Huntington Takes Piketon in a Runaway, 53-30
Article presented by Pike County Career & Technology Center …
The Hustlin’ Huntington Huntsmen (6-1/3-1 SVC) were true to that name Friday night in a 53-30 victory over Piketon (1-4/1-2 SVC) in their first meeting of the season.
“I thought comin’ out in the second half, we played a little more downhill” said Huntsmen Coach Rick Uhrig. “It was like we were climb the hill the whole first half. We just couldn’t get ourselves flowin’ on either end of the floor.”
The Redstreaks posted a 10-7 lead through the first period only to see Huntington limit Piketon to three second quarter free throws before Luke Gullion sank a three-pointer from the right corner as time expired for a 21-16 Huntsmen lead at the break.
“I wasn’t a happy camper at halftime” said Uhrig, but that was offset by a bright spot, his team held Piketon to 16-points at the half. “We want to keep people to around 12-points a quarter if we can. Goal met. And that was our goal the second half.”
Sophomore Zayden Baker said the halftime adjustment and placing focus on execution made all the difference. “We knew we need to come out better in the second half and just execute our plays, get the ball to our leaders and stuff. And I felt like we did that in the second half.”
Piketon did a good job keeping the boards clean defensively as the Streaks allowed just a couple of second chances on missed shots by the Huntsmen.
Meanwhile, Piketon was bitten by the turnover bug. Huntington earned offensive opportunities thanks to 20 takeaways, scoring on nearly half of them in transition.
Frankie Hirsch was the most active, scoring 17 of his game leading 21 points in the second and third quarters. Baker followed Hirsch’s 21-points with 11 of his own. Kalvin Manson (8-points) and Calvin Hirsch (7-points) combined for 15 more.
After seeing Huntington take a 27-18 lead, the Redstreaks managed to cut the margin to 27-25 on a Gullion three-ball from the right wing with 3:10 left in the third period. The Huntsmen closed out the quarter on a 13-2 run to break the game open.
Piketon failed to help themselves with the clock stopped, too connecting on just 8-of-16 free throws. Gullion and Jace Ritchie were the leading scorers for the Redstreaks with 8-points each and Bo Henry added six.
Both teams are expecting to play in a high school basketball showcase at Shawnee State this weekend. Piketon is scheduled to play Northwest Saturday and the Huntsmen are to play Rock Hill on Sunday. Whether they play or not is dependent on a winter storm that is projected to blanket Southern Ohio with 3-6 inches of snow between Saturday and Sunday.
Stay tuned.
Elsewhere in the Scioto Valley Conference, Unioto bested Westfall 64-42; Zane Trace too Southeastern 50-37 and Adena beat Paint Valley 52-45. This Tuesday, Huntington travels to Unioto (4-0) while the Redstreaks are home with Westfall (2-4).
