ASHVILLE — Teays Valley got off to a hot start, but Lancaster had the stronger finish as the Gales handed TV a 67-64 loss Friday.
Playing their first league game against as a member of the OCC Buckeye Division, the Vikings hit their first four shots in the opening two minutes to get up 10-0. (Owen Hoffhines hit a three and Brody Fields had seven points.) TV was up 17-10 at the end of the first.
“We talked about coming out to getting a quick start and establishing a pace that would be good for us,” Teays Valley coach Brian Barnett said. “I thought we did a good job of getting the ball into scoring areas and we made some shots and that’s what happens when we do the things that we’re told to do.”
The Gales tied the game midway through the second period, but TV was able to score the next six points. Lancaster pulled back to within a point and then converted a steal into a basket for its first lead with a minute to go before Luke Burgett scored for the Vikings a few seconds later for a 32-31 TV advantage, which is where the score stood at the half.
Lancaster had the first pair of buckets in the third period and led 40-36 early on.
Burgett kept his Vikings in the game by scoring TV’s first 10 points. His second three-point play in that spurt put the Vikings back up 42-40. Six points from Fields and a bucket from Jayden Morrison helped the Vikings lead 50-45 going into the final quarter.
“I’m glad for Luke. He’s had a couple rough games and to see him explode there in the third quarter was good,” Barnett said. “We thought by switching him — originally, we had him on the baseline and we switched him up to the high post because he’s just a little bit more experienced, a little stronger. He did a nice job taking the ball to the basket and creating some things offensively for us.”
Lancaster had been having some issues shooting as the Gales converted on only 37 percent of their field goal attempts through the first three quarters, but they changed that up in the fourth as they converted 64 percent of their shots.
Tyler Carpenter hit a pair of threes for Lancaster to start the quarter’s scoring and Colton Bruny had a couple of buckets to put Lancaster up 55-50.
Purdon put in a three for the Vikings, but Lancaster followed with a three from Davis Call and a bucket from Bruny to go up 60-53 with three minutes left.
Fields connected on a three for TV. Lancaster added a pair of free throws and then Fields hit another three with 1:08 left to make it a three-point game.
Lancaster hit one of two free throws with 53 seconds and Burgett connected on a three from the corner 12 seconds later to make it a 65-64 score.
Drew Whitlatch hit a pair of free throws with 33 seconds on the clock to put Lancaster back up three.
The Vikings worked the ball looking for a shot, but it was off the mark. Karter Kozlowski grabbed the rebound for the Vikings and a quick timeout left 9.4 seconds for another chance at tying the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Vikings worked the ball around and had a good look but couldn’t get it to fall.
“I thought, maybe, our defensive pressure wasn’t as good in the fourth as it was in the first three. We gave them some wide-open looks,” Barnett said. “They did a nice job of crashing the offensive glass, I thought, in the fourth quarter, some easy baskets in transition that we gave up, and that’s one of the things that kind of caused us some trouble.”
Lancaster finished the night with a 34-28 rebounding edge, including 13 offensive rebounds. Bruny had nine and Whitlatch six for the Gales. Burgett led TV with six.
Burgett was TV’s top scorer with 17 points while Fields had 15. Purdon put in 12.
Carpenter led all scorers putting in 21 for Lancaster while Bruney had 18 and Cam Eaton had 14.
Barnett expects this type of battle every night as the Vikings continue their OCC schedule.
“This league is good. I mean, there is going to be a battle night in and night out. I mean, there are no easy games on the schedule,” Barnett said. “You know, there are no easy wins where we can point to this game and say, hey, we’re gonna get a win. Everybody’s really well coached, they’re well prepared, they’re bigger, they’re stronger. And we’ve got to start matching that a little bit.
“You know, I think we do it in spurts, but I don’t think we do it all the time yet. We’ll get there, it just takes time.”
Lancaster 67, Teays Valley 64
Lancaster — Colton Bruny 7-4-18, Tyler Carpenter 7-1-21, Davis Call 3-0-8, Drew Whitlatch 1-2-4, Brody Burke1-0-2, Cam Eaton 4-4-14. Three-point goals — Carpenter (6), Call (2), Eaton (2). Total — 23-54 11-16 67.
Teays Valley — Brody Fields 4-5-15, Luke Burgett 7-2-17, Owen Hoffhines 3-0-7, Karter Kozlowski 3-0-7, Calvin Wolpert 0-1-1, Kadon Purdon 5-0-12, Jayden Morrison 2-0-5. Three-point goals — Fields (2), Burgett, Hoffhines, Kozlowski, Purdon (2), Morrison. Total — 24-50 8-10 64.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Lancaster 10 21 14 22 67
Teays Valley 17 15 18 14 64
