Logan Elm 50, Bexley 46
KINNIKINNICK — Bexley turned up the pressure to get a lead in the fourth quarter but Logan Elm took advantage of a mistake to turn the tide and open the season with a 50-46 win.
After a quick start by the Lions at the Zane Trace Tipoff Classic, the Braves finished the first quarter with the final nine points to lead 14-11 and LE held that lead entering the final period.
Bexley picked up its defensive pressure in the fourth and held LE scoreless for almost six minutes of game play while tying the game and then retaking the lead.
A basket with 2:18 on the clock put Bexley up 46-42, but one of the officials felt the shotmaker said something inappropriate and whistled a technical.
LE senior Brady Neff went to the line and made both shots.
“It’s a tough situation for a kid to be in in an emotional environment. You know, he’d made a nice play,” LE coach Nate Dropsey said. “But that sort of swung the momentum our way. I think it gave Brady a little confidence.”
With possession of the ball after the free throws, the Braves ran a play ato get Neff a shot. While Neff’s shot was off the mark, Ethon Manson got the rebound and put it back up to tie game with 2:04 left.
The Braves got the ball back after a missed Bexley shot and Neff scored on a 15-footer with 1:15 on the clock to put LE back on top.
As the clock wound down under a minute, the Lions had four fouls to give. It took until eight seconds left to get the Braves in a shooting situation and it was Neff at the line. He sunk both shots to finish out the game’s scoring.
With eight points in the first quarter, Neff finished with 14 points.
“Obviously, Brady’s a very nice player — this is third year at the varsity level — so we expect him to be able to come out and to get going,” Dropsey said. “(Aedan) Mitchell is a great defender for them along with (Josiah) Witt and when they came out and took Brady away, I thought Kelton (Bennington) got some open looks that he was able to knock down. I thought Lucas Bialy did a great job of not settling and getting into the paint to get some other guys some looks. Doren Patton coming in as a senior, he played JV last year, I thought he gave us great minutes. He’s a tough kid who likes to get to the paint.”
As part of the Lions’ effort to get back in the game in the final period, they turned the Braves over seven times after LE had only committed six in the first three periods.
“Seven turnovers in the fourth quarter is just unacceptable. You know, they did speed us up,” Dropsey said. “We’ve talked about we want to play a little bit faster this year. But we also need to know that we’ve got to control the tempo. When they get up in us and are pressing us, we have to understand that that’s because they want to speed us up, they want to try to turn us over.
“I thought that we sort of played into their hands and credit to them, they did a great job executing what they needed to do.”
Bennington hit four threes to finish with 12 points for the Braves while Patton had eight and Bialy and Owen Russell each had six.
Mitchell led Bexley with 16 points while Andrew Montgomery had 12.
Bexley finished with a slim 29-27 rebounding edge. Kyle Hagety led Bexley with six. Neff led LE with six with Patton and Bialy each pulling down five.
In earlier action at the Zane Trace Tipoff Classic, Adena beat New Hope 66-48 and Huntington topped Amanda-Clearcreek 49-35. Fairland won the final game with a three-pointer with a minute to go and then kept Zane Trace from scoring for a 59-58 win.
Logan Elm 50, Bexley 46
Bexley— Robert Porter 2-0-4, Andrew Montgomery 6-0-12, Kyle Hagely 1-1-3, Malcolm Myser 2-0-5, Aedan Mitchell 7-1-16, Josiah Witt 1-0-3, Christian Avoli 1-0-3. Three-point goals —Myser, Mitchell, Witt, Avoli. Total — 20-44 2-5 46.
Logan Elm — Zane Seimer 1-0-2, Kelton Bennington 4-0-12, Doren Patton 3-2-8, Brady Neff 4-4-14, Owen Russell 2-0-6, Lucas Bialy 1-4-6, Ethon Manson 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Bennington (4), Neff (2), Russell (2). Total — 16-47 10-11 50
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Bexley 11 12 15 8 46
Logan Elm 14 15 13 8 50