 40 points, which is outstanding.”

Cochenour and Leist led the Eagles with eight points apiece, but Cochenour had half of his points from the free-throw line on six attempts — and Leist didn’t score in the second half.

“We want to pride ourselves on our defense and be a defensive team first. There are going to be nights where the ball doesn’t go in the basket for you, so you have to rely on something. From day one when I got here last year, we’ve wanted to be a good physical defensive team. The officials ‘let us play’ tonight, which I love. It was physical on both ends. They have some kids which can shoot the ball, including Cochenour who is an outstanding player,” said Horton. “We rotated a couple of guys on him, we were very conscious of running him off the circle, and making him drive the ball inside and not let him stand out there and shoot. We were able to accomplish that. I don’t know what we held Cochenour to, but we had somebody in his pocket all night long and that’s what we wanted to do. We physically made it tough on them to drive the ball and we closed down their shooters. If you can do both of those things, the other team is going to have a tough night offensively.”

Meanwhile, the Indians also exhibited excellent ball movement —whether it was running the fast break or working the ball inside.

George Arnett, another freshman, finished as one of three Indians in double figures — and as the contest’s leading scorer.

Arnett amounted eight total field goals and 2-of-3 free throws for 19 points, 11 of which were after halftime.

His three-point goal made it 17-11 a minute-and-a-half into the second stanza.

While the Indians often rely on their underclassmen, their two seniors — Kayden Mollette and Mason Zaler — were go-to guys against Eastern.

Mollette scored a dozen of his 15 points in the opening half, driving to the basket for five deuces — before popping a trey with a minute and five seconds remaining before halftime to make it 31-18.

Zaler —the six-foot five-inch center —added 11 points on three field goals and 5-of-7 free throws.

He scored easy inside on the opening possession, followed by a two and a three by Jared Gahm to make it 8-0.

“We came right out and executed a play for Mason (Zaler) right off the bat that resulted in an easy basket. That just set the tone for us,” said Horton.

Bryce Stuart, the six-foot sophomore, scored five points as well on a basket and 3-of-4 free throws — while freshman Ty Perkins posted the pair of buckets which went for the two 22-point leads.

The Eagles fell to 6-12 and 3-10, and host SOC II co-leader Waverly (11-1 in SOC II) on Tuesday night.

Valley, meanwhile, returns to the road —and returns to SOC II action —on Tuesday night at Portsmouth West.

Perhaps the Indians are poised for a strong run in February — after ending January quite alert and well.

“It feels real good to see these guys starting to put things together both defensively and offensively,” said Horton. “You want to try to have your team in the best possible position to go in and play its best basketball at tournament time. Tonight was a giant leap forward for us in doing that. Those top eight guys are just doing a tremendous job right now.”

* * *

Eastern 6 12 10 12 — 40

Valley 12 21 14 12—59

EASTERN 40 (6-12, 3-10 SOC II)

Trenton Brown 0 0-0 0, Drake Ferguson 1 1-1 3, Dillon Mattox 2 0-0 5, Gabe McBee 1 2-2 4, Hunter Cochenour 2 4-6 8, Neil Leist 3 1-1 8, Brennen Slusher 1 0-0 3, Chase Carter 2 2-2 7, Ethan Perry 0 0-0 0, Bailey Strong 0 0-0 0, Jake Tribby 1 0-4 2; TOTALS 13 10-16 40; Three-point goals: 4 (Dillon Mattox, Neil Leist, Brennen Slusher and Chase Carter 1 apiece)

VALLEY 59 (8-10, 6-6 SOC II)

George Arnett 8 2-3 19, Brecken Williams 0 0-0 0, Ty Perkins 2 0-0 4, Colt Buckle 0 0-0 0, Kayden Mollette 6 2-3 15, Jared Gahm 2 0-0 5, Jacob Greathouse 0 0-0 0, Bryce Stuart 1 3-4 5, Nick Mowery 0 0-0 0, Mason Zaler 3 5-7 11; TOTALS 22 12-17 59; Three-point goals: 3 (George Arnett Kayden Mollette and Jared Gahm 1 apiece)

Valley

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1George Arnett190000
2Brecken Williams00000
3Ty Perkins40000
4Dylan Ellis00000
10Carter Nickel00000
12Kayden Mollette150000
13Jared Gahm50000
21Jacob Greathouse00000
23Devin Stiltner00000
24Bryce Stuart50000
25Nick Mowery00000
32Mason Zaler110000
 Total590000

Beaver Eastern

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
3Trenten Brown00000
5Drake Ferguson30000
10Tyler Hanshaw00000
12Dillion Mattox50000
15Gabe McBee40000
20Hunter Cochenour80000
22Neil Leist80000
23Brennen Slusher30000
30Chase Carter70000
32Ethan Perry00000
33Bailey Strong00000
44Jake Tribby20000
50Austin Daniels00000
 Total400000

Court

Valley

Details

Date Time League Season
January 31, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

Glenwood Survives Bobcats

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Green63Loss
Glenwood66Win

Inching closer: Tigers hold off hard-charging Bobcats

By Paul Boggs

Photos by Paul Boggs, Kent Sanborn and Bailey Payton

FRANKLIN FURNACE —Perhaps Jerome McKinley, by making the most of his five steals on Friday night, made one of his head coach’s decisions easier.

“I sometimes wonder who I should nominate for Defensive Player of the Year off our team. You can go with Jerome (McKinley) on the ball, or Chase (Clark) in the paint, or you can go with (Kyle) Sexton,” said New Boston coach Adam Cox. “A lot of teams don’t have that luxury of me putting in 6-foot-6 (Chase Clark), 6-foot-5 (Kyle Sexton), 6-1 (Jerome McKinley), 6-1 (Tanner Voiers) and some length and rebounding pressure and putting Jerome on the ball. It allows us to put a defensive lineup in the game. Every time we did, we got a stop.”

#
24
Name
Jerome McKinley
Class
2022
Height
5-11
Current Team
Glenwood
Leagues
SEO, SOC1
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

By getting defensive, especially late and spearheaded by the sophomore McKinley, the visiting Tigers took one of their biggest steps towards clinching their first Southern Ohio Conference Division I boys basketball championship in 22 years.

McKinley made five steals, turned four of them into subsequent points, and collected the most crucial takeaway with 20 seconds remaining — as visiting New Boston captured a critical 66-63 victory against the Green Bobcats in front of a full house at Green High School.

#
32
Name
Chase Clark
Class
2021
Height
6-06
Current Team
Glenwood
Past Teams
Valley
Leagues
SEO, SOC1, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

With the win, the Tigers — the second-ranked team in the third weekly Associated Press Ohio High School boys basketball Division IV poll — raised their stellar record to 15-1, and remained perfect atop the SOC I standings at 10-0.

Thanks to the hard-fought triumph over the game and determined Bobcats, the Tigers can clinch that coveted SOC I championship — a share on Tuesday night at East and the outright on Friday night at Ironton St. Joseph.

#
4
Name
Kyle Sexton
Class
2020
Height
6-05
Current Team
Glenwood
Leagues
All Time Stat Leaders, SEO, SOC1
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

It will be the Tigers’ first SOC I title since the 1997-98 campaign, which —of course —is a long time coming to the basketball-crazy New Boston community.

As the Tigers celebrated with their fans following Friday night’s win, loud chants of “S-O-C” could be heard all over the Green gymnasium.

“You grow up living in New Boston and going to Glenwood and dreaming about going to the Convo (Ohio University Convocation Center for the district and regional boys basketball tournament), but you really, really dream about winning the SOC. That Gold Ball (trophy awarded the SOC I winner) is a really nice shiny trophy,” said Cox. “Our kids are really working hard towards accomplishing that goal. Hopefully, we can clinch on Tuesday.”

But first things first, the Tigers had to complete the season sweep of the Bobcats, which made New Boston work for its win in the foul-fest of a contest in the two teams’ initial meeting on Dec. 20.

#
3
Name
Tanner Voiers
Class
2021
Height
6-01
Current Team
Glenwood
Past Teams
South Webster
Leagues
SEO, SOC1, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

There were 54 fouls and 48 foul shots combined in that matchup, as Friday featured fewer fouls —and only 22 total free throws.

Instead, it came down to New Boston making not one, not two, not three, not four, but count ‘em five massive defensive stops in the final two minutes and 47 seconds —as Green, despite trailing by three points at either 59-56 or 61-58 — had five opportunities to tie with a three-point goal.

The first three were missed shots, with McKinley actually grabbing two rebounds — before a traveling violation on Green’s Gage Sampson with 31-and-a-half seconds showing.

Finally, following a New Boston turnover and Green getting the basketball underneath its own basket, the Bobcats’ inbounds pass was intercepted by McKinley — and it set up Kyle Sexton sinking five clutch one-and-one free throws in the final 19 seconds.

#
3
Name
Ethan Huffman
Class
2021
Height
5-10
Current Team
Green
Leagues
SEO, SOC1
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

The Bobcats’ buckets in the final 3:23 were three by Ethan Huffman, a Levi Sampson score with six seconds left to make it 64-60, and finally Levi Singleton sinking a three-pointer from the corner pocket for the 66-63 final.

Which, with that shot, makes McKinley’s major defensive plays —and the Bobcats’ 18 turnovers and missed opportunities at the end —loom even larger.

Green’s final turnover, trailing 63-58, was an over-and-back call with just 13 seconds remaining.

Head Coach Dirk Hollar

Current Team
Green
“We had five or six possessions there late we didn’t convert,” said Green coach Dirk Hollar. “(Ethan) Huffman had a runner that went in and out, then he shot a layup that I thought went in and looped back around and came out. So we got good looks on back-to-back layups. The out of bounds play we ran, we had backside wide open but we forced it (pass), so there was another turnover. The over-and-back, we weren’t thinking and lost track of what was going on. We beat ourselves, and that’s continued to happen all year. We continue to play hard and fight, but we have to finish those games. It was there, but we missed two layups in a row, and turned the ball over.”

McKinley’s awareness and interception of the inbounds pass was arguably the most important, because the Bobcats only trailed 61-58 — with only 20 seconds AND the ball underneath.

McKinley was fouled after making the steal, and despite missing a one-and-one free-throw attempt, the ball was in New Boston’s frontcourt —setting Sexton up to get fouled and mesh his five free throws.

But McKinley made four other steals which led directy to immense points as well.

In the first quarter, he had two thefts —the first of which he turned into a layup with the second resulting in a Tanner Voiers rebound putback which made it 13-8.

In the third frame, in the first 80 seconds no less, McKinley made back-to-back steals —and went in for layups to make it 37-30.

The Tigers’ largest lead was actually eight points twice (41-33 and 44-36), thanks to five points including a three-pointer from Voiers, but it was McKinley making those two early plays that allowed New Boston breathing room — as the second-half advantage ranged from two to eight points over the opening 12-and-a-half minutes.

Voiers poured in a game-high 24 points on 11 total field goals — and Sexton secured a triple-double with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists — but McKinley’s 11 markers on five field goals and a first-quarter foul shot can’t be understated.

Cox said he called out McKinley, albeit privately, and was delighted to see him respond.

Head Coach Adam Cox

Current Team
Glenwood
“I won’t say exactly what I told Jerome at halftime, but basically I told him he had shown up before the last three games not ready to go at the shoot-arounds or walk-thrus, and I was tired of watching it. He was a freshman on the Elite Eight (Division IV regional runner-up) team last year, and if he wasn’t going to wake up and play, then he needed to come off the bench and realize that there are other kids that want to. The third quarter, he stole the ball twice on the opening possessions,” said the coach.

There were actually eight lead changes in the first 15 minutes and 10 seconds, as New Boston built a 16-10 first-quarter bulge on Voiers’ first three-ball, but the Bobcats doubled up the Tigers 10-5 in the final three minutes of the first.

Green — which also held one-point leads of 4-3, 6-5 and 8-7 — gained its last lead at 22-21 on a Gage Sampson rebound stickback just 13 seconds into the second stanza.

The Tigers — taking the lead for good at the 6:50 mark of the period — led anywhere from one to five points throughout the second quarter, before Huffman drove and scored for the 33-30 halftime score.

McKinley made the two steals and layups, Voiers rained in a three at the 4:25 point to make it 44-36, and the lead ranged from four to eight points until the 5:41 mark of the final canto.

“It seemed like every time we missed a shot or did something goofy or turned it over, they went down and scored,” said Hollar. “That was a big difference in the game.”

The Bobcats’ fourth-quarter three-point deficits were 53-50, 55-52, 57-54, 59-56 and 61-58 —with Green getting the deficit down to one twice at 57-56 and 59-58.

Huffman hit a left-handed layup with a crossover move with 1:50 remaining, but back came Voiers only 22 seconds later for the final three-point advantage (61-58).

The score then remained 61-58 for the next minute and 11 seconds, as the Tigers turned back the Bobcats on five consecutive possessions.

Like the previous meeting, Green never got the lead back, but if it did…

“If we could get over that hump, we should be able to win. But it seemed like every time we made a play to get over that hump, we couldn’t finish,” said Hollar. “Those five possessions that we didn’t convert and we missed a box out on the other end, that was pretty much it. We stress taking care of the ball and boxing out, but we pick the worst times in the world to turn the ball over and that’s what happened.”

Lost in all of the anxious final three minutes was the scoring and statistics, as New Boston had 32 rebounds including 25 defensive — and the Tigers turned it over only eight times.

There were two 1,000-point scorers in the game —the junior Sexton and the senior Sampson, as Sexton scored five field goals —including his three-pointer just 40 seconds in to get New Boston on the board.

Sampson, even as the Tigers face-guarded him, scored 14 of his team-high 22 points on seven first-half deuces — as he hit Green’s other trifecta — outside of Singleton’s five.

Singleton splashed two treys in the opening quarter and two more in the third, as his final for his 15th point beat the game-ending buzzer.

Huffman had a dozen markers for the Bobcats on four field goals and 4-of-4 free throws, while Levi Sampson added eight on three baskets and 2-of-2 fourth-quarter freebies.

The Bobcats — which are off for a week before traveling to Western — fell to an even 9-9, and to 5-6 in the SOC I.

However, they battled the Tigers tooth-and-nail twice this season, especially on Friday night.

“Our kids always play hard, they’ve played hard since the first day of practice. That’s what they do and will continue to do because they are a great group of kids,” said Hollar. “We just have to take care of the ball better.”

Cox, quite frankly, was happy to leave foggy Franklin Furnace with a victory —which inched the Tigers to within the doorstep of winning the SOC I championship.

“Hats off to Green. They should be very proud. A three-point win on the road at Green, I will take it every year,” he said. “They were ready to play and this is a tough atmosphere, and (Gage) Sampson is an amazing senior, but we held on and that’s what matters.”

* * *

New Boston 21 12 20 13— 66

Green 20 10 17 16— 63

NEW BOSTON 66 (15-1, 10-0 SOC I)

Malachi Potts 0 0-0 0, Grady Jackson 1 0-0 2, Tanner Voiers 11 0-0 24, Kyle Sexton 4 1 5-8 16, Devon Jones 2 1-1 5, Kage Truitt 0 0-0 0, Marcus Saunders 1 2-2 4, Jerome McKinley 5 1-3 11, Chase Clark 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 27 9-14 66; Three-point goals: 3 (Tanner Voiers 2, Kyle Sexton 1)

GREEN 63 (9-9, 5-6 SOC I)

Trevor Darnell 1 0-0 2, Gage Sampson 10 1-2 22, Ethan Huffman 4 4-4 12, Alec Smith 2 0-0 4, Levi Singleton 5 0-0 15, Levi Sampson 3 2-2 8, Caden Brammer 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 25 7-8 63 ; Three-point goals: 6 (Levi Singleton 5, Gage Sampson 1)

Green

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Trevor Darnell23010
2Gage Sampson229220
3Ethan Huffman125100
10Alec Smith43500
11Levi Singleton152210
23Levi Sampson810000
50Caden Brammer00000
 Total63321040

Glenwood

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Malachi Potts00000
2Grady Jackson20000
3Tanner Voiers240000
4Kyle Sexton160000
5Devon Jones50000
20Kage Truitt00000
23Marcus Saunders40000
24Jerome McKinley110000
32Chase Clark40000
 Total660000

Court

Green

Details

Date Time League Season
January 24, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

 

 

Notre Dame 37 Clay 35 in Defensive Battle

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Clay35Loss
Notre Dame37Win

Titans pull off stunner of Panthers

By Paul Boggs

 

ROSEMOUNT — Call it indeed divine intervention, but the Notre Dame Titans will remember this one —while Friday night’s outcome will be one for the Clay Panthers to most certainly forget.

That’s because the visiting Titans, which had lost by 31 points against Clay in early-season Southern Ohio Conference Division I competition, turned the tables completely on the Panthers in their return meeting — and did so in absolutely and inexplicably stunning fashion.

After trailing by as much as seven points midway through the third quarter, Notre Dame rallied, withstood an epic fourth-quarter stall-ball tactic, and miraculously flipped Clay’s penultimate possession into two Caleb Nichols free throws for a jaw-dropping 37-35 victory.

Following the most inopportune turnover by the Panthers, Nichols notched his only points on Friday night —two foul shots with only nine seconds showing on the clock.

Gage Moore, the Panthers’ leading scorer but trying to atone for losing the ball on their previous possession, missed a three-pointer near the buzzer, as Jermaine Powell —who made the massive steal and whose missed layup set up Nichols’ free throws — grabbed the final rebound for the Titans.

This one, quite frankly, you had to see to believe —but underdog Notre Dame did what any other club would do in that situation.

That being trying to take advantage of the opposition’s mistakes.

With the wild upset win, the Titans gained a gigantic measure of revenge against the Panthers, which handled them 59-28 in their mid-December matchup.

Notre Dame also bounced back from a disappointing 63-39 home setback against Western on Tuesday night.

The Titans are now 5-8, and 2-6 in the SOC I.

In his postgame media interview, Notre Dame coach Matt Mader described the finish as simply “crazy”.

However, it was hustle plays by his Titans that put them over the top.

“That was a great defensive play by J.P. (Jermaine Powell) to extend out on their point guard. It could have been over-and-back or other things called there, but J.P. stayed with it, the ball got loose, he made the steal and took it to the rack. Then we had two guys following up right behind him with Caleb (Nichols) getting fouled,” said Mader. “Give J.P. credit for making the play, then give Jarren (Edgington) and Caleb credit for running the floor. When Clay beat us by 31 at our place, we got out-hustled and out-played in every facet of the game. To see these guys come back tonight with the tenacity and energy and togetherness…”

Here’s how the final 94 seconds played out.

With Clay clinging to a 35-33 advantage, the Panthers’ Reece Whitley drove the lane but missed, and the Titans corralled the rebound.

On Notre Dame’s possession, Jarren Edgington —who paced the Panthers with 14 points on seven field goals — got a big rebound putback for the 35-35 tie 29 seconds later.

Clay then appeared to hold the ball for the final —and potentially game-winning — shot, as Moore maintained his dribble despite being guarded closely by Powell and out as far as half-court.

But somehow — all of the sudden — Powell picked up a loose ball and raced in for a layup, which he missed but both Edgington and Nichols were right there trailing behind.

Edgington didn’t get the follow-up stickback, but Nichols got his board —and was fouled in the act of shooting with exactly 8.8 seconds remaining.

He calmly sank both foul shots, giving the Titans an unbelievable 37-35 lead.

Clay coach Garrick “Tiny” Anderson opted not to call a timeout to set something up for his Panthers, and instead Moore moved quickly upcourt for the game-winning three-pointer —but he missed and Powell pulled down the rebound as the Titans celebrated wildly when the buzzer sounded.

“The discussion there was whether we wanted to call a timeout trying to set our defense up. In doing that, Coach Anderson has two (timeouts) of his own. We both elected not to call anything. We trusted our defense and did a nice job of getting back and getting set up to force a tough three,” said Mader.

Anderson expressed disappointment in that his Panthers simply didn’t close either the third or fourth quarters out.

“We knew this game would be a dogfight, but it’s a matter of knowing the situation of the game and closing out the game. We are up two (35-33) with a minute and 34 seconds left, and we try to force a shot. At the end of the third quarter, we have the ball with seven or eight seconds left and we don’t get a shot off,” he said. “Those are just closing quarters out and finishing the game. At the end, Notre Dame came out and picked up the pressure, and our kid just mishandled the ball. We tell our kids that every possession matters. This is a prime example of it.”

There were very few possessions in the frantic fourth quarter on Friday night, thanks to a five-minute lull.

Or, rather that should read “stall”.

Whitley opened the fourth by canning a three from the wing, making it 33-29, but Edgington answered immediately on the other end.

Then, for the next nearly five minutes, the Panthers —with the Titans standing back and content in a zone defense — passed the ball around out top or Moore simply stood out front and dribbled.

Clay was trying to get the Titans to come out and defend it man-to-man, but Mader explained that he was trying to primarily and temporarily rest his players — as Notre Dame only played six men with one not playing beyond the first quarter.

Hence, for the final three periods, Edgington, Nichols, Dylan Seison, Dominic Sparks and especially Powell were on the floor without a break.

“That was something we did the other night to mainly get J.P. some rest. He was just out of breath because he was doing it on both ends. Our guys have logged a ton of minutes all season and we don’t go very deep. When you do that, you play a lot of minutes,” said Mader. We were mainly trying to get our guys a breather on the floor to finish the game out.”

With Clay holding the 35-33 lead during that, Anderson said there was no hurry on his Panthers’ part.

“We were committed to it (stall offense), because we knew our best bet was for them (Titans) to come out and try to guard us,” he said. “That’s what they did, but we did score on it.”

Indeed they did, as Whitley was fouled when he drove the lane with two minutes and three seconds left.

He made both free throws, but again the Titans quickly answered with a Powell basket only 13 seconds later for the 35-33 deficit.

That set up the final minute and 34 tics, in which Anderson emphasized that his squad simply didn’t close the deal.

Or, the third frame.

Notre Dame —following a hotly-contested first half of six lead changes and six ties with no lead larger than five by either team — led 23-22, but the Panthers, on two baskets apiece by Moore and Shaden Malone, pushed out to their biggest lead at 30-23 with 4:48 remaining.

But Seison — who canned the Titans’ only three-pointer which forged an 18-18 tie — secured two foul shots, Edgington added a basket, and Sparks scored on a lob to get Notre Dame back within one at 30-29 three minutes later.

With 2.5 seconds showing in the third, the Panthers set up for the last shot, but never got a shot off.

“We’ve struggled with that all year. We’re up six, seven or eight points, then the next thing you know, we’re only up one,” said Anderson. “It’s just not finishing.”

For those into counting, Notre Dame outscored Clay 14-5 over the final 12 minutes and 48 seconds.

“The kids stayed with the gameplan, we executed and didn’t panic,” said Mader. “We have a young team, but these guys know that if there is time on the clock, there’s a chance to win.”

The Titans turned the basketball over only seven times too, which didn’t allow Clay’s trapping press defense to be as effective as it would like.

Instead, Notre Dame got shots.

“That was huge for us,” said Mader. “If we can continue to do that and take care of the basketball and get shots versus turnovers, we’re going to be in more games.”

“In order for us to get into our press, we have to score. We didn’t do a good job of that. Then we get into our traps on our diamond press, and they just split it,” said Anderson. “We did not do a good job of forcing the tempo tonight.”

Clay also missed four free throws on only six attempts, as Moore made two second-quarter threes while Evan Woods did the same in the opening half.

Whitley’s triple in the fourth gave the Panthers five, as Moore led with 10 points while Whitley — with two first-quarter two-pointers —netted nine.

Woods and Malone manged six points apiece, as Malone also scored in the opening period.

Jaden Jessee and Dakota Dodds both tallied a second-stanza basket, as all of the team statistics were as close as the final score would indicate.

It’s just that, for Clay anyway, it’s one that indeed got away.

The Panthers fell to 5-10, and to 4-5 in the SOC I, with the loss.

“It’s frustrating, but we knew this game would be a dogfight,” said Anderson. “We just didn’t close the game out.”

In addition to Edgington’s 14 points, Powell posted 10 on four field goals — with three in the first quarter — and 2-of-5 free throws.

Sparks scored six points, including back-to-back baskets as part of eight unanswered points in the opening period that gave the Titans their largest lead at 12-7.

However, call it divine intervention perhaps —or just plain solid clutch character coming through in the end —for the victorious Titans.

“Just a ton of credit goes to our young kids. We have a lot of character in that locker-room. Those guys fought hard and we’re very proud of them,” said Mader. “A great win like this we hope will be a momentum-builder and confidence-booster for the second half of the season against a tough schedule.”

* * *

Notre Dame 12 11 6 8 — 37

Clay 9 13 8 5 — 35

NOTRE DAME 37 (5-8, 2-6 SOC I)

Jermaine Powell 4 2-5 10, Caleb Nichols 0 2-2 2, Dominic Sparks 3 0-0 6, Chris Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Dylan Seison 1 2-2 5, Jarren Edgington 7 0-0 14; TOTALS 15 6-9 37; Three-point goals: 1 (Dylan Seison 1)

CLAY 35 (5-10, 4-5 SOC I)

Clay Cottle 0 0-0 0, Shaden Malone 3 0-2 6, Evan Woods 2 0-2 6, Reece Whitley 3 2-2 9, Gage Moore 4 0-0 10, Jaden Jessee 1 0-0 2, Dakota Dodds 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 14 2-6 35; Three-point goals: 5 (Evan Woods and Gage Moore 2 apiece, Reece Whitley 1)

Clay

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Clay Cottle00000
2Shaden Malone60000
3Evan Woods60000
5Reece Whitley90000
24Gage Moore100000
30Jaden Jessee20000
35Dakota Dodds20000
 Total350000

Notre Dame

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
2Jermaine Powell100000
3Caleb Nichols20000
11Dominic Sparks60000
22Christopher Schmidt00000
23Dylan Seison50000
45Jarren Edgington140000
 Total370000

Court

Clay

Details

Date Time League Season
January 17, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

Collins picks up 169th career coaching victory, second winningest coach in Portsmouth History

vs

Results

TeamTOutcome
Portsmouth72Win
Coal Grove61Loss

Collins makes history in Trojans’ triumph

By Paul Boggs

 

PORTSMOUTH — Eugene Collins doesn’t seem to get too high or too low during basketball games, and definitely shouts and screams even less.

Instead, what Collins does do besides calms the proverbial waters is win at the same time.

And, at his alma mater of Portsmouth High School on Tuesday night — inside PHS’ Trojan Arena —Collins captured his 169th career coaching victory, making him the second winningest coach in the decorated and proud history of tradition-rich Trojan boys basketball.

His Trojans, trailing for just two minutes in the second quarter and shooting a sizzling 56-percent for the entire game with 10 made three-pointers, triumphed 72-61 over the visiting Coal Grove Hornets in an Ohio Valley Conference contest.

With the victory, the Trojans bounced back nicely from a heartbreaking 62-61 OVC loss at Ironton on Friday night — and improved to 6-7 and 3-4 in the league.

But Tuesday’s tilt was all about the 11-year head coach Collins, who entered against the Hornets tied with Richard “Red” Hopkins with 168 career wins —tied for the second-most all-time on the career coaching wins list at Portsmouth.

Collins now sports a record of 169-87 at PHS, as Hopkins —who coached the Trojans for 11 years from 1926 thru 1936 —had a record of 168-58.

Collins — widely respected amongst coaching peers, players and fans alike — especially those in Southeastern Ohio, commented on his Trojan tenure and what the honor means.

Head Coach Gene Collins

Current Team
Portsmouth
“This is special. To not only play here, but then become the head coach here. We’re in the top-10 in all-time wins in the state. I have to give a ton of credit to all my players, former staff, current coaches, the administration…everybody has been really good to me. I’ve just been blessed and fortunate to ride this wave,” he said. “It hasn’t felt like 11 years, but time has been flying by.”

Indeed, it doesn’t feel like a second decade of coaching has started for Collins, but the resume from his first 10 years is quite impressive.

His Trojans have appeared in three regional championship games, which include back-to-back Division III state tournament berths in 2011 and 2012.

At the league level, Portsmouth won two Southeastern Ohio Athletic League titles in 2012 and 2014, followed by an OVC championship in 2015.

He has been the SEOAL and OVC Coach of the Year, the Southeast District Division III Coach of the Year as bestowed upon by the Associated Press, and the Division III Ohio Coach of the Year in 2012.

Speaking of 2012, he is the last Southeast District boys coach to have won a state semifinal, as his Trojans topped Ottawa-Glandorf 74-66.

Collins is one of four Trojan coaches to lead Portsmouth to the state tournament more than once, as the previous three were Red Hopkins (1926, 1927, 1929, 1931 and 1934), Richard “Dick” Hopkins (1978 and 1980) and Joe Suboticki (1988 and 1990).

The all-time winningest coach in Portsmouth history remains George Heller, who went 224-137 from 1952 to 1968.

If Collins coaches long enough, and if the Trojans win of course, it is likely he will pass Heller —as only 55 victories separate the two as of this morning.

But Collins’ chief concern on Tuesday night was getting his 2020 Trojans back on the winning track, as Portsmouth pushed out to a 16-8 early advantage —before the Hornets hit back behind Evan Gannon’s three first-half three-pointers and went on a 15-3 run over a span of six minutes.

Coal Grove claimed its lead at 20-19 on a Peyton Smith drive at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter, as Gannon garnered his final trifecta for a four-point bulge (23-19) just 25 seconds later.

But the Trojans’ Amare Johnson drained two treys just 45 seconds apart for the 25-25 tie, sandwiched around Smith scoring on a rebound putback.

That’s when Matthew Fraulini caught fire for Portsmouth, as his second-stanza three-ball boosted the Trojans back in front for good at 28-25.

After two first-quarter deuces, he dropped in another in the second to make it a five-point (30-25) lead, as Drew Roe then scored with 90 seconds left in the period for another advantage (32-25) of at least six.

Portsmouth shot the ball well —56-percent for the game on 28-of-50.

It canned 10-of-21 three-balls for 48-percent, and attacked the basket well for high-percentage shots —going 18-of-29 for a fiery 62-percent from inside the arc, including 11-of-15 (73-percent) in the opening half.

“It’s good to see things that you work on in practice carry over into the game. We’ve been working on pitching it up and getting shots on the wing. Matt (Fraulini) hit some threes. We’ve been working on swinging it to the trailer and getting some trail threes with Donavon Carr,” said Collins. “It was good to see the last couple of days of practice pay off like that. We’ve been working a lot lately on shooting, and guys stepped up and made shots.”

Did they ever — especially in the second half after those three makes on a dozen attempts in the first.

Three Hornet hoops got the guests to within 34-33, but the Trojans —with three threes by Fraulini and one from Roe —doubled up the Hornets 20-10 over the final 5:13 of the third quarter.

In the fourth frame, Carr dialed in twice from long distance, as Johnson —with Portsmouth leading 60-51 and with 4:15 remaining —drilled his third three to make it a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

The Trojans then finished off Coal Grove with 4-of-6 free throws in the final 1:23, as Johnson split a pair for his 14th and final point —while Fraulini went 3-of-4 to cap his team-high pouring in of 23.

Fraulini’s 23 included four deuces and four treys, as Johnson (14 points), Roe (13 points) and Carr (12) closely followed suit.

All three totaled five field goals apiece, as Miles Shipp scored three baskets with one apiece from Dariyonne Bryant (first quarter) and Chris Duff (third quarter).

The Trojans, aside from the five twos and five threes from Gannon towards a game-high 25 points, defended well on the perimeter —as Coal Grove shot just 5-of-22 from three-point range.

“Our gameplan was to make sure we didn’t give their shooters good looks,” said Collins. “For the most part, we did pretty good except for Gannon.”

Trevor Carey —on six field goals and two made free throws — chipped in 14 points, while Smith and Jarren Hicks added eight points apiece on three field goals and two made foul shots.

The Hornets, which had won five consecutive over the Trojans, fell to 3-9 —and to 2-5 in the OVC.

The triumph by the Trojans was important for the young club’s confidence, and to inch closer to the .500 mark while climbing the ladder of the OVC standings.

It’s a two-horse race right now with league-leader Fairland and second-place Chesapeake, but Portsmouth desires to make it a three-way or even four-way dance, as South Point and Ironton are in the middle mix as well.

“It’s a great win for our kids. I am so proud of them,” said Collins. “To get a win and get to 3-4 in the league, we kind of went from the bottom of the league to the middle of the league. It was a great opportunity for us. I think tonight we finished the game, whereas at Ironton we just didn’t close it out. We took strides tonight at getting better at finishing.”

And, Collins took a personal stride into Portsmouth boys basketball history, although his focus following Tuesday night’s win was indeed on the here and now.

Plus…next month’s tournament trek.

“We’re having fun and we’re getting better every game. We’re looking to be humming on all cylinders come February,” he said.

Information from www.PortsmouthBasketball.net was used in this report.

* * *

Coal Grove 11 16 16 18 — 61

Portsmouth 16 16 22 18— 72

COAL GROVE 61 (3-9, 2-5 OVC)

Perry Kingery 2 0-0 4, Cory Borders 0 0-0 0, Evan Gannon 10 0-0 25, Peyton Smith 3 2-4 8, Trevor Hankins 0 0-0 0, Luke Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Maliachi Wheeler 1 0-0 2, Jarren Hicks 3 2-2 8, Ethan Short 0 0-0 0, Trevor Carey 6 2-6 14; TOTALS 25 6-12 61; Three-point goals: 5 (Evan Gannon 5)

PORTSMOUTH 72 (6-7, 3-4 OVC)

Amare Johnson 5 1-2 14, Matthew Fraulini 8 3-4 23, Dariyonne Bryant 1 0-0 2, Drew Roe 5 2-4 13, Jessie Dixon 0 0-0 0, Miles Shipp 3 0-0 6, Chris Duff 1 0-0 2, Donavon Carr 5 0-1 12; TOTALS 28 6-11 72; Three-point goals: 10 (Matthew Fraulini 4, Amare Johnson 3, Donavon Carr 2, Drew Roe 1)

Portsmouth

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Amare Johnson140000
2Matthew Fraulini230000
3Dariyonne Bryant20000
14Drew Roe130000
22Jessie Dixon00000
24Miles Shipp60000
30Chris Duff20000
Donavon Carr120000
 Total720000

Coal Grove

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Perry Kingery40000
3Evan Gannon250000
5Peyton Smith80000
10Trevor Hankins00000
12Luke Ferguson00000
14Maliachi Wheeler20000
23Jarren Hicks80000
32Ethan Short00000
34Trevor Carey140000
 Total610000

Court

Portsmouth

Details

Date Time League Season
January 14, 2020 7:30 pm OVC 2019-20

Minford nearly doubles up Valley 56-30

vs

Results

TeamTOutcome
Minford56Win
Valley30Loss

Falcons start fast, roll past Indians

By Paul Boggs

 

MINFORD — The Minford Falcons picked a good time to play a near-complete basketball game.

 

Against visiting Valley on Tuesday night, the Falcons both shot the ball well — and perhaps defended even better — as host Minford mustered an impressive, and important, 56-30 Southern Ohio Conference Division II triumph.

 

While the Indians are one of the Falcons’ chief rivals, Minford started fast for both halves —scoring the opening eight points in the first quarter, followed by scoring seven straight to tip off the third frame.

 

The Falcons only allowed the Indians 30 points and never trailed —as that 30th point came at the buzzer on a jump shot by George Arnett.

#
1
Name
George Arnett
Class
2023
Height
6-00
Current Team
Valley
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2019-20

Otherwise, Valley only trailed by five points twice — at 8-3 after Dylan Ellis made the Indians’ only three-point goal at the four-minute mark of the opening quarter and at 10-5 on one of four field goals by Kayden Mollette.

#
12
Name
Kayden Mollette
Class
2020
Height
5-08
Current Team
Valley
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

Over the final three periods, the Falcons led by at least six points, as the lead soon swelled to 11 points twice (20-9 and 20-11) in the second stanza —and to as large as 15 points four times in the third.

 

Finally, after extending the lead to 42-24 with Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis’ three-ball to beat the third-quarter buzzer, the Falcons forged on by outscoring the Indians 14-6 in the fourth quarter —and doubling their advantage to 56-28 with 16 seconds remaining.

#
3
Name
Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis
Class
2021
Height
5-10
Current Team
Minford
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

Minford doubled up the Indians 20-10 in the third, part of a 34-16 winning of the entire second half.

 

Valley’s only fourth-period points were a pair of Bryce Stuart free throws at the six-and-a-half minute mark, followed by a rebound putback by Ty Perkins and Arnett’s buzzer-beater to hit 30.

#
3
Name
Ty Perkins
Class
2023
Height
6-03
Current Team
Valley
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2019-20

Minford coach Josh Shoemaker was asked if Tuesday’s tilt was the best performance by his Falcons all season.

 

Aside from the 9-9 tie in the second canto, and only scoring 14 for the final 13 minutes and 15 seconds of the half, you could make the argument it was.

 

“Each quarter, we were consistent. We had seven threes tonight, and I thought we shot the ball well, but it all started on the defensive end. To hold a team to 30 points in a varsity boys basketball game is a good accomplishment,” said Shoemaker. “We guarded really well, they only had 10 points once in a quarter and we scored double digits in three quarters. In the first half, we got a little complacent after getting up 8-0, struggled to score the rest of the half. In the second half, we really put together a complete game on both ends and played good, consistent basketball. Valley is a local rival with identical records (6-4) coming in. For us to come out with a 56-30 win, hats off to our kids for playing extremely well tonight.”

 

Shoemaker said he believed his squad was “quicker, faster at all five spots” — and wanted to play an up-tempo pace.

 

“We tried to play fast tonight. We felt we were quicker and faster, so we really wanted to push out and have as many possessions as possible. I was happy with the way everybody guarded and rebounded the basketball and pushed in transition,” he said. “Just a total team win, and we got a lot of guys in the scoring column.”

 

Of the Falcons which played, precisely a dozen scored at least one field goal.

 

Indeed, Minford played well — as Valley coach Eric Horton had nothing but credit for the Falcons.

 

“Minford is a good shooting team and they made their shots right off the bat tonight. At any point in time you are playing them, they can score 10 points really fast. Unfortunately, they did that tonight to us right out of the gate and then again right at the beginning of the second half. Once we settled back into it both halves, I thought we guarded them pretty well,” he said. “But they are a good shooting team and once they get a couple of guys shooting that well, they can make a quick run. That’s what happened to us.”

The main Minford man on Tuesday was Vogelsong-Lewis, who accounted for four deuces and three treys towards his game-high 17 points.

 

In fact, Vogelsong-Lewis landed nothing but net on all seven of his shot attempts.

 

“He didn’t take a bad shot in those seven shots either. He let the game come to him, got everybody involved, and had big threes at the end of two quarters,” said Shoemaker.

 

His biggest basket beat the first-quarter buzzer, as he caught a cross-court zone pass and knocked it down from the wing, as he was actually knocked to the floor in the process.

 

“Vogelsong-Lewis hit three threes tonight, but I thought our defense was about as good as we could have it. Credit to him for making the shots,” said Horton. “When you play good defense and he still makes the basket, it’s deflating. I thought they did that to us too many times, and it’s hard to recover from.”

 

He actually opened the game with a triple just 30 seconds in, as Trenton Zimmerman — who added eight points — made one for a 6-0 advantage.

 

Skylar Knore netted the Falcons’ other two threes —the first of which was with four-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter to make it 18-9, as the Indians never got closer the rest of the way.

#
5
Name
Skylar Knore
Class
2021
Height
5-10
Current Team
Minford
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2019-20

Nathan McCormick canned three buckets for six points, as Hunter Davis drained four third-quarter points on a field goal and two foul shots, and Adam Crank connected on a third-period three.

 

Minford maintained a 23-13 advantage in total field goals, as Ellis added seven points for Valley to follow Mollette’s team-high eight.

 

“We had opportunities to score, but we just didn’t finish possessions off tonight with a basket. I thought they were in the same spots we were, and they scored and we didn’t. That’s the difference in the game. Credit to Minford for making those shots,” said Horton.

 

The outcome certainly impacted the SOC II standings —especially since just a few miles to the south another crucial development was occurring in Wheelersburg.

 

Both Valley and Minford entered at 6-4, but the Indians are now 4-2 in the division, followed by the Falcons moving to 4-3.

 

Meanwhile, Waverly won at Wheelersburg 67-58 (see related story), as the Pirates are no longer undefeated —and both of those teams, along with Oak Hill, are now tied atop the league at 5-1.

 

While Minford is off for a week until it hosts winless Northwest next Tuesday, the Indians entertain both Oak Hill (on Friday night) and Waverly (on Tuesday, Jan. 14) for their next two affairs.

 

A Valley victory, or two, will cause some surefire SOC II shakeup, but maybe Minford —thanks to Tuesday night’s triumph — can get back in this championship chase as well.

 

The seven wins by the Falcons matches their entire total from a season ago.

 

“This was just a great team win for us. We’re at the halfway point, and I’m proud of where our kids are at at this point in the season,” said Shoemaker.

 

* * *

 

Valley 5 9 10 6 — 30

 

Minford 13 9 20 14— 56

 

VALLEY 30 (6-5, 4-2 SOC II)

 

George Arnett 1 0-0 2, Brecken Williams 0 0-0 0, Ty Perkins 1 0-0 2, Dylan Ellis 3 0-4 7, Colten Buckle 0 0-0 0, Carter Nickel 2 0-0 4, Kayden Mollette 4 0-0 8, Jared Gahm 0 0-0 0, Jacob Greathouse 0 0-0 0, Bryce Stuart 1 2-2 4, Nick Mowery 0 0-0 0, Mason Zaler 1 1-2 3; TOTALS 13 3-8 30; Three-point goals: 1 (Dylan Ellis 1)

 

MINFORD 56 (7-4, 4-3 SOC II)

 

Hunter Davis 1 2-2 4, Trenton Zimmerman 3 1-2 8, Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis 7 0-0 17, Skylar Knore 2 0-0 6, Nathan McCormick 3 0-0 6, Drew Skaggs 1 0-0 2, Matthew Risner 1 0-1 2, Levi Coriell 0 0-0 0, Adam Crank 1 0-0 3, Andy Crank 1 0-0 2, Jordan Strickland 1 0-0 2, Kaden Kelley 1 0-0 2, Devan Parker 0 0-0 0, Ethan Connally 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 23 3-5 56; Three-point goals: 7 (Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis 3, Skylar Knore 2, Trenton Zimmerman and Adam Crank 1 apiece)

Falcons 2019-20

DateHomeResultsAwayArticle
2020-02-22 10:08:26February 22, 202059 - 49Recap
2020-02-19 10:07:22February 19, 202069 - 63Recap
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2019-12-30 19:30:00December 30, 201967 - 57
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Indians 2019-20

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2019-11-29 19:30:00November 29, 201938 - 52Recap
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2019-12-13 19:30:00December 13, 201951 - 58Recap
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2019-12-20 19:30:00December 20, 201948 - 59Recap
2019-12-27 19:30:00December 27, 201957 - 60Recap
2020-01-03 19:15:00January 3, 202054 - 37Recap
2020-01-07 19:30:00January 7, 202056 - 30
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2020-01-10 19:30:00January 10, 202043 - 58Recap
2020-01-14 19:30:00January 14, 202063 - 61Recap
2020-01-17 19:30:00January 17, 202047 - 62Recap
2020-01-21 19:30:00January 21, 202072 - 46Recap
2020-01-24 19:30:00January 24, 202052 - 40Recap
2020-01-25 19:30:00January 25, 202041 - 60Recap
2020-01-31 19:30:00January 31, 202059 - 40
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2020-02-04 19:30:00February 4, 202057 - 53Recap
2020-02-11 19:30:00February 11, 202068 - 21Recap
2020-02-14 19:30:00February 14, 202059 - 68Recap
2020-02-17 19:30:00February 17, 202041 - 42Recap
2020-02-19 09:48:26February 19, 202066 - 53Recap
2020-02-26 09:49:31February 26, 202059 - 56Recap

 

Minford

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Hunter Davis40000
1Trenton Zimmerman80000
3Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis170000
5Skylar Knore60000
10Nathan McCormick60000
11Drew Skaggs20000
13Matthew Risner20000
14Levi Coriell00000
21Adam Crank30000
23Andy Crank20000
24Jonathon Strickland20000
30Kaden Kelley20000
32Devan Parker00000
44Ethan Connally20000
 Total560000

Valley

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1George Arnett20000
2Brecken Williams00000
3Ty Perkins20000
4Dylan Ellis70000
10Carter Nickel40000
12Kayden Mollette80000
13Jared Gahm00000
21Jacob Greathouse00000
24Bryce Stuart40000
25Nick Mowery00000
32Mason Zaler30000
 Total300000

Court

Minford

Details

Date Time League Season
January 7, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

McCorkle 18 points, 13 boards and 5 blocks puts Burg over Falcons

vs

Results

TeamTOutcome
Wheelersburg59Win
Minford50Loss

WHEELERSBURG —Carter McCorkle kept the Wheelersburg Pirates’ ship afloat on Friday night, before it was bombs away against the visiting Minford Falcons by almost everybody else.

#
21
Name
Carter McCorkle
Class
2021
Height
6-04
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Spearheaded by the six-foot, four-inch junior McCorkle — who paced the Pirates and all players with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots — undefeated Wheelersburg shot its way back from a seven-point first-half deficit, and pushed past the Falcons 59-50 in a Southern Ohio Conference Division II tilt at Wheelersburg High School.

With the victory, the Pirates remained perfect at 7-0 —and atop the division at 5-0.

In addition, Wheelersburg made Minford its 26th consecutive conference victim — as the defending champion Pirates last lost an SOC II affair in the 2017-18 campaign.

But, first things first for Wheelersburg coach Steven Ater, it was about being “1-0 tonight and winning this moment.”

Head Coach Steven Ater

Current Team
Wheelersburg
“Minford is about as good as anybody we’ve faced. They don’t have just one scoring threat. They have five guys who can shoot the three-pointer and everybody coming off the bench can as well. They put it on the floor and find each other well. They have good size and length too. But give our guys credit,” he said. “We got down seven, battled back to tie it up at halftime, and in the third and fourth quarter especially, they took a lot of contested shots. We started attacking offensively, and that got our confidence going.”

Minford, meanwhile, fell to 5-4 and 3-3 in the SOC II, but had the Pirates in peril for a four-minute and 24-second second-quarter stretch — in which the Falcons found themselves in front by seven points twice (27-20 and 30-23).

But as the Pirates started to shoot themselves out of the game against Minford’s zone defense, they flipped the switch and started to hit over an 11-minute and 20-second span of the middle two quarters —and thus turned the tide to lead 44-38 after three frames.

In the fourth quarter, Wheelersburg —by making 5-of-7 free throws and four field goals —opened up a lead as large as a dozen at 56-44, as the Falcons forged no closer than a 46-42 deficit on an Adam Crank old-fashioned three-point play just 45 seconds in.

#
10
Name
Nathan McCormick
Class
2020
Height
6-01
Current Team
Minford
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Nathan McCormick collected a basket to make it 48-44 with six-and-a-half minutes remaining, but from there, McCormick canning a three-point goal with eight seconds remaining for the 59-50 final was the Falcons’ only other field goal.

They did convert 4-of-7 free throws in the final period, but J.J. Truitt’s old-fashioned three-point play for the Pirates to make it 51-44 with 6:19 remaining never allowed Minford to get any closer.

In Ater’s own words, McCorkle “carried us early when shots weren’t falling”.

He scored 13 of his 18 in the opening half, including three of his five total field goals and 7-of-8 of his 8-of-10 free throws.

He also blocked three of his five shots in the first 16 minutes.

“Carter McCorkle was just unbelievable. He changed shots when he wasn’t blocking them,” said Ater. “Offensively, early on, he carried us.”

Minford coach Josh Shoemaker concurred about McCorkle, and the Pirates’ defense, which forced them into 18-of-53 (34-percent) shooting with seven shots blocked.

The Falcons fired up 26 shots and made a dozen in the opening half, then couldn’t buy a bucket in the second 16 minutes —going 6-of-27.

Minford also committed 11 turnovers, compared to just five for Wheelersburg.

“In the third quarter, we came out cold and that’s a credit to Wheelersburg’s defense. We had too many critical turnovers because we weren’t patient enough. A couple of times, we just missed wide open shots. Wheelersburg’s length also bothered us. They had a lot of blocked shots tonight, where we had a great fast-break layup and they weren’t fouls. They were good clean blocks. But that’s the difference winning and losing basketball games,” said Shoemaker. “If we get more shots to drop outside, it’s a different game. We’ve shot the ball well this year, but we didn’t shoot it well tonight and we came up on the short end.”

Actually, Minford made its shots, five three-pointers to be exact, through the opening 14 minutes.

McCormick connected on a pair, Trenton Zimmerman rained in a pair in the second quarter, and Matthew Risner recorded one in the second quarter for a 30-23 advantage at the two-minute mark.

#
13
Name
Eli Swords
Class
2022
Height
5-11
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2019-20
But after Eli Swords’ two trifectas for Wheelersburg in the opening period, the Pirates didn’t dial up another three-ball until the final 2:17 — when they made three threes thanks to one by Truitt to make it 27-23 and two by Matthew Miller in the final 38 seconds for the 30-30 halftime tie.

“At halftime, we talked about how we moved the basketball well. But we had two critical turnovers right there at the end of the second quarter. That left (Matthew) Miller open for two threes to tie it up,” said Shoemaker.

Miller then picked up in the third frame where he left off in the second, nailing another triple just 25 seconds in to make it 33-30 — and giving the Pirates the lead for good.

Minford’s Skylar Knore (34-33) and Zimmerman (36-36) made threes to keep the Falcons close, but Truitt’s trey broke the game’s final of three ties (36-36) — before Aaron Jolly jacked up one and hit to make it 42-36 at the 1:50 mark.

“We got into our rhythm, and sometimes it just takes one shot to go in for the dam to break. Matthew Miller made two right before the half and he comes out in the third quarter and bangs in another,” said Ater. “It was like confidence. The shots started to fall, we started doing some good things and working inside-out and passing the ball. I thought we were holding the ball too much against their zone. Trying to analyze and look for an opening instead of just moving the basketball and getting good crisp movement to find open shots. Once we started seeing the ball go through, we wanted more of those.”

“Our zone was so effective because we rebounded well out of it. In the second half, Wheelersburg came out confident, hit a couple of threes early in the third quarter and got the lead,’ said Shoemaker. “Then they are stronger inside than us driving the basketball, and that put them on the foul line and we fouled them.”

Both teams took 27 shots from inside the three-point arc and made 10, while both fired up at least 25 three-point attempts and notched eight.

A big difference: Minford was 6-of-10 at the free-throw line while Wheelersburg was 15-of-19.

“That’s as well as we have shot free throws all year,” said Ater. “But, we have spent a little time on them over the holiday break here. It’s good to see that pay off.”

Besides McCorkle’s 18, Miller managed 13 points, Swords scored 12 and Truitt tallied 11 —as Truitt (3-of-4) and Swords (2-of-3) combined for all of the Pirates’ fourth-quarter foul shots.

Kenny Sanderlin sank two second-stanza freebies, as Truitt had eight rebounds and dished out four assists.

McCormick poured in 16 points to pace the Falcons on five field goals and 3-of-4 foul shots, as he and Zimmerman (nine points) drilled three three-pointers apiece.

Risner and Knore, with two deuces and one trey, each scored seven.

Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis led the Falcons in rebounds with nine, as Zimmerman pulled down seven boards.

Shoemaker said at some point, despite Minford playing hard and giving good effort, it needs to check off some win boxes.

“We’ve competed well and been in every game, but it’s time to start winning these bigger games. It would be nice to knock off one of these teams like Wheelersburg who is undefeated, Oak Hill who has one loss (to Wheelersburg) and Jackson who has two losses (to Wheelersburg and Chillicothe),” he said. “We’re right there, but you can only be there so many times without seeing some ‘Ws’. The kids are putting out the effort, but they needed to be rewarded for that with wins.”

The Falcons returned home, and returned to non-league action, by hosting Wellston on Saturday.

Wheelersburg returns home, and returns to SOC II Division II action, against Waverly on Tuesday night.

* * *

Minford 11 19 9 11 — 50

Wheelersburg 14 16 14 15 — 59

MINFORD 50 (5-4, 3-3 SOC II)

Hunter Davis 1 0-0 2, Trenton Zimmerman 3 0-0 9, Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis 1 1-3 3, Skylar Knore 3 0-0 7, Nathan McCormick 5 3-4 16, Drew Skaggs 0 1-2 1, Matthew Risner 3 0-0 7, Adam Crank 2 1-1 5; TOTALS 18 6-10 50; Three-point goals: 8 (Nathan McCormick and Trenton Zimmerman 3 apiece, Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis and Matthew Risner 1 apiece)

WHEELERSBURG 59 (7-0, 5-0 SOC II)

Aaron Jolly 1 0-0 3, Matthew Miller 5 0-0 13, Eli Swords 4 2-3 12, Carter McCorkle 5 8-10 18, J.J. Truitt 3 3-4 11, Gage Adkins 0 0-0 0, Kenny Sanderlin 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 18 15-19 59; Three-point goals: 8 (Matthew Miller 3, Eli Swords and J.J. Truitt 2 apiece, Aaron Jolly 1)

 

Pirates 2019-20 Schedule & Results

DateHomeResultsAwayArticle
2019-12-10 19:30:00December 10, 201935 - 63
Recap
2019-12-13 19:30:00December 13, 201957 - 43Recap
2019-12-17 19:30:00December 17, 201947 - 50
Recap
2019-12-20 19:30:00December 20, 201940 - 89Recap
2019-12-21 19:30:00December 21, 201956 - 58Recap
2019-12-28 19:30:00December 28, 201960 - 62Recap
2020-01-03 19:30:00January 3, 202059 - 50
Recap
2020-01-07 19:30:00January 7, 202058 - 67Recap
2020-01-10 19:30:00January 10, 202060 - 79Recap
2020-01-11 19:30:00January 11, 202047 - 56Recap
2020-01-14 19:30:00January 14, 202073 - 46Recap
2020-01-18 19:30:00January 18, 202069 - 32Recap
2020-01-21 19:30:00January 21, 202072 - 46Recap
2020-01-24 19:30:00January 24, 202031 - 67Recap
2020-01-25 19:30:00January 25, 202052 - 62Recap
2020-01-28 19:30:00January 28, 202056 - 49
Recap
2020-02-01 23:01:51February 1, 202039 - 94Recap
2020-02-04 19:30:00February 4, 202047 - 68Recap
2020-02-08 19:30:00February 8, 202094 - 28Recap
2020-02-11 19:30:00February 11, 202078 - 48Recap
2020-02-13 16:30:00February 13, 202054 - 60Recap
2020-02-14 19:30:00February 14, 202040 - 66Recap
2020-02-22 10:06:04February 22, 202055 - 32Recap
2020-03-01 15:45:46March 1, 202051 - 54Recap

Wheelersburg

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
10Aaron Jolly30000
12Mathew Miller130000
13Eli Swords120000
21Carter McCorkle180000
22JJ Truitt110000
23Gage Adkins00000
35Kenny Sanderlin20000
 Total590000

Minford

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Hunter Davis20000
1Trenton Zimmerman90000
3Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis30000
5Skylar Knore70000
10Nathan McCormick160000
11Drew Skaggs10000
13Matthew Risner70000
21Adam Crank50000
 Total500000

Court

Wheelersburg

Details

Date Time League Season
January 3, 2020 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

New Boston shoots 33 FT in 56-43 win

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Glenwood56Win
Green43Loss

New Boston shoots 33 FT in 56-43 win

By Paul Boggs

 

NEW BOSTON — Adam Cox admitted he found himself sweating this one out.

“I haven’t sweated all year, and I sweated all night tonight,” said Cox, the Tigers’ third-year head coach. “It just was a hard-fought game. They battled every quarter.”

That’s because the visiting Green Bobcats had the Tigers seeing proverbial red, or even white on Friday night, and were within an eyelash of perhaps stealing their undefeated Christmas.

But not so fast friends and countrymen — the sky is not falling, rumors of the Tigers’ demise are greatly exaggerated, and New Boston’s happy holiday is indeed saved.

The Tigers — having to navigate a minefield full of foul calls, foul shots and many missed shots — tallied the final 11 points over the game’s final three minutes and 56 seconds, and carved out from the free-throw fest a 56-43 Southern Ohio Conference Division I boys basketball victory inside Homer Pellegrinon Memorial Gymnasium in New Boston.

With the win, the talented and highly-touted Tigers are now a perfect 7-0 — and 4-0 and tied atop the SOC I with newcomer Ironton St. Joseph.

While Whiteoak — in a non-league encounter a week ago — only lost to the Tigers by eight points (58-50), Cox commented that the Bobcats brought a much greater and intense physical challenge.

There were 54 combined free throws — on 48 total fouls called.

“I’m just proud of our guys to weather through the storm of what was definitely the most physical ballgame we’ve played all year. The physicality was…with all the free throws, it was hard for us to get into a rhythm. And I’m not so sure that wasn’t the most fouls I’ve ever been a part of in a high school game in my life,” said Cox. “There were a lot. We shot 33 free throws and they shot 21. There were a lot of quick whistles, and both Green and us had to adjust to the style of play that they were calling. We battled through it, we showed some resilience.”

So too did the Bobcats, but Green head coach Dirk Hollar was clearly frustrated with all the whistles — and elimination of the game’s flow.

In the first half, the Tigers were in the one-and-one bonus situation with 6:17 remaining — and in the double bonus by the 4:24 mark.

In the second half, both teams were in the one-and-one for the final 9:39 — with New Boston being in it for the final 10:16.

A half-dozen Bobcats picked up at least three personals — as their leading scorers Gage Sampson (14 points), Alec Smith (11 points) and Ethan Huffman (eight points) all fouled out.

“It’s very frustrating, because I feel like we got nothing,” said Hollar. “It’s really sad for the kids because that was a great ballgame, and I’m not saying that it would have made a difference in the outcome, but we felt the kids on both sides were taken out of the game tonight.”

The Bobcats — now an even 4-4 but 1-3 in the SOC I — also battled back from a 22-7 deficit with five minutes and 27 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Green’s lone lead was at 3-2 on a Smith three-pointer, as the Tigers turned up the pressure and began to pull away before Smith started the Bobcats’ comeback bid with his other three-pointer — at the 5:17 mark of the second to get Green within a dozen (22-10).

It sliced that deficit in half to 27-21 at halftime by outscoring the Tigers 14-5 over the final five-plus minutes, then trailed 42-36 after three quarters — as Green got the deficit down to two points three times in the third (34-32, 36-34 and 38-36) and twice more in the fourth (44-42 and 45-43).

However, the Bobcats never got within one, tied or took the lead again — and actually failed to score again after Huffman hit 2-of-3 free throws over a 26-second span midway through the final period.

Huffman hit a foul shot with 3:56 remaining, but the Tigers scored the final 11 over the final two-and-a-half minutes.

As the Bobcats misfired from the field, including a Huffman three-pointer from the wing which would have given Green a 46-45 lead, the Tigers took advantage — as Grady Jackson grabbed the rebound and drove coast-to-coast for the layup and a four-point (47-43) bulge.

New Boston standout Kyle Sexton scored inside at the minute-and-a-half mark, and the Tigers — despite shooting a whopping 33 free throws and only making 18 of them — converted seven of their final 10 over the final minute and 13 seconds.

The Tigers netted 9-of-17 freebies in the second half, as all 10 of Sexton’s attempts with five makes were over the final 16 minutes.

Sexton — despite sitting most of the second quarter with two personal fouls — poured in a game-high 17 points, as he also made six field goals.

He ripped down 20 rebounds as well, and amassed five assists and five steals.

“We called a couple of sets to get Kyle some looks and we were able to hit some free throws down the stretch. We started to run our sets with more patience,” said Cox. “We were able to spread them out to the point where they had to come out and guard us.”

But the final four minutes of shutout basketball was more of a credit to the Tigers’ defense.

Trailing 49-43 and only 90 seconds still to play, Green was forced to foul — so its personals number inflated to 28 along with New Boston’s free-throw attempts to 33.

Hollar said his charges didn’t protect the basketball in the final few minutes, much they like did in falling behind 22-7.

“We turned the ball over too much tonight. We panicked and we rushed and tried to get shots, but in doing so, we just didn’t take care of the ball. Plain and simple,” said the coach. “We went over and over and over that you can’t dribble the ball against this team. New Boston did a great job defensively, but we can’t dribble against a 2-2-1, and we continued to try it tonight.”

The Bobcats started slow again, scoring just the seven points prior to the 5:27 point of the second quarter — on Smith’s three and a basket and 2-of-4 free throws by Sampson.

“Ever since the South Webster game, which was the second game of the year, it’s like we have no sense of urgency to jump out on a team and get that swag before they get it,” said Hollar. “We can’t start every game down five, 10, 15 points. We scored seven points tonight in a quarter-and-a-half.”

Sampson finished with five field and 4-of-6 free throws, while Smith sank four field goals and a foul shot.

Huffman had eight on three deuces and 2-of-3 fourth-quarter free throws, while four other Bobcats combined for two field goals and 6-of-8 at the line.

Green made 13-of-21 at the stripe.

Jerome McKinley followed Sexton with 14 points on five field goals and 4-of-6 free throws, while Tanner Voiers — on two third-quarter field goals and 5-of-8 free throws — notched nine.

Jackson scored eight off the bench on four buckets, as four other Tigers tallied at least one point apiece.

The Tigers, despite not canning a single three-point goal and missing several short-range in-close opportunities, totaled a 19-14 advantage in total field goals.

Cox said a key was his club keeping steady the ship when Sexton was on the bench in first-half foul trouble.

“I made a decision, given the amount of fouls being called, to sit Sexton second quarter. I wanted to show our depth and our bench that I believed in them, even if our captain and our leader was on the bench with fouls. I wanted to see what they could do to handle it,” he said. “What was crazy was that we just practiced on Wednesday without Sexton. He was icing and rehabbing his knee which he hurt against Clay. I thought we looked good that practice, and I thought that really helped us tonight to get through that and maintain the lead.”

Hollar believes had his Bobcats either tied or taken the lead late, they would have captured the victory.

“We couldn’t get over that hump. But when you miss a lot of easy layups and jumpers, you don’t get over that hump. I thought if we got over the hump, we would have a chance to win. I’m very proud of how my kids played and fought. New Boston is one of the best teams in Southern Ohio. It was a one or two-possession game for the final two-and-a-half quarters.”

The Bobcats returned home, and returned to non-league action, on Saturday night in a makeup matchup against Fairview (Ky.).

Meanwhile, New Boston is off until Friday night — when it travels to Meigs County and sees a solid Southern squad.

But first things first, Cox can quit sweating — and start enjoying — this Christmas holiday.

“My first two years, we didn’t win the game right before Christmas. I’ve lost every Christmas break game and I’ve struggled through Christmas. So it’s an early Christmas gift,” he said. “We’re undefeated in the league and we’ll have some time to get some work in. Give Green all the credit in the world and they weren’t backing down from us. For us winning a game like this, where we have a lot to improve on, it builds character. I was glad we were able to persevere and hold the ball and seal it with some made free throws.”

* * *

Green 6 15 15 7— 43

New Boston 15 12 15 14— 56

GREEN 43 (4-4, 1-3 SOC I)

Trevor Darnell 1 0-0 2, Gage Sampson 5 4-6 14, Ethan Huffman 3 2-3 8, Alec Smith 4 1-4 11, Levi Singleton 0 0-0 0, Levi Sampson 0 2-2 2, Mason Hensley 1 2-4 4, Troy Otworth 0 2-2 2; TOTALS 14 13-21 43; Three-point goals: 2 (Alec Smith 2)

NEW BOSTON 56 (7-0, 4-0 SOC I)

Malachi Potts 0 0-0 0, Grady Jackson 4 0-2 8, Tanner Voiers 2 5-8 9, Kyle Sexton 6 5-10 17, De’von Jones 0 2-2 2, Devin McLaurin 0 1-2 1, Blake Grant 0 0-0 0, Marcus Saunders 1 0-1 2, Jerome McKinley 5 4-6 14, Chase Clark 1 1-2 3; TOTALS 19 18-13 55; Three-point goals: none

Glenwood

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
0Malachi Potts00000
2Grady Jackson80000
3Tanner Voiers90000
4Kyle Sexton170000
5Devon Jones20000
12Devin McLaurin10000
13Blake Grant00000
23Marcus Saunders20000
24Jerome McKinley140000
32Chase Clark30000
 Total560000

Green

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Trevor Darnell20010
2Gage Sampson1215310
3Ethan Huffman87010
10Alec Smith84100
11Levi Singleton33100
23Levi Sampson49000
24Mason Hensley46010
30Troy Otworth21000
 Total4345540

Court

Glenwood

Details

Date Time League Season
December 20, 2019 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

Burg rallies for dramatic win at Oak Hill

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Oak Hill47Loss
Wheelersburg50Win

Pirates pull through against Oaks

‘Burg rallies for dramatic win at Oak Hill

By Paul Boggs

 

 

OAK HILL — You can’t quite call it a Christmas miracle, but what the Wheelersburg Pirates pulled off on Tuesday night at Oak Hill had to come close.

As the Oaks attempted to steal the Pirates’ proverbial Christmas, and earn a leg up in the early-season Southern Ohio Conference Division II championship chase, the Pirates pulled off an impressive fourth-quarter comeback — and ultimately a key victory in their quest to go back-to-back atop the SOC II.

Trailing by nine entering the final quarter, and out of sorts at that juncture after adversity all throughout, Wheelersburg stunned Oak Hill by outscoring the Oaks 14-2 in the fourth — and escaped “The Nuthouse” with an improbable but gigantic 50-47 ‘W’.

That’s correct.

With the victory, Wheelersburg — the defending division champion after Oak Hill held the title for two years — raised its record to 3-0 both ways, while the Oaks (5-1, 3-1 SOC II) are no longer undefeated.

It was also the Pirates’ fourth consecutive win over Oak Hill — which has one of the top workhorse players in Southeastern Ohio in six-foot, four-inch senior center Chase Hammond and longtime legendary head coach Norm Persin, who ranks third all-time in career coaching victories in the Buckeye State with 753.

However, for the here and now, Wheelersburg and Waverly are tied for the SOC II lead at 3-0 — with the Oaks now a game back in the loss column.

And, you have to consider this one an early Christmas present for the Pirates.

“We talk to our kids all the time about winning the moment. The moment tonight was winning each individual possession and getting each individual stop, and combine those up to that one moment to win the game. We did that,” said Wheelersburg coach Steven Ater. “In the fourth quarter, we put ourselves in position because we kept winning a few more little battles. We flipped to that 14-2 finish, and I really liked the way we came together tonight. We had a lot of great performances from a lot of different guys.”

The Pirates, prior to leading or being tied for the final two minutes and five seconds, had led only once at 14-12 at the five-and-a-half minute mark of the second quarter — after trailing 10-3 just four minutes and 53 seconds into the opening period.

In fact, Oak Hill had Wheelersburg down by nine on four occasions, including 28-19, 30-21, 43-34 and finally 45-36 at the end of the third frame — following Hammond’s first field goal of the second half after amassing 18 first-half points on a spectacular 9-of-10 shooting.

However, Hammond — and the Oaks — only amounted two more points the rest of the way, and those weren’t until only a minute and 40 seconds remained.

Meanwhile, the Pirates “pulled together” as Ater admitted — and put together a 14-point period that, truth be told, was really remarkable.

“I thought we saw a group come together after struggling to find our identity. We have a lot of new faces, mixing together for the first time. And that’s a whole lot of adversity we faced,” said the coach. “The ball started moving and we started trusting one another. I was really proud of how we came together like that, playing unselfish.”

Through the first three-and-a-half minutes, Eli Swords sank a three-pointer, J.J. Truitt split two free throws, and freshman Kenny Sanderlin scored off a Matthew Miller assist to get within 45-42.

Finally, a minute and 15 tics later, Truitt — the standout junior who had scored 18 points apiece in each of the Orange and Black’s opening two tilts — tagged the Oaks with arguably the shot of the night.

Truitt pulled up just inside the volleyball line, and from well outside the arc splashed the game-tying three-pointer.

Call it the shot heard ‘round Oak Hill, but you could hear the celebration all the way back in Wheelersburg.

“That’s just the confidence and the work J.J. has put in. He starts to step into that shot, and we all felt like it was going in,” said Ater. “For him to step through, and clear his mind and have the confidence to knock that down, just really proud of him.”

But, the Pirates weren’t done.

With 2:05 to play, the Pirates pushed in front 47-45 — only their second lead and first in 19 minutes and 25 seconds after initially leading for only 17 seconds.

Carter McCorkle made the go-ahead bucket — right underneath the rim and on a drop-off dump-off pass from Swords.

After Hammond had the game-tying basket 25 seconds later, which turned out to be the Oaks’ only points of the entire quarter, Sanderlin sank a pair of clutch free throws for a 49-47 Wheelersburg lead at the 1:06 mark.

Swords then made the Pirates’ primary defensive play — blocking the shot of Oak Hill’s Keaton Potter as he drove down the lane with 26 seconds to go.

Truitt then split a pair of free throws five seconds later, which gave the Oaks an opportunity for the tie and force overtime tied at 50 apiece.

After an Oak Hill timeout with 13.7 seconds showing, Drew Hanning had a great look for the tie off the left wing but missed, although Potter grabbed the rebound with the final seconds ticking away.

Potter raced right back to the other wing and attempted a contested three, but his trey try also didn’t fall — and Wheelersburg was the winner in unlikely fashion from just eight minutes earlier.

But while Wheelersburg’s offense produced 50 points, with Sanderlin scoring 14 on five field goals and 3-of-5 foul shots and Truitt tallying 13 on four field goals and 4-of-7 free throws, it was the Pirates’ second-half defense on Hammond that made the biggest difference.

Hammond, the Oaks’ excellent scorer and offensive rebounder, had a game-high 22 points on 11 field goals — including eight of the team’s 10 first-period points followed by 10 of the team’s 20 in the second stanza.

Hammond has a superior drop-step move when posted up, and executed it to perfection as the Pirates simply had no answer.

Ater explained that the 6-4 McCorkle started on Hammond, but he picked up a quick foul, and the Pirates played primarily Sanderlin on Hammond until the start of the second half.

With McCorkle manning Hammond, he only scored in the waning seconds of the third — followed by his and the Oaks’ only points of the fourth.

“We did a great job defensively in the second half. Carter (McCorkle) adjusted to how he was playing him (Hammond). We took Carter off him after he got that foul, saving him for the second half. I thought Kenny (Sanderlin) and Gage (Adkins) and J.J. (Truitt) all battled with him, but he got a lot of clean looks. That’s just how good of a player he can be. But Carter’s length, in the second half, certainly bothered him,” said Ater. “Give Carter credit, or we wouldn’t even have a chance in that ballgame.”

But Persin said Wheelersburg didn’t do anything different defensively in the second half as opposed to the first.

“Chase (Hammond) made the same moves he made all night, but in the fourth quarter he just doesn’t finish them. They kept switching men on him, but it was just about him not finishing. He made some good moves around the basket, but look how many shots rolled around the rim and wouldn’t fall for him. We get to the rim a couple of times, and we don’t make them,” he said. “We played the game hard for three quarters, and we played it hard for the fourth, we just didn’t finish things.”

Fouls and foul shooting also impacted the Oaks, which only go about seven-deep, as Oak Hill had foul trouble all throughout.

In the first half, Potter, Noah Donley and Landon Hines had three fouls apiece, as Potter — on a double-technical situation with Truitt that stemmed from a loose-ball battle with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter — played the final 10:26 with four personals.

Wheelersburg benefited from attempting 18 free throws and making 11, while Oak Hill had only eight attempts and connected on four.

Three of those misses, in fact, were crucial front ends of the one-and-one bonus situation — in the final three-and-a-half minutes.

Hammond missed his before Truitt tied it at 45-45, as Potter and Hanning had their misses on the possessions prior to the Pirates seizing the 47-45 lead.

“You have to make your free throws. Let’s say if we split those three free throws, that’s three points, and we probably win the game somewhere along the line,” said Persin.

Hanning, on four field goals and 4-of-6 free throws including three third-period baskets and 2-of-3 foul shots, had a dozen for the Oaks.

Luke Stewart sank two triples as part of the 20-point second stanza, while Potter posted five in the 15-point third on a deuce and a trey.

Donley dropped in a field goal in the second quarter.

Persin said the Oaks’ opportunity at a key conference victory simply got away, but that it is indeed a long season, especially in the SOC II.

Oak Hill has a chance to rebound on Friday night when it travels to Waverly.

“We go to Waverly on Friday and let’s see what we do there. We can bounce back and get one on the road. This is a long season in the league. There’s a lot of good teams in our league, so I don’t think anybody is going to walk through it undefeated,” said Persin. “So we shall see.”

Miller added eight Pirate points on two field goals and 4-of-6 first-half foul shots, which kept the Pirates within striking distance at halftime trailing 30-25.

Swords scored seven on three field goals, McCorkle mustered six on three baskets, and Gage Adkins added a bucket in the third frame.

Ater explained that every Pirate point of the 50 was necessary — in being able to pull off what was close to a Christmas miracle on Tuesday night.

“We traded punches with them for a half, but we were able to deliver the last one in the fourth. It was just our guys’ heart and resolve to simply not lose this game,” he said. “At different points throughout the night, we could have just folded it up, said good job by Oak Hill and gone on home. But our guys had a lot more spirit and fight in them tonight and I am really proud of them.”

Wheelersburg will return to the road, and will return to SOC II action, on Friday night at winless Northwest.

* * *

Wheelersburg 7 18 11 14— 50

Oak Hill 10 20 15 2— 47

WHEELERSBURG 50 (3-0, 3-0 SOC II)

Aaron Jolly 0 0-0 0, Matthew Miller 2 4-6 8, Eli Swords 3 0-0 7, Aaron Masters 0 0-0 0, Carter McCorkle 3 0-0 6, J.J. Truitt 4 4-7 13, Gage Adkins 1 0-0 2, Kenny Sanderlin 5 3-5 14; TOTALS 18 11-18 50; Three-point goals: 3 (Eli Swords, J.J. Truitt and Kenny Sanderlin 1 apiece)

OAK HILL 47 (5-1, 3-1 SOC II)

Keaton Potter 2 0-1 5, Drew Hanning 4 4-6 12, Luke Stewart 2 0-0 6, Noah Donley 1 0-0 2, Landon Hines 0 0-0 0 Chase Hammond 11 0-1 22, Jordan Morgan 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 20 4-8 47; Three-point goals: 3 (Luke Stewart 2, Keaton Potter 1)

Oak Hill

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
3Keaton Potter50000
10Drew Hanning120000
11Landon Hines00000
15Luke Stewart60000
21Noah Donley20000
24Chase Hammond220000
32Jordan Morgan00000
 Total470000

Wheelersburg

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
10Aaron Jolly00000
12Mathew Miller80000
13Eli Swords70000
14Aaron Masters00000
21Carter McCorkle60000
22JJ Truitt130000
23Gage Adkins20000
35Kenny Sanderlin140000
 Total500000

Court

Oak Hill

Details

Date Time League Season
December 17, 2019 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20

Panthers pummel Trojans in OVC

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Results

TeamTOutcome
Portsmouth36Loss
Chesapeake80Win

Panthers pummel Trojans in OVC

‘Peake perfect still after 80-37 rout

By Paul Boggs

 

 

PORTSMOUTH — If you’re a Portsmouth Trojans’ boys basketball fan, blame it on being Friday the 13th.

If you’re a Chesapeake Panthers’ supporter, conversely, this night needed not a lot of luck.

On a Friday night of when it indeed rains it pours, the visiting Panthers scored the game’s first 11 points and 20 of the opening 23 — and outscored the Trojans 50-20 in the second half en route to surprisingly pummeling Portsmouth 80-37 in an Ohio Valley Conference affair inside Portsmouth High School’s Trojan Arena.

That’s correct.

Chesapeake hit 80, while the Trojans never reached 40.

With the win, Chesapeake remained undefeated at 3-0 — and 2-0 in the OVC.

It was also the second time that the Panthers have traveled to Scioto County within the past 10 days — and amassed at least 80 points.

They also scored 76 on Tuesday in their OVC opener against Rock Hill, but getting 80 on Friday including 50 in the second half had to be head-turning — and even eye-popping — to some.

Four Panthers posted double figures — as Ethan Taylor tallied a game-high 20 on eight total field goals and a free throw.

#
2
Name
Travis Grim
Class
2021
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
Travis Grim garnered 14 on six total field goals,

 

#
4
Name
Levi Blankenship
Class
2022
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
  Levi Blankenship boasted 13 on four field goals and 2-of-3 free throws,

 

#
12
Name
Austin Jackson
Class
2020
Current Team
Chesapeake
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
and Austin Jackson chipped in a dozen on five field goals and a split of second-quarter foul shots.

 

The foursome combined for the seven Panther three-pointers, as Chesapeake torched the Trojans’ transition game and full-court press for layups and easy baskets all night.

While veteran Chesapeake coach Ryan Davis said his squad has started the season strong defensively, they hadn’t — until Friday — turned turnovers into transition buckets.

Taylor, Grim and Josh Cox collected seven rebounds apiece, as Jackson grabbed five — all in the second quarter.

Head Coach Ryan Davis

Current Team
Chesapeake
“Against Valley, we forced 20 first-half turnovers, but didn’t turn them into baskets. Tonight, eventually, we did that. We finally started containing some people, contesting shots and making shots tough. Then rebounding the ball and getting out,” said Davis. “We can run, and we’re tough. Pushing the tempo for us is not an issue.”

Indeed, Chesapeake’s defense did the job early on, as the Trojans turned the ball over 13 times in the first half — and more importantly missed their first 14 shot attempts.

Chesapeake scored 13 of the 14 total first-period points, with the Trojans finally getting on the board with 24 seconds remaining — on a Matthew Fraulini free throw.

After Taylor tallied his three-pointer for a 19-1 Panther bulge with only a minute and 20 seconds gone by in the second, Dariyonne Bryant bucketed two foul shots — before Taylor tacked on two deuces to make it 23-3 with 4:55 remaining before halftime.

Taylor — the six-foot, four-inch sophomore — had 15 of his 20 before halftime and 11 in the second quarter, spelling Cox on the inside as he got into early foul trouble.

He also blocked three shots.

“We had a lot of great minutes out of Ethan Taylor,” said Davis.

Finally, on their 15th shot attempt, the Trojans scored their first field goal after 11 minutes and 55 seconds of game time — a three-pointer by Jessie Dixon.

Truth be told, the Trojans weren’t seeing any black cats, just purple Panthers putting it on them.

Portsmouth shot just 4-of-22 in the first half, part of 11-of-55 for 20-percent for the entire tilt with 24 turnovers.

Many of those missed shots were from close range — either layups in the lane or rebound putbacks.

Head Coach Gene Collins

Current Team
Portsmouth
“It just unraveled on us early on. We started the game with getting several stops defensively, but we just missed several shots right from point-blank range. Then they got going and once they got going, we just kept missing. If we weren’t missing, we were turning it over. It just turned into an onslaught of 23-3 at one point,” said 12-year Portsmouth head coach Gene Collins.

But over the final four-and-a-half minutes of the second stanza, the Trojans actually doubled up the Panthers 14-7 to trail by 13 four times (24-11, 26-13, 28-15 and 30-17) — including 30-17 at halftime.

Drew Roe, who paced Portsmouth with four field goals towards 11 points, rattled in his first of two triples to make it 24-11 — as the Trojans shot 7-of-15 from the free-throw line in the opening half, including 4-of-4 by Bryant and one apiece by Roe and Miles Shipp.

Amare Johnson scored a pair of second-quarter baskets, then his final field goal just 40 seconds into the third quarter got the Trojans to within 11.

But for the final 6:55 of the third, Chesapeake put up 26 points compared to the Trojans’ 10 — as the Panthers tripled the Trojans’ total in the fourth for a 24-8 count.

The 80-37 final, in fact, was the largest margin of the game.

The Panthers held a 33-11 advantage in total field goals, and shot 33-of-64 from the field for 51.5-percent — thanks in large part to layups in breaking the Trojans’ transition defense.

Trent Dearth scored eight points — on four third-quarter field goals.

They sank 7-of-16 threes, including 5-of-10 in the second half — with three by Blankenship and two by Grim.

“We actually didn’t handle the press the way I wanted us to, but we didn’t turn the ball over against it,” said Davis. “In the second half, we stopped pushing the ball into bad spots and turning it over and taking bad shots. We settled down and got ourselves good shots when we did run.”

Collins said the Panthers picked up in the second half where they left off in the first.

“We got it down to 11 (30-19), but they score in waves and we continued to miss easy shots,” he said. “That floodgate opened, it got away from us and we were never able to recover. We knew transition was going to be an issue. The frustrating thing was that we thought we had a sound gameplan to stop their transition by getting back. We just didn’t get back. But when you’re turning it over that much, it’s hard to get back. Now they have the court open, and they are very good in transition. It’s a lesson learned for our young group.”

Both clubs are young, as the nine-man Panthers sport just Jackson and Cox as seniors, while Portsmouth’s sole senior in the regular rotation is Fraulini.

The Trojans start three sophomores including Bryant, who went 6-of-6 at the stripe as part of eight points, while fellow sophomores Johnson and Dixon scored six apiece — including 3-of-6 foul shots by Dixon.

It was also the Trojans’ third game in four days — all of which were losses but at least the first two were decided by seven points or less (82-75 loss at South Point on Tuesday and 71-66 loss against Huntington St. Joseph on Wednesday).

Portsmouth, which opened the season on Dec. 6 with a non-league triumph over Piketon, fell to 1-3 — and 0-2 in the OVC.

Friday the 13th, unfortunately for the Trojans, felt like such.

“We’re still playing catch-up and the schedule hasn’t been in our favor so far, but it’s not the end of the world,” said Collins. “Right now, we’re trying to restore some confidence in our kids. I’m more worried right now about our mental than our physical. We just have to continue to work with these young guys. We’re going to be okay. No matter what our record is or what it’s going to be, our goal is to get better.”

The Panthers’ record remains perfect — but they still aim to be better as well.

“We’ll take 3-0 through three games. Three years ago, we won just four all year. I’m learning to be appreciative of wins. And I am appreciative of these guys,” said Davis. “Nobody knows the type of guys that we have on the team. They are coachable and driven and they’ve got stuff to prove.”

* * *

Chesapeake 13 17 26 24 — 80

Portsmouth 1 16 12 8— 37

CHESAPEAKE 80 (3-0, 2-0 OVC)

Travis Grim 6 0-0 14, Nathan Cox 2 1-1 5, Levi Blankenship 4 2-3 13, Dilen Caldwell 1 2-2 4, Austin Jackson 5 1-2 12, Trent Dearth 4 0-0 8, Josh Cox 2 0-0 4, Ethan Taylor 9 1-1 20, Jacob Lemley 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 33 7-9 80; Three-point goals: 7 (Levi Blankenship 3, Travis Grim 2, Austin Jackson and Ethan Taylor 1 apiece)

PORTSMOUTH 37 (1-3, 0-2 OVC)

Amare Johnson 3 0-0 6, Matthew Fraulini 1 1-2 3, Dariyonne Bryant 1 6-6 8, Jack Workman 0 0-0 0, Drew Roe 4 1-2 11, Daewin Spence 0 0-0 0, Jessie Dixon 1 3-6 6, Michael Duncan 0 0-0 0, Miles Shipp 0 1-4 1, Chris Duff 0 0-0 0, Jaylind Thomas 1 0-0 2, Trevor Pope 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 11 12-20 37; Three-point goals: 3 (Drew Roe 2, Jesse Dixon 1)

Portsmouth

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1Amare Johnson60000
2Matthew Fraulini30000
3Dariyonne Bryant80000
11Jack Workman00000
14Drew Roe110000
21Daewin Spence00000
22Jessie Dixon60000
23Michael Duncan00000
24Miles Shipp10000
30Chris Duff00000
32Jaylind Thomas20000
34Trevor Pope00000
 Total370000

Chesapeake

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
2Travis Grim140000
3Nathan Cox50000
4Levi Blankenship130000
5Dilen Caldwell40000
12Austin Jackson120000
21Trent Dearth80000
22Josh Cox40000
32Ethan Taylor200000
33Jacob Lemley00000
 Total800000

Court

Portsmouth

Details

Date Time League Season
December 13, 2019 7:30 pm OVC 2019-20

Burg pulls away from Indians in season opener

vs

Results

TeamTOutcome
Valley35Loss
Wheelersburg63Win

Pirates get going

‘Burg pulls away from Indians in season opener

By Paul Boggs

LUCASVILLE — In more ways than one on Tuesday night, the Wheelersburg Pirates — finally — got things going.

Indeed, the Pirates — at long last — played their boys basketball season opener after everyone else except Ironton, as has become customary given Wheelersburg’s recent run of success throughout the state football playoffs.

In visiting the youthful Valley Indians in their Southern Ohio Conference Division II opener as well, the defending division champion Pirates — eventually — started shaking off the doldrums from last having played an official Ohio High School Athletic Association contest clear back in mid-March of last year.

The new-look Pirates pulled away from the Indians over the middle two quarters — erupting for 18 unanswered points over almost exactly eight minutes and capturing a 63-35 victory on Valley’s reservation.

Wheelersburg went 26-1 a season ago, including a perfect 14-0 in steamrolling through the SOC II — and advanced all the way to the Division III regional championship tilt.
So with some new faces, and only three players returning with any amount of varsity experience in juniors J.J. Truitt (6-3), Carter McCorkle (6-4) and Matthew Miller (6-0), the Pirates pieced together a win — which they performed much better as the game went along.

 

#
21
Name
Carter McCorkle
Class
2021
Height
6-04
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

 

Matthew Miller, Wheelersburg, Ohio
#
12
Name
Mathew Miller
Class
2021
Height
6-00
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20

 

The Pirates led the Indians 7-5 following the opening quarter, then doubled their point total in the second to lead 21-10 at halftime.

While the Indians scored as many third-period points (10) as they combined for in the first half, so too did Wheelersburg — which went off for 21 in the quarter and eventually ballooned its advantage to 33-10 at the 5:15 mark on a steal, layup and old-fashioned three-point play by Truitt.

“We challenged our older guys at halftime. The third quarter, you can’t ask for a better start,” said Wheelersburg coach Steven Ater.

“We jumped out in the first three or four minutes and pushed the lead from 11 (21-10) to 23 (33-10) in a flash. Then we were able to press a little bit, get some turnovers off that, and I thought we did a pretty good job. It took them out of what they wanted to do offensively, and just disrupted their flow and rhythm.”

At that point, the Indians’ three primary freshmen were on the floor, while Wheelersburg only extended the lead from there — tallying 21 more markers in the fourth quarter and leading by as much 30 (57-27) on Truitt’s final points.

That was his third three-pointer, as he finished with a game-high 18 on six total field goals and 3-of-5 free throws.

While Wheelersburg’s offensive execution and sharpness are arguably behind its defense right now — effort, attitude and defense do indeed travel.
Those aspects joined the Pirates on their short trip up State Route 823 to Lucasville on Tuesday.

Head Coach Steven Ater

Current Team
Wheelersburg
“I was really happy with what we did defensively. I thought we guarded really well and our quickness and our length bothered them. We sped them up into some easy looks, but they weren’t clean looks. To hold a team like that to 10 first-half points, give our guys a lot of credit,” said Ater. “Offensively, obviously, we were not very smooth, but we knew early that it’s just going to be that way with first-game jitters and anxiety and all that bottled up. We also have a lot of new guys out there on varsity for the first time. It’s guys that have been in the program for a couple of years, but it’s their first real meaningful playing time. They’ve sat behind some seniors that have been pretty successful the last couple of years.”

One of those seniors was Tanner Holden, the Southeast District Division III Player of the Year last season — who is now at Wright State University.

#
22
Name
JJ Truitt
Class
2021
Height
6-03
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2018-19, 2019-20
But Truitt was also an all-district performer, and overcame foul trouble to get his 18 points, including his second three-pointer with 6:20 remaining — which put the Pirates up 47-23.

His initial triple gave the Orange and Black its first lead at 3-2 just two-and-a-half minutes in, as Wheelersburg would lead for the final 25 minutes.

The Indians’ only advantages were 2-0 on a Dylan Ellis jumper just a minute and eight seconds in, followed by Ellis landing a three-pointer just two minutes and 40 seconds later.
However, Valley struggled shooting from that point on, missing many short-range shots and making young-player mistakes that frustrated second-year head coach Eric Horton.

The Indians didn’t score for the final 4:12 of the opening quarter, then didn’t score for the final 2:12 of the second — or the opening five minutes and 45 seconds of the third.
“We couldn’t make anything,” said Horton. “With about two minutes left to go in the first half, we were down five (15-10), and I thought we had a couple of shots to close it out. But we got going too fast, which is a freshman mistake, and we should have been coming in at halftime a two-possession game. Instead, we were down 11. We had more than enough opportunities to make easy shots around the basket. They just didn’t go in. If you have that happen against a team like Wheelersburg, they are going to do what they did tonight.”

The Indians’ only points of the second stanza were a George Arnett bucket, a Devin Stiltner split of free throws three minutes later at the 4:07 mark, and finally a driving layup by Kayden Mollette that made it 15-10 at the 2:12 point.

The Pirates then scored the next 18, only stopped when Mollete — who along with Arnett paced Valley with eight points —made his second of a team-high four field goals.
Trailing Truitt was Wheelersburg’s six-foot one-inch freshman Kenny Sanderlin, making his high school debut on Tuesday.

It was actually Sanderlin — and McCorkle — sparking the Pirates’ offense, as Sanderlin scored all 13 of his points in the middle two quarters on five field goals and 3-of-4 foul shots.
McCorkle chipped in a dozen points on four field goals and 4-of-8 first-half free throws, as his deuce with a minute remaining in the first quarter put the Pirates in front for good.
With 1:55 remaining before halftime, he scored off a Truitt assist to make it 17-10, as Sanderlin scored twice inside the final minute and 10 seconds — before McCorkle opened the second half with back-to-back baskets in the first 58 seconds.

#
35
Name
Kenny Sanderlin
Class
2023
Height
6-01
Current Team
Wheelersburg
Leagues
SEO, SOC2
Seasons
2019-20
Sanderlin sank two freebies for a 28-10 advantage, then got a rebound putback at the five-and-a-half minute mark before Truitt’s three-point play.
“We started getting some stops and running and getting transition baskets. I thought Kenny Sanderlin was really good in that run in the second and third quarters. He got some inside baskets. He is a mismatch for a lot of people,” said Ater. “He is a big strong young man and we have a high ceiling for him. A lot of improvement still to go, but he came out and gave us a lift right there.”
Ellis added seven points for Valley, scoring another basket just 33 seconds into the final period to make it 44-22 in favor of Wheelersburg.

The Indians also converted only 5-of-14 free throws, as freshmen Carter Nickel on two second-half field goals and Ty Perkins on Valley other’s three-ball were among the other Indian leaders.
But Horton hailed his young charges for playing hard against a good Pirate club all the way to the very end.

“Once they were able to pull ahead, they were able to relax and play a lot better than us. We started to push when we got behind. If we would have made our very high-percentage shots, I think it’s a different ballgame coming into halftime and in the second half,” said the coach. “Our kids played hard, regardless of what the scoreboard says. We just did not finish our possessions. We just have to keep competing and eventually some of those shots that we missed tonight are going to fall. Once that starts to happen for us, I think we will be a very good basketball team.”

Valley, which fell to 1-4 and 1-1 in the league, returns to SOC II action on Friday night — when it travels to Northwest.

Wheelersburg will play again on Friday night as well, and hosts Portsmouth West with its home opener.
But finally, the Pirates have got — and likely will continue to get — things going.

“A lot of improvement ahead of us, especially offensively, but this game was a good starting point,” said Ater.* * *

Wheelersburg 7 14 21 21 — 63
Valley 5 5 10 15 — 35

WHEELERSBURG 63 (1-0, 1-0 SOC II)
Aaron Jolly 1 0-0 2, Matthew Miller 2 1-2 5, Eli Swords 0 0-0 0, Aaron Masters 1 0-0 3, Jonah Lawson 0 0-0 0, Carter McCorkle 4 4-8 12, J.J. Truitt 6 3-5 18, Gage Adkins 2 0-0 4, Mason Montgomery 2 0-0 4, Brayden Wilson 1 0-0 2, Corey Maxie 0 0-0 0, Kenny Sanderlin 5 3-4 13; TOTALS 24 11-19 63; Three-point goals: 4 (J.J. Truitt 3, Aaron Masters 1)

VALLEY 35 (1-4, 1-1 SOC II)
George Arnett 3 2-2 8, Breckon Williams 0 0-0 0, Ty Perkins 1 0-2 3, Dylan Ellis 3 0-0 7, Carter Nickel 2 0-0 4, Kayden Mollette 4 0-4 8, Jared Gahm 1 0-0 2, Devon Stiltner 0 2-4 2, Bryce Stuart 0 1-2 1; TOTALS 14 5-14 35; Three-point goals: 2 (Ty Perkins and Dylan Ellis 1)

2019-20 Burg

#PlayerClassHeightPTSREBASTSTLBLK
10Aaron Jolly, Wheelersburg, OhioAaron Jolly20215-0850000
11Josh Clark20225-1000000
12Matthew Miller, Wheelersburg, OhioMathew Miller20216-00380000
13Eli Swords20225-11290000
14Aaron Masters20225-1030000
15Jonah Lawson20216-0300000
21Carter McCorkle20216-04480000
22JJ Truitt20216-03570000
23Gage Adkins20216-0160000
24Mason Montgomery, Wheelersburg, OhioMason Montgomery20215-1040000
25Brayden Wilson - Wheelersburg, OhioBrayden Wilson20216-0220000
33Corey Maxie, Wheelersburg, OhioCorey Maxie20216-0600000
35Kenny Sanderlin20236-01360000

Indians 2019-20

#PlayerClassHeightPTSREBASTSTLBLK
1George Arnett20236-00350000
2Brecken Williams20216-0140000
3Ty Perkins20236-03190000
4Dylan Ellis20215-08330000
10Carter Nickel20236-00210000
12Kayden Mollette20205-08670000
13Jared Gahm20215-0970000
21Jacob Greathouse20216-0000000
23Devin Stiltner20205-1170000
24Bryce Stuart20226-00200000
25Nick Mowery20215-1000000
32Mason Zaler20206-05500000

 

Valley

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
1George Arnett80000
2Brecken Williams00000
3Ty Perkins30000
4Dylan Ellis70000
10Carter Nickel40000
12Kayden Mollette80000
13Jared Gahm20000
23Devin Stiltner20000
24Bryce Stuart10000
 Total350000

Wheelersburg

# Player PTS REB AST STL BLK
10Aaron Jolly20000
12Mathew Miller50000
13Eli Swords00000
14Aaron Masters30000
15Jonah Lawson00000
21Carter McCorkle120000
22JJ Truitt180000
23Gage Adkins40000
24Mason Montgomery40000
25Brayden Wilson20000
33Corey Maxie00000
35Kenny Sanderlin130000
 Total630000

Court

Valley

Details

Date Time League Season
December 10, 2019 7:30 pm SEO 2019-20