by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
New Hope opened the Ohio Christian School Athletic Association’s postseason tournament Saturday night with a convincing 85-44 win over visiting Ross County Christian Academy.
After missing their first shot of the night, the Statesmen sunk the next seven in racing out to a 15-5 lead and had a 26-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
New Hope hit its first five shots, and seven of the first eight, in the second on the way to leading 53-26 at halftime.
“First of all, we were controlling the boards. We, obviously, had the size advantage with Lane (Bruning),” New Hope coach Shane Roese said.
He said the gameplan was to push the ball in the transition game and get it to Bruning down low and find the open shooter.
“I thought Hunter (Cavanaugh) did a nice job pushing the ball down the floor. As they collapsed to the middle, we kind of had our way around the perimeter with open looks,” Roese said.
Getting the ball to Bruning paid off as he had 15 points in the first period and 28 for the night.
“The only thing I was a little disappointed in, I thought we got a little too much into our offensive game that we chose not to play some defense when I wanted to,” Roese said. “I thought their (Nathaniel Clevenger) and (Jayden Beverly) did a nice job of getting downhill on us.
“We did pick that up in the second half.”
New Hope added a few more points to its advantage to hold a 73-38 lead entering the final quarter.
The Statesmen also benefited from having their full roster available.
“This is probably the first game we’ve been at full strength in about three weeks,” Roese said. “The last handful of games, Lane, Xander (Rink) and Hunter have really been leading the charge. They’ve got a great chemistry together. They provide some great leadership and I just try to get out of the way.”
Bruning finished the night leading the way with 28 points and 21 rebounds, as well as a handful of blocked shots. Cavanaugh scored 21 points and had five rebounds and Tyler Cook put in 14 while grabbing eight rebounds.
New Hope continues tournament play heading to Springboro to take on Chess in the second round of the OCSAA tournament Saturday at 1:30. New Hope is the 3 seed in its region with Chess No. 2.
“I think it’s a good start. We did what we needed to do to win and everybody’s healthy. It’s a nice tuneup for the next round game,” Roese said. “This is the first time we’ve had to go on the road in the road for six years for the next game. So that’s a little bit different for us and, honestly, we’ve got a little bit of a chip on our shoulder about it.
“We plan to go down to Springboro and play Chess and we’re ready. I like my group right now and we’ll take them anywhere.”
Along with Bruning, Saturday’s was the last home game for fellow seniors Isaac Herron, Landon Krouse, Thad Pollock and Thomas Scribner.
“They haven’t had a ton of playing minutes this year but have been absolutely excellent in practice, playing hard, battling hard, giving us all the looks we want,” Roese said. “We’re committed to one through 12 being one, and those guys represent that. I’m thankful for them because they came back and made a commitment to the program knowing their playing time wasn’t going to be extensive this year.”
Before resuming tournament action, New Hope will play its final regular season game Tuesday at Liberty Christian in Pataskala.
New Hope 85, Ross County Christian 44
Ross — Nathaniel Clevenger 5-4-15, Eli DeLong 1-0-3, Jayden Beverly 4-5-13, Carson Ramey 5-2-13. Three-point goals — Clevenger, DeLong, Ramey. Total — 15-55 11-16 44.
New Hope — Hunter Cavanaugh 8-1-21, Landon Krouse 1-0-2, Gavin Ludens 0-1-1, Xander Rink 3-0-6, Landen Parker 1-0-2, Nathaniel Ames 2-2-6, Thad Pollock 1-0-3, Thomas Scribner 1-0-2, Tyler Cook 5-2-14, Lane Bruning 12-3-28. Three-point goals — Cavanaugh (4), Pollock, Cook (2), Bruning Total — 34-77 9-11 85.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Ross County 12 14 12 6 44
New Hope 26 27 20 12 85
