by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
AMANDA — Circleville came out of the gate firing on all cylinders in racing out to a 16-0 lead on the way to a 73-50 win at Amanda-Clearcreek Saturday night.
The Tigers hit their first five shots from the field and were 11-13 in the first quarter in grabbing a 25-3 lead.
“That’s something we’ve been trying to do all year long,” Circleville coach Cody Carpenter said. “The last game, Thursday night against Unioto, we got off to a good start and that’s something we haven’t been able to do. Tonight, that was one of our main focuses was to get off to a good start and maintain that start.
“I thought we did a good job of attacking the rim and giving ourselves opportunities and that made it a little easier to get into our press.”
The Aces hurt themselves with three turnovers in the opening couple of minutes and six in the first quarter.
“Our energy was flat. It kind of looked like our offense was in slow motion,” AC coach Jamie Justus said. “They sped us up a little bit. A lot of unforced turnovers on our end that led to easy points for them, and they got off to a very quick start.
“There’s a lot of good basketball players on that basketball team. When you turn the ball over like that and make careless mistakes, they’re going to make you pay for it.”
The Aces cut into the CHS advantage a bit with a 13-9 edge in the second quarter, but Circleville outscored AC 24-12 in the third for a 58-28 lead.
Briley Cramer led the Tigers with 22 points, Ed Kirk put in 13 and Riley Jenkins and Preston Hulse each put in 11.
“The last few games that’s been a struggle for us,” Carpenter said of getting more balanced scoring. “Briley has been consistent with his scoring, but we haven’t had that second or third guy. If we want to win games, we’ve got to have guys helping. Unfortunately, our defense has been struggling and when we’re struggling to stop teams, we’ve got to be able to score with them.
“When we share the basketball and everybody gets involved, we’re a harder team to defend.”
Brody Elder sunk five three-pointers to lead AC with 15 points and Nick Holland had 11.
After only doing it once in their first 12 games, Saturday was third time in the last four that the Aces have scored at least 50 points.
“The last six or seven games, the attitude has been great and we’re working hard. We’re starting to score a little more,” Justus said. “Offensively, we’re getting better. We’re starting to make shots, we’re running our offense, we’re running our sets a lot better as a team. So, we’re getting good looks, quality looks within each possession.
“Offensively, it is improving. Fifty points — especially the way we started with three in the first — to put 50 on the board is a big plus.”
Circleville ended the night with a 34-24 rebounding edge. Preston Hulse led the Tigers with six with Drew Thornsley and Ed Kirk each grabbing five. Colton Westhoven led the Aces with nine and Logan Stevens had five.
Jack Kline handed out seven assists for Circleville Saturday and Cramer had four steals.
Circleville (8-6, 3-5) host Hillsboro Wednesday and the Aces (1-15, 0-8) head to Fairfield Union Friday.
Circleville 73, Amanda-Clearcreek 50
Circleville — Preston Hulse 4-1-11, Briley Cramer 9-3-22, Jack Kline 3-0-7, Slater Search 5-1-11, Riley Jenkins 4-0-9, Ed Kirk 4-5-13. Three-point goals — Hulse (2), Cramer, Kline, Jenkins. Total — 29-49 10-18 73.
Amanda-Clearcreek — Taylon Conrad 3-0-8, Carter Madison 0-3-3, Colton Westhoven 1-2-4, Nick Holland 3-3-11, Lane Stevens 4-0-9, Brody Elder 5-0-15. Three-point goals — Conrad (2), Stevens, Elder (5). Total — 17-50 8-12 50.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 25 9 24 15 73
Amanda-Clearcreek 3 13 12 22 50
