It’s been a tough start to the season for the Loudonville boys’ basketball team (1-4, 0-2), as the Redbirds lost a pair of games last week with one being conference rival Central Christian.
The Redbirds started off the week with a 53-35 loss to Fairless (2-4, 1-2) on Dec. 12, in a non-conference matchup where they led early but sputtered in the second half to let the Falcons claw back into the game for a win.
Loudonville was up 14-13 in the first quarter and they were on point with the three-ball hitting four from downtown. Logan Mack had three, while Dilan Wade and Judah Layton hit the other three shots from beyond the arc. Hunter Polen hit a pair of free throws to round out the scoring.
They didn’t hit a three in the second quarter, and were outscored 14-9 to make it a 27-23 Falcon lead at the half. Dakota Shook had five points in the second quarter and Mack led the Redbirds in scoring with six points.
The third quarter was all Fairless, going up 47-28 thanks to spread out scoring and a couple od threes by Carson Golucci. Golucci had already been on fire in the first quarter with three makes from deep.
They Falcons cruised the rest of the way to victory, outscoring the Redbirds 8-7 down the stretch. Golucci ended the game with 15 points, all on threes. As a team, the Falcons thrived on the deep shot, making 10 threes.
Loudonville was led by Shook, Mack and Layton, who had eight points each. Unlike the Falcons, the threes weren’t falling for the Redbirds following the first quarter where they had all four of their threes.
"Fairless game, our shooting woes continue like they have most the season," said Coach Jim Bates. "Our defense has actually been decent and good enough for us to win games. As coaches we didn’t expect this to happen. We will do what we call conditioning shooting and try to grind our way through this. We’ve seen these boys shoot very good in the past."
On Dec. 16 they took on Mid-Buckeye rival Central Christian (3-1, 1-1) and fell 51-44 at home, but a bright spot was the big scoring output by Layton with 21 points.
Central Christian took a 9-8 lead to start the game, with Layton scoring six points early that included a shot from deep. He scored six more in the second quarter, but Central Christian extended their lead to 30-19 at halftime. Layton and Mack both his threes in the second quarter.
The Redbirds had a 14-14 advantage in the third quarter to cut the lead to 10, led by Mack’s five points and his second three of the night. They outscored the Comets 11-8 in the fourth, but weren’t able to cut the deficit in time, taking the seven point loss.
Layton’s 21 points tied for the lead in the scoring on the night, with Central Christian’s Lyle Endsley. Layton hit three shots from deep.
Shook had 13 points to reach double digits, as well. Mack scored eight points and Polen rounded out the scoring with one bucket for two points.
"Judah Layton played well in the Central game," said Coach Bates, adding that in what has been a tough season, Layton has been the team's leader. "He’s doing a nice job through difficult times with a lot of the season left and a lot of the goals can still be reached. The program is still in rebuild mode."
The Redbirds look to turn things around in a road matchup at Lucas (6-0, 2-0), and it won’t be an easy task. Lucas has won all six games to start the year and are 2-0 in the Mid-Buckeye Conference. They are coming off a 75-48 win over South Central and blowouts like this have been common, with the Cubs outscoring their opponents. The game is on Dec. 22 starting at 7:30 p.m.
