Winning streaks continued, school records were set and conference rivals went head to head in local boys' hoops last week. Eery play and every game matters with the regular season winding down, and here are some games to highlight from the Mount Vernon News coverage area.
Cardington-Lincoln 79, East Knox 42
Cardington-Lincoln guard Warren Garrison was money from deep, tying a school record for threes in a game and leading the Pirates (12-6, 7-3) with 32 points against East Knox (2-15, 2-8) on Feb. 3.
“Last night was a good team win and really awesome to see the kids help Warren get the record,” said Pirate Coach Jason Rice. “It was good to bounce back after a tough loss against Northmor on Wednesday. It was our fourth game in eight days so it was good to go 3-1 during that stretch.”
The Pirates jumped out to a 26-8 lead early, led by Garrison’s 11 points and three threes. He nailed two more threes and scored eight points in the second quarter, and the Pirates led 39-17 at the half. In the third quarter, the Pirates outscored East Knox 16-15 and then blew the game open by going 24-10 down the stretch.
Garrison led all scorers with 32 points. Isaiah Ward scored 16 points and Merek McClure had 12 points.
East Knox was led by Hayden Merritt with 11 points. Kyson Miller tallied nine points and Bryer Korosec scored seven points for the Bulldogs.
Coach Rice is looking ahead at the schedule at an away matchup with a talented Centerburg squad on Feb. 7, and knows this will be a battle between two KMAC rivals.
“Centerburg will be a tough game especially to go there and avenge a loss from earlier in the year,” Rice said. “They are well coached and disciplined and we will have to be disciplined on both sides of the ball, take care of the ball, and make our open shots to beat them.”
Lexington 57, New Philadelphia 47
Lexington (18-1, 12-0) won their fourth straight contest, with a 57-47 win over OCC foe New Philadelphia (10-7, 7-5) on Feb. 2.
Lexington went up 7-3 with five minutes to go in the first quarter when Elijah Hudson drilled a three. Gavin Husty followed that up with a bucket after Seven Allen stole an inbound pass and dished it out for the assist. The Minutemen led 17-12 at the end of one quarter, but New Philadelphia was hot from three, with Slaughter making a trio and Owen Miller adding another for all of the Quaker points.
In the second quarter, Lexington took a 25-17 lead when Joe Caudill stole the ball and sent it down court to a streaking Allen for the layup. New Philadelphia went on a 5-0 run, but with 2:05 left in the half, Husty nailed a shot from three. Lexington added another bucket and it was 30-22 in favor of the Minutemen at the end of two.
New Philadelphia went on a 7-0 run to start the third quarter and they were looking for more, but Hudson rejected a layup attempt with authority to give Lexington possession. With the score 34-32, Hudson showed his ups with a big two handed slam. New Philadelphia had a big quarter, outscoring the Minutemen 15-6.
Tied up 37-37, Lexington’s Brayden Fogel took a pass under the hoop and slammed it home to take a two point lead with 6:50 left in the game. Lexington took a 46-42 lead with 4:25 left on a three by Allen. The Minutemen had a 21-10 fourth quarter to take the 10 point win.
The Minutemen were led by Fogle and Caudill, who each led the charge with 15 points apiece. Hudson hit double figures with 10 points.
Slaughter had 19 points and Miller scored 14 points for the Quakers, with Miller adding five assists . The three ball was the game for New Philadelphia, with Slaughter making five and Miller with four. Carson Crandall also had a pair of threes in the second half. They hit 11 in the game.
The Minutemen shot 68% and 43% from three. They led 22-15 in boards and had the game’s only block. New Philadelphia shot 42% and 48% from deep. They had a 17-15 assist advantage, and led 6-5 in steals.
Johnstown 81, Utica 60
Logan Gosnell had a big night for Utica (5-11, 3-8) as he was hot from deep, but the Redskins went down big early and could never recover in an 81-60 loss to Johnstown (10-7, 6-5) on Feb. 2.
Johnstown jumped out to a 20-6 lead in the first and never let up, as the Johnnies had a 44-21 lead at halftime. Gosnell took care of the brunt of the scoring for Utica. He had 12 points in the second quarter and 14 points total at halftime.
Both teams scored 16 points in the third quarter, with Gosnell hitting a three and Roman Gamble leading the Redskins with six points. While Utica won the fourth quarter 23-21, the deficit was far too great to make a comeback effort.
Gosnell had a team high 20 points, including four threes and going 4-for-6 from the free throw line. Gamble also reached double figures with 13 points. He was 3-for-4 from the foul line.
The Johnnies were led by senior Brady Barb, who had a game high 30 points in the win.
“Logan shot the ball well and was very active on the offensive end,” Coach Brian Radabaugh said. “Credit Johnstown for executing offensively and shooting the ball well. We just couldn’t string together enough stops.”
Ashland 66, Madison Comprehensive 47
Paxon Ediger of Ashland (8-11, 5-7) was unstoppable with 30 points in a 66-47 win over Madison Comprehensive on Feb. 3.
Ediger started off the scoring for the Arrows with a three coming off an assist by Tyler Sauder. Isaac Stewart the jumped into a passing lane and sent a dime over to Ediger for a layup to go up 5-0. The Rams put three points on the board, but then Ediger followed up with his second three of the night to make it an 8-3 lead. The Rams battled back to tie the game at 8-8, but Ediger had something to say about that. Sauder sent a pass to a wide open Ediger who launched a three from the corner.
With the score 11-8, Nathan Bernhard showed off his rim protection with a blocked shot. Madison Comprehensive quickly tied the game up again, but Ediger struck from deep to make it a 14-11 game. Sauder followed with a steal and a fast break score to go up 16-11. They led 23-20 after one quarter. Ediger was on fire with 17 points to lead the charge.
In the second quarter, Stewart jumped in front of a pass for a steal and took it all the way to the hoop to go up 31-25. Ashland ended the half with a 39-28 lead and Ediger led all scorers with 22 points.
It was all Arrows in the third quarter, with the Arrows jumping out to a 53-33 lead, and while Madison Comprehensive had a 14-13 fourth quarter, the Arrows hung on for a win.
The 30 points for Ediger were the most of any Arrow player this season. He also hit eight threes in the win.
Mount Vernon 53, Wooster 49
The Mount Vernon Yellow Jackets are at .500 with a win over Wooster (6-11, 5-7) in Ohio Cardinal Conference boys’ basketball action.
Mount Vernon had a 17-9 lead in the first quarter and a 29-21 advantage at the half. The Yellow Jackets had a commanding 39-28 lead at the end of three, and while Wooster had a 21-14 fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets were able to hold on for the win.
Wooster was led by Tre Edwards, who had a team high 11 points. Edwards also had eight boards, three steals, two assists and a block. Tristin Walker and Brady Bowen each had 0 points. Walker tallied five points and five steals, and Bowen had eight boards, two steals and an assist. Ethan Shelton just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 boards.
Individual statistics were unavailable for Mount Vernon.
