Huntsmen Hustle Past Paint Valley 71-41
Article presented by Pickaway Ross CTC Adult Education …
Routines are important for continuity for high school sports. Thanks to Winter Storm Fern, the final week of January has been anything but routine.
That gave Huntington’s Rick Uhrig reason to be concerned entering the game at Paint Valley Friday night.
“We need to get refocused” Uhrig said before the game. “We just got back in the gym yesterday. Hopefully our wind holds up.” He was also concerned the time away was “rest time, not rust time.”
There didn’t seem to be much rust as the Huntsmen doubled the score on the Bearcats at 1809 through the first 8-minutes. They followed up outscoring Paint Valley 17-5 in the second period, placing the Bearcats in a hole they couldn’t climb out from.
“We’re really young across the board” said Paint Valley’s Marcus Coleman, in his first year at the helm. We’re 0-and-17, but our kids keep working and don’t give up. We make mental mistakes, but we’ve grown up so much. We’re still one turnover away from being good and we’re one turnover away from being really bad.”
The Huntsmen were benefactors of scoring in transition. The Bearcats had 13 turnovers in the first half and Huntington capitalized on nearly every one, building a 35-14 lead by intermission.
Huntington’s Frankie Hirsch led all scorers with 23-points, 17 coming in the first half. Jase Rhinehart paced the Bearcats with 15-points.
The Huntsmen improved to 12-5 on the season and 8-5 in the Scioto Valley Conference. Meanwhile, the Bearcats continue to search for their first win of the 2025-26 campaign.
Huntington travels to New Boston to face Glenwood Saturday while Paint Valley doesn’t play again until Tuesday hosting Lynchburg Clay.
Scoring for Huntington: Frankie Hirsch 23; Brennan Smith 7; Mason Baker 7; Zayden Baker 6; Kalvin Manson; Brennan Smith 4; Payton Sams 3; Rhett Phipps 3; Alex Long 2; Canon Kinzer 2; Ryan Campbell 2.
Scoring for Paint Valley: Jase Rhinehart 15; Landen Elliott 10; Brennan Ison 4; Gabe Dehoyos, 4; Ethan Burke 3; Wyn Williams 2; Carter Elliott 1.
