Falcons begin quick, fend off Eagles

BEAVER — The Eagles’ Nest at Jap Excessive College, maybe stunning to most and easily beautiful to some, served as upset central in mid-December —when Wheelersburg and Valley visited, and each misplaced within the Southern Ohio Convention Division II.

Luckily for the Minford Falcons, on Tuesday evening to tip off 2023, they averted the identical destiny as their Scioto County brethren —though it certainly emerged fascinating inside the ultimate couple of minutes.

However, ultimately, the Falcons’ hovering begin secured this SOC II triumph —as Minford muscled and raced its method out to a 20-point first-half benefit, earlier than heading off the hard-charging Eagles for expensive life late, and escaping Jap with an 84-72 victory.

That’s proper, the athletic, tall, gifted and even highly-touted Falcons —from opening tip to remaining buzzer —by no means trailed or stood tied, and even scored a minimum of 20 factors in three of the 4 sport quarters.

With 12 minutes and 54 full seconds passed by on Tuesday evening, Minford had made 5-of-7 free throws and 4 of its seven whole three-pointers —all en path to a seemingly commanding 43-23 cushion.

However the Falcons discovered themselves in fairly the competition in the direction of the top, as Jap first sliced a 47-32 halftime deficit right down to 9 factors thrice (57-48 and 61-52 within the third quarter and 79-70 within the fourth) —and at last to a 79-72 tally with two-and-a-half minutes to go.

Nevertheless, the Falcons completed the sport in addition to they began it —with bookend slam dunks by the six-foot and five-inch sophomore Bennett Kayser.

Kayser’s clinching dunk wasn’t as apparent and even emphatic as his opening one —however backside line, the now 7-1 Falcons survived one other Jap upset bid to stay undefeated within the SOC II at 6-0.

Getting into Friday evening’s SOC II slate, the Falcons led Wheelersburg (3-1 in SOC II) —with Wheelersburg’s solely league loss coming at Jap on Dec. 16.

Northwest and Valley have been each 3-2 within the division, because the Eagles upstaged the Indians (96-92 in double extra time) — solely 4 days after selecting off the Pirates (62-59).

Minford’s veteran head coach Josh Shoemaker was well-aware of Jap’s potential, and easily acknowledged his Falcons are elated to fly again to their nest with one other league win.

The loss left the up-and-down Eagles at 5-5 —and at 2-4 within the SOC II.

“We informed the blokes that this crew (Jap) is for actual. They’ve had some actually good wins they usually proceed to get higher. I’m simply so impressed with Coach (Ethan) Leist and the job he’s completed this yr right here. He has them able to play. It was like a boxing match. We simply stored hitting, hitting and hitting, they usually simply stored taking the punches and coming proper again,” stated Shoemaker. “Credit score to their children for each time we made a play, they got here proper again at us and by no means gave up. Jap is a tricky bunch of children which can be well-coached. I’m simply glad we walked out of right here with a win tonight, as a result of they’re a tricky crew and this can be a powerful place to play. Jap actually took it to us, and now we have some beat up guys proper now.”

The Falcons performed an eight-man rotation in comparison with the Eagles’ six —as all 5 of Minford’s scorers eclipsed a minimum of 13 factors.

Myles Montgomery, the standout sophomore, went off for a game-high 25 — netting 10 whole area targets together with a pair of three-pointers.

Kayser, on eight area targets, and fellow 6-4 sophomore Jackson Shoemaker —on 5 whole area targets and 5-of-8 free throws —scored 16 factors apiece.

Joe Hannah — the 6-7 senior — sank 5 deuces and a pair of second-quarter treys in the direction of 14 factors, and fellow senior Adam Crank chipped in with 13 —on three twos, two threes, and a cut up of third-frame foul photographs.

The Falcons cast first-quarter leads as giant as 11 twice (21-10 and 24-13), as Hannah held it at 10 at 27-17 — with a corner-pocket three-ball solely 30 seconds into the second.

By the three:06 mark of the canto, Minford had doubled its distinction to 43-23.

Montgomery made three foul photographs within the interval, as his putback of his personal miss made it formally the 20-point margin.

Coach Shoemaker stated the Falcons’ quick tempo, and engineered by the speedy Montgomery, makes for fast runout baskets being a crew staple.

However, Montgomery and firm attacked the basket at will this time.

Tuesday’s tilt was really the Falcons’ first sport in nearly two full weeks —once they misplaced to Huntington (W.Va.) 72-63 within the annual Ironton Traditional for his or her solely defeat up to now.

“Myles is Myles. Acquired out in transition, he’s on the ground, preventing via bumps, defending. Bennett Kayser set the tone of the sport, Joe Hannah was actually good within the first half, Adam Crank hit one other large shot and obtained out in transition,” stated the coach. “The factor was we attacked, we continued attacking and simply performed arduous.”

Minford maintained anyplace from a nine-to-15 level lead all through the third quarter, earlier than Montgomery made a triple from the wing with 4:36 left to make it 76-59.

Though, over the following two minutes and 4 seconds, a 13-3 run closed the hole to 79-72 —and Jap appeared hell bent on one other upset coming to cross.

That’s when Shoemaker stepped up his sport —first getting a blocked shot on an Eagle try after a Falcon turnover.

His basket on the two-minute mark made it 81-72 — as he then corralled a defensive board, stole an inbounds cross, and cut up a second time within the fourth quarter two free throws for an additional 10-point (82-72) lead.

Jap freshman Brewer Tomlison, standing six-foot and three-inches tall, obtained the higher of Shoemaker within the first half —outscoring him 8-4, and with two of Shoemaker’s factors being first-quarter freebies.

However Shoemaker scored a dozen of his 16 factors within the second 16 minutes—together with eight alone within the third, as his banked-in trifecta made it 64-52 with 37 tics to play.

“You don’t get to see two large guys go at it like that too typically. Within the first half, Brewer Tomlison simply performed nice. Then we challenged Jack (Shoemaker) at halftime, and the second half Jack simply performed nice,” stated the elder Shoemaker.

The Falcons held a 34-29 benefit in whole area targets, however did depart the door ajar for the Eagles on the line —changing solely 9 of 20.

Jap was 9-of-12, as Neil Leist landed 3-of-5 —together with eight whole area targets for a team-high 21 factors.

Tomlison, on seven area targets, and Jace White, with six area targets and 2-of-2 second-quarter free throws, tossed in 14 factors apiece — with White making three baskets amid that livid fourth-quarter comeback bid.

Tucker Leist landed three threes and netted 9 factors, Dylan Morton mustered three buckets in the direction of eight factors, and T.J. Richards scored two twos in the direction of six —as Morton within the third quarter and Richards within the final made 2-of-2 free throws every.

Coach Shoemaker stated the Huntington loss, mixed with a “nice week of observe” previous to New 12 months’s Day, did wonders in preparation for the upstart Eagles.

“We knew we have been going to get a heckuva shot from them (Jap), however coming off that loss to Huntington, it actually obtained our focus again,” he stated. “It actually pushed us into having an awesome sport tonight.”

And, avoiding the upset on the Eagles’ Nest —of which Wheelersburg and Valley didn’t.

“If we’re going to win the league, now we have to win highway video games like these,” stated Shoemaker. “And you must be able to play each evening.”

* * *

Minford 24 23 17 20 —84

Jap 17 15 22 18 — 72

MINFORD 84 (7-1, 6-0 SOC II)

Bennett Kayser 8 0-1 16, Adam Crank 5 1-2 13, Myles Montgomery 10 3-9 25, Jeffrey Pica 0 0-0 0, Bailey White 0 0-0 0, Noah Martin 0 0-0 0, Jackson Shoemaker 5 5-8 16, Joe Hannah 6 0-0 14; TOTALS 34 9-20 84; Three-point area targets: 7 (Adam Crank, Myles Montgomery and Joe Hannah 2 apiece, Jackson Shoemaker 1)

EASTERN 72 (5-5, 2-4 SOC II)

Tucker Leist 3 0-0 9, T.J. Richards 2 2-2 6, Jace White 6 2-2 14, Neil Leist 8 3-5 21, Dylan Morton 3 2-2 8, Brewer Tomlison 7 0-1 14; TOTALS 29 9-12 72; Three-point area targets: 5 (Tucker Leist 3, Neil Leist 2)

Minford sophomore Myles Montgomery (10) races in for an uncontested layup in the course of the Falcons’ Southern Ohio Convention Division II boys basketball sport towards Jap on Tuesday evening.

Minford sophomore Jackson Shoemaker (34) battles Jap freshman Brewer Tomlison (44) throughout Tuesday evening’s Southern Ohio Convention Division II boys basketball sport at Jap Excessive College.

Minford wins 84-72, nonetheless SOC II good

Attain Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by electronic mail at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Every day Occasions, all rights reserved