It’s been thirteen years since the boys from Latham, Ohio have celebrated back-to-back Sectional Championships. At that time, some of the current players were just taking their first steps.
Western’s 69-37 win over Miller Friday harkened emotions from 2008 when the Indians last reached the District Final.
Celebrating has been fresh in their minds on the heels of beating Symmes Valley a week ago for a share of the SOC I title.
Coach Doug Williams says his team knows the job’s not done. They’ll face Federal-Hocking in the D-IV District semi-finals at Wellston HS on February 26th at 3:30pm.
Western blistered the nets Friday against Miller, pouring in nine three- pointers in the first half.
The Indians complemented a 21-11 performance in the 1st Quarter with a 15-0 run to open the second. They outscored the Falcons 27-7 for a 48-18 lead at the break.
Western leads Miller thru 1stQ 21-11 on the strength of perimeter shots and inside play like this. pic.twitter.com/0KJSs3jrmf
The offensive attack was led by Noah Whitt’s 16-points. But there was plenty of action spread across the board for the Tribe’s starting five. Kolten Miller added 15-points, Reed Brewster dropped in 12, including three 3’s in the first period while Drew Haggy and Chase Carter had 8-points apiece.
Western opens 2Q on a 15-0 run. Leads Miller at the half 48-18. Noah Whitt nails one of 9 first half three pointers for the Indians. pic.twitter.com/WXsaxaBvbV
Western’s aggressive offensive approach has been their modus operandi in 2021-22. “We always want to go punch somebody in the mouth right off the bat” said Williams. “If that other team is supposed to beat us, it’s a surprise. If they’re not supposed to beat us, maybe they stop playin’. We always want to strike first.”
The moniker displayed on the back of the team’s warmup is “Attack” which is what Williams wants his team to be known for.
“We know we’re not gonna be the biggest team on the floor – we’re not always the most athletic team on the floor, but we talk everyday about being blue collar, workin’ hard, sitting down and guarding” all elements that will help a team win a game.
Equally impressive were the defensive efforts, which frustrated Miller into multiple one-and-out possessions.
The one bright spot for the Falcons came in the fourth when Kylan McClain hit a free throw to reach 1,000 points for his career. McClain was limited to just 6-points.
Western (21-2) heads to Wellston High School next Saturday to face Federal-Hocking, a 68-61 winner over Whiteoak Friday night. The winner advances to the District Final on March 4th.
What was a close game through the first three quarters, saw the Vinton County Vikings pull away in the fourth quarter for a 56-44 win at Wellston Friday night.
Wellston grabbed a 6-0 lead with the Vikings not scoring until 2:12 left in first quarter, which then saw VC go on 7-0 run for their first lead of 7-6. After a brief 8-7 by the Rockets, Vinton County got the lead back 9-8 at the end of the quarter.
Vinton County started getting some distance in the second quarter at 18-13 with 4:31 left in half and went into halftime up 24-20.
The second half saw VC lead by as many as 27-20, 29-22 before Wellston cut it to 40-39, then the Vikings went on 7-0 run for a 47-39 lead. Wellston got as close as 47-41 with 1:53 left but never got any closer.
Vinton County Team Scoring: Eli Radabaugh 16 points *McDonald’s Player of the Game* Zane Karr 15 points Braylon Damron 10 points Brayden Cain 5 points Asa Davidson 5 points Ashton Allman 2 points Jack Davidson 1 point
Wellston Team Scoring: Cyan Ervin 14 points Garrett Brown 14 points Michael Schober 10 points Isaac Molihan 4 points Evan Brown 2 points
Vinton County improves to (9-2/13-7) and remains tied with Alexander for the TVC lead after their 57-46 win over Athens. Alex plays their last TVC game tomorrow and Vinton County plays River Valley on February 21st.
After a closely contested first half, the Westfall Mustangs pulled away from Huntington for a 49-35 road victory over the Huntsmen.
Following a few lead changes in the first period, Westfall’s Seth Gifford beat the buzzer with a put back to give Westfall a 14-13 advantage.
The second quarter was evenly played until the Mustangs’ Casey Cline drilled a three from the left wing as time expired, lifting the Mustangs to a 24-20 lead at the intermission.
Huntington came up empty on all but three possessions in the third period as Luke Lewis and Dalton Black combined for six points. Westfall took advantage with the defense setting up the offense to surge ahead 34-26.
“Our kids started getting comfortable with making shots” Christian Meister said of his Mustangs’ effort in the second half. Westfall hadn’t played a game in more than a week. “This was a good game to get back in the swing of things” said Meister.
The Mustangs began to distance themselves further outscoring Huntington 15-9 in the final period for the win.
Huntsmen Coach Kyle Bradley was impressed by Westfall’s guard play. “They make things tough with how they switch defensively… When they switched and went zone, we struggled with it and they forced a handful of turnovers in the second half, especially in the third quarter kinda went on a run and created that separation.”
Westfall guard Tyler Shipley said his team gained confidence as the night progressed. “Our zone defense, 1-3-1, it worked well. We pushed offensively. Because we pushed, they played out of control. We were able to fluster them and good things happened from there.”
Westfall improves to 3-2 in the Scioto Valley Conference while the Huntsmen slipped to 0-5.
Cline led all scorers with 15 points and his Westfall teammates spread the wealth on a balanced attack. Tyler Shipley had 8 points, Brody Clark added 7, Gifford and Ashton Nunemaker had 6 points each. Trevor Wolfe chipped in 5 and Josh Layton had 2.
Seth McCloskey and Black were the only Huntsmen in double figures with 10 each, Lewis had 9 while Noah Potter, Wes brown and Matt Jordan each scored two apiece.
Westfall hosts conference leader Unioto Saturday while Huntington heads to Piketon.
Litter Media Extras:
Tyler Shipley is the McDonald’s Player of the Game.
The 2021 Huntington Athletic Hall of Fame: Left to right: Ariel Sams, Dylana Gragg Barker and Josh Newland. Dan Ramey/Litter Media
Huntington welcomed three new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame during the halftime break.
Enshrined were:
Dylana Gragg Barker (2016) a four-year letterman in Volleyball and three-year letterman in Basketball.
Josh Newkand (1995) a four-year letterman in Golf and two-time SVC Player of the Year.
Ariel Sams (2016) a four-year letterman in Basketball.
The 2021 Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic will offer nine games over Friday and Saturday, November 26-27. That includes one varsity girls and three varsity boys games on Friday. Saturday opens with two JV boys games followed by three varsity boys games.
Here’s the schedule of games:
FRIDAY GIRLS: Zane Trace vs New Hope- 3pm
FRIDAY BOYS: Berne Union vs New Hope- 5pm Circleville vs Vinton County- 6:30pm Miami Trace vs Lancaster- 8pm
SATURDAY JV BOYS: Vinton County vs Lancaster- 9am Zane Trace vs Newark- 10:30am
SATURDAY VARSITY BOYS: Washington CH vs Warren- 5pm Zane Trace vs Bishop Ready- 6:30pm Logan vs Columbus Whetstone- 8pm
