|
|
Mississinawa
Valley senior Cale Cox, drive to the bucket for two of his
eight points.
Cox pulled down 12 rebounds as the Hawks cruised to an
83-60 victory over
Ansonia. CNO photos by Dylan Knoop
|
|
Blackhawks cruise in end of tight game
By George Starks
UNION CITY- When Ansonia and Mississinawa Valley hook up on the
basketball court, throw the records out the door, the records don’t
matter.
Through three quarters of play, the two teams went after each other as
the Tigers led 23-17 after one but trailed 35-34 at the half.
Mississinawa Valley took a 54-48 lead into the final eight minutes.
That was as close as it would ever get as the Hawks would open it up in
the final frame and cruise to a 83-60 victory.
Hawks coach Rodney Saintignon, had to wait 21 games to get what he
really wanted from his team, four quarters of team basketball.
He finally got it.
“There’s a lot of times we would play three, three and a half quarters
but never four full quarters,” said Saintignon. “Tonight, we put four
together. The guys played hard and were unbelievable. It was the will
to win and not lose. We had a bad game Tuesday (at Bradford) and we
didn’t want to repeat that.”
The difference on the Hawks senior night may have been the play of
senior Cale Cox.
Cox netted just eight points but was a horse on the boards, pulling
down a dozen rebounds for Saintignon.
“If he would have been healthy all season, I think we would have had a
better record,” admitted Saintignon. “He’s still not a hundred percent
and I wish he had been. It would have helped us out a bunch. He’s tough
on the boards. He boxes out well, jumps well and he’s a strong kid.
Led by junior Dane Blumenstock with 27 points, the Hawks put three in
double figures as Brandon Byers added 15 and Bryson Pollic 10 in
support.
“Dane came off the bench tonight and lit it up,” acknowledged
Saintignon. “He averages 20 points a game and that will go up after
tonight’s game. This was a team effort tonight. Everyone stepped up and
played well. All the seniors played well and did their jobs. Carson
Stump and Ryan Rehmert played extremely well. Ryan got into foul
trouble and had to come out at one point but he played well. I’m proud
of all those guys.”
Ansonia jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the Hawks came storming
back, closing to a 13-11 count.
The Tigers opened up a 19-11 lead with 2:38 remaining in the opening
quarter before going up 23-17 after one.
With Ansonia holding a 30-25 advantage, Mississinawa Valley started
chipping away, getting a 31-31 tie at 2:22 when Rehmert hit in the
paint.
During the quarter, the two teams swapped the lead three times while
there were two ties in the frame.
The Hawks held the last head of the quarter, 35-34.
“This is a great backyard rivalry,” said Ansonia coach Darrick Barga.
“Both these teams went after each other hard. We just got tired.”
With the Hawks holding a six point lead after three, 54-48, the Tigers
were right in the thick of it.
At the 6:19 mark, the six point deficit had blossomed to a 61-48
advantage for the Hawks.
Two minutes later, the Hawks were up by a 70-51 count and the only
thing left to be determined was the final score.
“We just got tired,” said Barga. “We played two quarters in six minutes
and in the last two minutes of the third, we got rattled. They started
thinking and doubting and wondering about how to get back in the game.
We were too quick to pull the trigger. In the first quarter, we were
driving, kicking the ball out and scoring. We started to settle for our
outside shots and they (MV) got back in the game. “
For a quarter and a half, the Tigers were putting on a shooting clinic.
“I was happy to see that,” Barga admitted. “This week in practice we
hadn’t really seen it, so I’m proud of them to be able to mentally stay
focused. We have some guys that can shoot and they came out ready to
play. They were focused. I think we played to the energy of the
building, both ways. It was a great atmosphere in here tonight and a
great rivalry and we were a little excited with it.”
With the win, MV goes to 6-15 and will go into sectional action at
Piqua hoping to build off the win.
“We can keep this going and make it work in our favor,” said
Saintignon. “We have to be able to build on this.”
Ansonia goes to 3-18 with the loss and will play Fairlawn in the
opening round of the sectional. Mississinawa Valley will get the winner
of the Jackson Center/Bradford game in Piqua.
|
|
Ansonia
sophomore Daulton Subler finds the going a little rough as Brandon
Byers (20)
and Carson Stump (5) applies the defense in the paint.
|
|
|
|
