The West Holmes boys’ basketball team (1-2, 0-1) started off the week solid with a road win over Meadowbrook (0-3, 0-2), but lost a tough battle with Madison Comprehensive (1-2, 1-0) in overtime.
The Knights traveled to Meadowbrook on Dec. 5 and came away with a convincing 68-44 win.
West Holmes took a commanding 14-7 lead after one, and both teams scored 15 points in the second quarter making it a 29-22 lead for West Holmes at halftime. The Knights controlled the third quarter on both sides of the ball and took a 53-30 lead after three. The outscored Meadowbrook 16-14 down the stretch to take a solid victory on the road.
There were four Knights in double figures with Collier Cline leading the scoring with 15 points, while Sam Sprang added 13 points, Nate Fair scored 12 points, and Manny Camacho tallied 10 points.
“We had a balanced effort against Meadowbrook,” Coach Ben Belden said. Nate Fair really got us going in the first quarter by getting some steals and run outs, and Lynn Cline was huge in the second half with his defensive effort and getting to loose balls.”
Collier Cline had three boards, three assists and three steals, as well. Fair tallied four steals, four boards and an assist, while Miller added three steals. Lynn Cline had seven points, three boards and two steals.
West Holmes shot 50% from the field, and 23.1% from three. They had 28 points off turnovers and 46 points in the paint. The Knights led 13-3 in steals, 55-19 in rebounds and 9-6 in assists.
“Lynn Cline, Koyer Miller, and Wyatt Schlauch also played huge roles in the win,” Belden posted on the team’s website.
On Dec. 9 Madison Comprehensive came to town and while the Knights went up big early, they struggled in the second half leading to a 47-45 overtime loss.
West Holmes jumped out to a huge 16-5 lead after one quarter, and the dominance continued with a 9-4 second quarter. Up 25-9 at halftime, Madison Comprehensive woke up and outscored the Knights 14-3 in the third quarter, and then 16-11 in the fourth to send it to overtime. The Rams went on to have an 8-6 overtime advantage and walk away with the win.
The Knights were led by Cline with 17 points, and Nate Fair had 14 points in game and nine boards. Cline had four rebounds, three steals and three makes from deep. Sprang hit a pair of threes, while posting four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Camacho was big on defense with three blocks and two steals, to go with six points, seven rebounds and an assist.
Madison Comprehensive was led by Owen Wigton with 15 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Will Kepple also hit double figures with 11 points to go with five steals and two rebounds. Cameron Kuhn had eight points, five steals, two rebounds and a block.
Madison Comprehensive shot 41.5% from the field with 27.3% from three, while the Knights hit 35.6% of their shots and 33.3% from downtown. West Holmes dominated the glass 39-15 and assists 7-5, but the Rams had a 15-10 steal advantage. The Knights led 3-1 in blocks. West Holmes committed 25 turnovers and Madison Comprehensive turned it over 17 times.
“Madison was a tough loss,” Belden said. “It certainly was a tale of two halves. We just need to get comfortable with what we are doing and handling a little bit of ball pressure. When we get back to those basics, we will be a tough team to beat. I'm glad that we had a game like Madison early in the season to prepare us for that level of defensive intensity for the rest of the season.”
