After losing four straight games and five of the first six games of the season, the Loudonville boys’ basketball team (2-5, 0-2) found the winning column in a 55-43 win over New London (0-8, 0-4) on Dec. 27.
"Always nice to win no matter how you do it," said Coach Jim Bates. "New London is a team like us a team that's trying to build something. I believe they have one senior that plays a lot. Nice to see our wings hit their shots. We know we have let two wins get away from us because of our shooting woes .The tough part is we’ve seen them make these shots."
The Redbirds went up 11-10 after one quarter with Dakota Shook leading the way with six points. Dilan Wade scored five points that included a make from downtown.
In the second quarter both teams scored 13 points, making it a 24-23 game at the half. Shook had 13 points to lead the Redbirds after two quarters. Brady Swaro had 14 points at the half for New London.
The Wildcats took a 39-37 lead after three quarters. Wade hit a pair of threes and had eight points in the third for Loudonville. They went on to outscore the Wildcats 18-6 in the fourth quarter to take the win.
Wade finished the game with a team high 18 points that included three from deep. Shook scored 15 points and Judah Layton had 11 points to hit double figures. Lane Mack scored nine points and Hunter Polen rounded out the scoring with two points in the fourth quarter.
New London was led by a 20 point effort from Swaro, while Grady Heileman and Jaxson Schaeffer each scored seven points.
"Wade and Mack both had nice shooting nights," said Bates. "Our post play has been pretty consistent all year as Shook and Layton have been solid. (Brady) Gessner, my point guard, is the hardest worker we have. A shot here or there and we are 4-3 instead. All I guarantee is we will keep trying to improve."
Next up is Danville (1-8, 0-3) on Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in a road matchup.
