Fredericktown 79, Danville 70
Fredericktown (10-6, 9-0) continued its dominance in KMAC play with a 79-70 win over Danville (6-11, 2-8) on Jan. 20.
The game was highlighted by a huge offensive output by Kaid Carpenter, who played his best game of the season.
“Gutsy performance by our team tonight,” Derek Dibling, Fredericktown coach, said. “We wanted to get off to a good start and the guys did a great job of really pressuring the ball and creating chaos in the half court. We struggled down the stretch with time and score situations, but the guys did a great job of regrouping and making plays when we needed them, too. Kaid had a great game and did a really good job of getting to his spots. When Kaid is committed to getting to the rim, he's a monster, and we really needed that guy to step up tonight. He not only led us in scoring but in assists as well, which really speaks to the type of player he is.”
Danville opened up the scoring in the opening minute with a 3-pointer by Levi Lyons. On the next Danville possession, Ben Mast put a stop to a scoring threat with a steal for Fredericktown, followed by a steal from Trevor Bellman. Spencer Payne had a steal for Danville and Max Payne added a block, followed immediately with a steal at the 6:15 mark. With Danville holding a 5-4 lead, Fredericktown’s Luke Bean deftly made a steal under the basket. At 9-9, Fredericktown went on a 5-0 run before Lyons hit another three to make it a 14-12 game in favor of the Freddies. Fredericktown finished the quarter up 16-12, led by Carpenter’s six points.
Carpenter put the Freddies up 21-14 in the second quarter with a big three from the top of the arc. The Freddies then went up 23-19 on a steal and fast break by Mast. The Freddies took a 30-25 lead into halftime. Max Payne led the charge for Danville with five points, all on free throws. Carpenter scored seven points for Fredericktown.
Brady Lester scored on a fast-break lay-up for the Freddies to go up 35-27 in the third quarter. Bellman made it a 42-29 game with a wide-open three. Walker Weckesser and Max Payne had steals in the quarter for Danville and Payne also added a block. Fredericktown outscored Danville 24-13 in the quarter, fueled by Carpenter’s 11 points and Lester’s eight points.
The Freddies got a three from Bean to go up 61-49 in the fourth. They led 63-52 and Danville's Spencer Payne drained a three to make it an eight-point game with 3:57 to go. Weckesser made things interesting with 1:30 left with a three to bring the score to 69-65 in favor of the Freddies. Despite the late surge by the Blue Devils, the Freddies were able to hold on for the win to keep them undefeated in KMAC play. Carpenter finished strong with 11 points. Spencer Payne had a huge quarter with 11 points, as well.
Carpenter was 13-for-24 shooting for 35 points, three assists, six rebounds, and two steals to lead the way for the Freddies. Lester had 18 points and 10 boards in a double-double performance. He also had three steals, a block, and three assists.
Danville had a big game out of Spencer Payne with 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Weckesser had 13 points, nine boards, two steals, and a block. Max Payne scored 12 and had four rebounds and two steals. Levi Lyons scored 10 points, four rebounds, and a steal.
Northmor 51, Cardington-Lincoln 38
Northmor (9-6, 7-3) won their second straight game thanks to another solid scoring night by Grant Bentley. He helped propel the Golden Knights to a 51-38 comeback win over KMAC rival Cardington-Lincoln (4-13, 1-7) on Jan. 20.
Northmor took a 9-8 lead after one quarter with Bentley putting up four points and Max Lower nailing a three. The Pirates were led by four points from AJ Brehm.
Cardington-Lincoln turned the tables in the second quarter and made it a 23-20 Pirate lead at the half. Brehm and Journey Williamson each had five points for Cardington-Lincoln; both players drained threes. AJ Hall added a three as well. Bentley had five points and Drew Hammond scored four points for Northmor.
Northmor regained the lead in the third quarter, going up 36-33 thanks to a big quarter by Hunter Fulk and Bentley, who led the charge with five points each. Fulk hit a key three with 7:22 on the clock to bring the Golden Knights within two points, 25-23.
The Golden Knights went off in the fourth quarter with a 15-5 advantage to close out the game, highlighted by six key points and a steal down the strech by Lower. Bentley and Caleb Schnuerer provided some firepower with a three each, with Bentley’s giving Northmor a 39-33 lead and seconds later, Schnuerer’s putting them up 42-33.
Bentley led all scorers with 18 points to lead the way for Northmor. Lower also hit double figures with 13 points. Cardington-Lincoln had one player in double figures – 12 points for Williamson, including two threes. Brehm added nine points, all in the first half.
Blade Tackett, Northmor's coach, was happy with the way his team responded in the second half to come back for the win. He also gave credit to the Pirates for putting pressure on them throughout the game.
“Cardington brought great energy and effort tonight and made things tough on us,” Tackett said. “They hit a great shot at the buzzer at half to go up three. We responded well in the second half and really stepped up defensively, holding them to only five fields goals in the second half and only one field goal in the fourth. Our guys stepped up and knocked down free throws, which has been a weakness of ours, and the guys have really focused on getting better at that. Proud of our team for working through some adversity in a great atmosphere to come out with the victory.”
Jason Rice, Cardington-Lincoln's head coach, also took pride in the way his team played for the first three quarters of the game and their level of intensity playing a tough team such as Northmor.
“We played really well for three quarters and went into the fourth quarter down three against them,” Rice said. “They came out of the quarter and hit clutch open threes and we had our shots and just couldn’t hit them in the fourth quarter. Overall, I thought we competed really hard and I’m proud of our guys for the way we played. I thought our defensive effort was excellent and I thought we did a nice job of limiting Northmor to one-and-done shots for most of the game. Northmor is a good team and Bentley and Max hit some clutch shots down the stretch to pull away from us and win the game.”
Centerburg 57, East Knox 32
The duo of Colton Martin and Grayson Reynolds was at it again for the Centerburg (10-6, 8-2) Trojans, propelling the squad to a 57-32 win over KMAC rival East Knox (2-12, 0-8) on Jan. 20.
“I think East Knox started off well,” John Marhefka, Centerburg's head coach, said. “They are definitely tough in the Dawg Pound. Carter Wesney is a good young player. They lose only three seniors. Those young players are gaining experience, which will benefit them in their development. Our guys had a good second quarter and were able to play our game the rest of the way out. We still need to clean up things defensively."
East Knox had an 8-6 lead early on, but Martin stepped in front of a pass and took it to the basket for a thunderous dunk to tie the game up at 8-8 – the score after one quarter. East Knox showed great hustle on defense, with Ethan Rine, Derrick Field, Dustin Springer and Jax Lester each recording steals. Rine added a pair of blocks, as well.
Centerburg went up 14-8 in the second quarter on a steal by Martin that led to a fast-break one-handed slam. With the game 18-10 in favor of the Trojans, Jack Lawrence stopped an East Knox scoring chance with a block. Martin made it a 24-10 game with a steal and lay-up on a fast break as Centerburg started to run away with the game. Centerburg took a commanding 35-12 lead into the second half.
Isaiah Sule struck from three in the third quarter to put Centerburg up 48-16. Rine had another block in the quarter for East Knox and Centerburg led 48-18 after three quarters.
Carter Morgenstern of Centerburg made it a 56-30 game in the fourth quarter on a fast-break lay-up. East Knox finished the game strong, outscoring Centerburg 14-9; Bryer Korosec scored all six of his points for the Bulldogs.
Martin led Centerburg with 18 points, Reynolds put up 14 points, and Lawrence also hit double figures with 10 points.
Wesney led East Knox with 10 points. Kerosec and Jesse Wolford each had six points.
Mount Gilead 77, Ridgedale 63
Matt Bland is the leading scorer in KMAC this season at more than 21 points per game. He put up another big performance with a 30-point show to lead Mount Gilead (9-7, 5-4) to a 77-53 win over Ridgedale (2-14, 0-5) on Jan. 21.
Ridgedale started the game on top 4-0 out of the gate, but Aaron Gannon made it a one-point game on a three with approximately 6:30 left in the first quarter. Then down 8-3, Carter Kennon struck from three to put Mount Gilead down by two. Bland hit a three at the end of the quarter to bring Mount Gilead within one point, 12-11. As time was expiring, he hit another three to go up 21-17.
Rowan Fitzpatrick came away with his second steal in the second quarter and scored on a fast break to go up 35-31. Mount Gilead outscored Ridgedale 15-14 and took a 36-31 lead into the half. Bland had 14 points in the first half, including 10 in the first quarter. Gannon had 11 first-half points.
Kennon hit a three in the third quarter to put the Indians up 41-33. Gage Baker had a big block in the quarter for Mount Gilead. The Indians outscored Ridgedale 20-18 and were led by eight points by Bland and six points by Carter, with both hitting a pair of threes.
Mount Gilead was up 67-57 in the fourth quarter when Bland scored on a fast break to go up 12 points. The Indians had a 21-14 advantage to end the game, highlighted by eight points for Bland.
Bland scored 30 points, including five threes, and went 5-for-6 from the foul line. Gannon scored 19 points and hit a three. Carter drained three from downtown on his way to a 15-point effort.
