The New Philadelphia boys’ basketball team recovered from an opening night loss with a pair of wins to get above .500, thanks to a solid week on the court by Colton Slaughter.
West Holmes (1-3, 0-1) hosted the Quakers on Dec. 12 and New Philadelphia walked away with a 46-36 win, with Slaughter leading all scorers with 27 points. He hit four threes in the game.
Tied 2-2, Owen Miller of New Philadelphia stepped into a passing lane for a steal. The game was knotted at 4-4 when Quinn Miller launched a three to put the Quakers up by three. New Philadelphia continued the run with a make from deep by Slaughter. New Philadelphia was up 10-8 when Lynn Cline of the Knights grabbed a loose ball for a steal. This led to a three by Collier Cline to put West Holmes up 11-10, starting a 6-0 run to end the quarter ended by a Sam Sprang three. The Knights led 14-10 in the first, led by Sprang’s seven points.
Collier Cline had five points for West Holmes. Slaughter had five points including a three, and Quinn Miller also sank a shot from deep.
It was a big second quarter for the Quakers, outscoring the Knights 21-8 to take a 31-22 lead at halftime. Slaughter went off for three straight makes from downtown in the quarter and had 18 points after two. Owen Schoelles had a steal in the quarter for New Philadelphia when it was a West Holmes one point lead, which was at the beginning of a dominant frame for the Quakers. Owen Miller had a steal, as well.
The third quarter was low scoring on both sides, with West Holmes outscoring the Quakers 4-2. Manny Camacho had a steal in the quarter for West Holmes, while Slaughter and Carson Crandall had steals for the Quakers. New Philadelphia had a 13-9 advantage in the fourth, making all their points on free throws including seven for Slaughter.
Reid Wells had five points for the Quakers, while Aiden Matthews and Schoelles had four points each. Miller hit a three, Crandall had two points and Vincent Migoni hit a free throw in the fourth quarter.
The Knights were led by Sprang’s 11 points and Nate Fair with 10 points. Cline had nine points and Comacho put up six points in the loss.
Both teams shot well with West Holmes hitting 52% of their shots and 67% from deep. However, free throws proved to be huge as New Philadelphia sank 82%. They were 42% from the floor and 50% from three.
Both teams had 17 boards, and New Philadelphia led 5-2 in steals. West Holmes had a 15-13 assist advantage.
The Quakers hosted the Ashland Arrows (1-4, 0-3) and knocked off their OCC rival with a 50-35 win on Dec. 15. Owen Miller led the way a 13 point showing after being held scoreless in the previous game. He narrowly missed a double-double with nine boards. Slaughter also hit double figures with 11 points and distributed the ball well with six assists.
"Our players have been working very hard in practice, the emphasis was on executing all details both offensively and defensively," said Coach Zach Ross. "It’s great to see it payoff in our last 2 wins. Colton is a very valuable player in our program. We all know he can score at a high level, and can play at a high level on the defensive end. It was very positive for our team to have Colton lead us with 6 assists. He found open teammates which led to some easy scores.”
Next up is Dover (4-0, 0-0) at home on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. followed by an away game against Madison Comprehensive (1-5, 1-2) at 7:15 p.m. on Dec. 22.
