KINNIKINNICK —The boys basketball season opened Wednesday and four local teams were in action as part of the 35th Annual Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic.
Amanda-Clearcreek had some last-second excitement in beating Huntington, New Hope used a fast start to beat Wellston, Logan Elm lost a hard-fought, double-overtime decision to Bexley and Circleville had a rough second half in falling to Zane Trace.
Amanda-Clearcreek 64, Huntington 62
It was a tough start but an exciting finish for Amanda-Clearcreek as the Aces’ beat the buzzer to take down Huntington 64-62 in the opening game of the 35th Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic.
With the game tied, the Aces got the ball back after a Huntington turnover. The inbound pass went to Maddox Cupp who moved it up the floor and dished to Nick Holland who took a a shot from just inside the arc. He was off the mark, but Branson Fowler kept coming down the other side of the lane, grabbed the rebound and hit a shot just before the buzzer sounded to give the Aces the win.
“We talked about you need to follow because we had missed some layups during the game. That was great of him to go and get that rebound and put it back in right at the buzzer,” AC coach Ray Miller said.
The game didn’t start out as positive for the Aces as nine first-quarter turnovers saw them get behind 21-10.
“We had only met the kids over the summer, and they worked hard and you’ve got all football players, and getting that transition and using a new muscle group and everything. But it’s great group of kids who have worked hard,” said Miller, who took over the Aces’ program this summer. “We started off badly – I think I caught one of their passes as we were going. We turned the ball over early and fell behind early.
“The kids who came off the bench were actually the ones who turned things around.”
The Aces outscored the Huntsmen 19-13 in the second quarter to pull within five at 34-29.
After Huntington opened the second half with a three, the Aces scored 10 straight to take the lead at 39-37, only to trail 50-44 entering the fourth quarter.
The difference grew to 56-47 before the Aces started cutting back into the deficit.
The Huntsmen scored their final basket with 1:40 left on a shot from Gabe Beardsley to make it 62-56.
A free throw from Fowler and a basket from Holland cut the gap to three. Hayden Dunn sunk a three with 30 seconds make it a two-point game.
Coming out of a timeout with 10 seconds left, Huntington committed its eighth turnover of the quarter, setting up AC’s winning score.
“The bench won the game for us,” Miller said. “They came off and gave us energy and played great defense got us back in the game and got us close at the half. In the fourth quarter, it was the bench again.”
Holland led the Aces with 15 points off the bench. Colton Westhoven put in 14 and Brody Elder had eight.
“Nick Holland just had an outstanding game off the bench. I was really proud of him,” Miller said. “Hayden Dunn came in and made a big three for us.”
The Aces hit the boards hard in the middle periods as they pulled down 21 rebounds, including 10 offensive, in those two quarters.
“For being small, I thought we rebounded well, and we did the fundamental parts of defense a lot better in the second half,” Miller said.
Amanda-Clearcreek 64, Huntington 62
Huntington — Colt Parker 2-0-5, Carson Henneberger 6-2-15, Frankie Hirsch 2-1-6, Eli Ary 2-5-10, Kalvin Manson 7-0-15, Gabe Beardsley 5-1-11. Three-point goals — Parker, Henneberger, Hirsch, Ary, Manson. Total — 24-9-62.
Amanda-Clearcreek — Branson Fowler 2-4-8, Maddux Cupp 1-0-3, Brody Elder 4-0-10, Logan Stevens 3-2-8, Colton Westhoven 7-0-14, Hayden Dunn 1-2-5, Nick Holland 6-1-15. Three-point goals — Cupp, Elder (3), Dunn, Holland (2). Total — 24-9-64.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Am-Clearcreek 10 19 15 20 64
Huntington 21 13 16 12 62
New Hope 64, Wellston 46
New Hope got off to a fast start and kept Wellston at bay the rest of the afternoon as the Statesmen opened their season with a 64-46 win at the Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic.
Tyler Cook was part of that hot start as he had four of his six three-pointers in the first quarter as New Hope got out to a 23-8 lead.
“I thought our defense was excellent in the first quarter tonight. Number one on the board tonight was to come out and impose our will,” New Hope coach Shane Roese said. “I feel like we’ve got a solid team and we’re going to get after teams on the defensive end. I thought we generated a lot of turnovers, a lot of transition opportunities – and we hit shots, too. We didn’t miss many and took charge from there.”
After their lead closed a bit in the second quarter to 33-22, Xander Rink had 10 of his 18 points in the third quarter as the Statesmen took a 54-38 lead into the final period.
“I thought we got hot and then we started settling,” Roese said of the slowdown in scoring.” We made some and then we settled for it. It was a lot of penetration, kick-back shots and we missed those.”
It’s the first time in a few seasons where the Statesmen haven’t had 6-7 Lane Bruning cleaning up on the block.
“I didn’t know how this team would rebound and battle on the boards,” Roese said. “But all of our scrimmages, this game tonight, I think we battled well on the boards.”
And that’s translating into a faster offense.
“We’re playing with more pace. When Xander gets the rebound, almost everybody has the green light to go,” Roese said. “And this team is sharing the ball really well.
“We feel good about who we are. We’ve had four really good scrimmages, and we have good chemistry. I think you saw it tonight, a lot of good ball movement, a lot of unselfish play. I really like this team. They’re just fun in practice and fun in these games.
Along with 18 each from Cook and Rink, Hunter Cavanaugh put in 14 for New Hope.
Wellston had three of its four scorers reach double figures led by Justin Jackson with 19.
New Hope Christian 64, Wellston 46
New Hope — Hunter Cavanaugh 5-1-14, Xander Rink 9-0-18, Landen Parker 3-0-7, Nathaniel Ames 3-1-7, Tyler Cook 6-0-18. Three-point goals — Cavanaugh (3), Parker Cook (6). Total — 26-2-64.
Wellston — Wes Briggs 4-0-10, Rylan Long 5-1-15, Owen Kilgour 1-0-2, Justin Jackson 9-0-19. Three-point goals — Briggs (2), Long (4), Jackson. Total — 19-1-46.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
New Hope 23 10 21 10 64
Wellston 8 14 16 8 46
Bexley 50, Logan Elm 48, 2OT
Logan Elm never held a lead in regulation, but it took Bexley two extra periods to defeat the Braves 50-48.
“I felt like our defense stepped up, especially late,” LE coach Nate Dropsey said.
After only scoring nine points in the first half, the Braves got their offense going in the third with 14 points and the defense really came through in the fourth.
Trailing 32-23 entering the final period, the Braves held Bexley to a single point through the end of regulation and a pair of free throws from Brady Neff with 27 seconds left (his only points of the night), tied the game at 33-33 which was enough to send the game to overtime.
“With 2:20 to go in the third, we were down 14 and then we made a little run and we’re down nine at the end of the third. We came out in the fourth and shared the basketball, got to the paint and were able to kick it for some wide-open looks,” Dropsey said. “I felt like, offensively, the longer it went, the better we got.
“We communicated a little bit better and took it a little bit personally that we were making that run at them. We knew we had to really dig in at that end to give ourselves a chance,” Dropsey added. “You remember the (plays) at the end of the game but it’s plays all the way through that lead to that outcome and having to go to multiple overtimes.”
Thirty-four seconds into overtime, Keegan Diehl hit a free throw for his only point of the night, and it gave Logan Elm its first lead of the game. Ne’miah Waugh followed that a minute later with a three-pointer. After Bexley tied the game on a combination of free throws, Tyler Speas sunk a three for Logan Elm. A steal and a layup from Bexley’s Malcolm Myser made it a one-point game with 23 seconds left. Waugh hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds but Bexley’s Aedan Mitchel hit two with three ticks remaining to tie the game and send it to a second overtime.
Bexley struck for the first four points in the second overtime and LE could not get closer than two points the rest of the way.
Waugh led the Braves with 24 points and nine rebounds and Speas had 17 points.
Eli Rosen had 14 to lead Bexley. Alex Smith had nine rebounds to lead the Lions.
The Braves had a tough start to the game as they hit only one of 12 shots in the first quarter and three of 23 for the half in falling behind 17-9.
“Bexley came out and guarded us really well. They had a lot of ball pressure, and I thought they did some really good things getting in gaps, especially when Ne’miah was trying to drive, a kid stepped in right away and took a charge on him,” Dropsey said. “They were really active with their hands and that caused us to force some shots early and took us out of what we wanted to do early.”
Bexley 50, Logan Elm 48, 2OT
Bexley— Christian Avoli 1-0-3, Lolan Reis 1-2-4, Eli Rosen 3-6-14, Kyle Hagley 0-2-2, Malcolm Myser 3-1-8, Aedan Mitchell 2-7-11, Alex Smith 2-1-5, Andrew Montgomery 1-1-3. Three-point goals — Avoli, Rosen (2), Myser. Total — 12-41 20-27 50.
Logan Elm — Tyler Speas 6-0-17, Brady Neff 0-2-2, Lucas Bialy 2-0-4, Ne’miah Waugh 10-1-24, Keegan Diehl 0-1-1. Three-point goals — Speas (5), Waugh (3). Total — 18-55 4-6 48.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 O O F
Bexley 6 11 15 1 8 9 50
Logan Elm 3 6 14 10 8 7 48
Zane Trace 51, Circleville 35
The second half belonged to Zane Trace as the Pioneers erased a halftime deficit to defeat Circleville 51-35 in the nightcap to the first day of the 35th Annual Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic.
Circleville had a 22-15 halftime lead, but the Pioneers scored the first nine points of the third quarter to go up 24-22.
The Tigers tied the game when Ed Kirk went to the hoop and slammed one down. He was whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim, though. Starting with the free throws, the Pioneers scored the next nine points of the quarter. Circleville’s Jack Kline hit a three late in the period to make it a 33-27 game heading into the final period.
ZT scored the first seven points of the fourth to effectively end Circleville’s chances.
Riley Jenkins led the Tigers with 10 points and five rebounds, while Kline had seven points.
Grady Stewart led Zane Trace with 16 points
Zane Trace 51, Circleville 35
Circleville — Kole Nungester 2-1-5, Drew Thornsley 0-2-2, Jacob Reichelderfer 0-1-1. Jack Kline 3-0-7, Blain Fowler 2-0-4, Riley Jenkins 4-0-10, Ed Kirk 3-0-6. Three-point goals — Kline, Jenkins (2). Total — 14-33 4-7 35.
Zane Trace — Roman Barry 0-1-1, Grady Stewart 7-0-16, Noah Huston 1-1-3, Ezra Rippert 4-1-10, Landon Robinson 2-6-11, Gunnar McCullough 2-6-10. Three-point goals — Cupp, Elder (3), Dunn, Holland (2). Total — 16-40 15-20 51.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 8 14 5 8 35
Zane Trace 9 6 18 18 51