UNION CITY – In a low scoring game where points were a premium the Ansonia boys basketball team staved off a comeback attempt by Mississinawa Valley to win by the score of 33-25 on Tuesday night.
Mississinawa started the game well and led 4-0 before the Tigers scored 10 unanswered points to take a first quarter lead 10-4.
A fielder from D.J. Howell and a triple from Cody Dirksen pulled MV to within a point trailing 10-9, but Ansonia got back-to-back buckets inside from Payton Setser to go back up 14-9.
Ansonia would end the first half with a 16-11 lead.
The trend continued in the second half with both teams getting after it on defense. Howell scored 5 points and Trent Collins 1 for Mississinawa, while Matthew Shook scored 4 points and Matt Farrier and Reece Stammen each had 3 points to help Ansonia expand its lead to 26-18.
Ansonia wasn’t even sure if Hunter Muir would play after an ankle injury in an overtime loss to Houston over the weekend. Muir tried to play, but was saddled with foul trouble and picked up his fifth foul just as the fourth quarter began. He left the game with just 2 points.
Mississinawa charged back on the strength of its full court pressure that resulted in all five of Alex Scholl’s points in the game, as the ‘Hawks closed the gap to 26-23.
Ansonia fans had to be thinking here we go again with the last three games all going to overtime, but the Tigers weathered the storm and made just enough plays to pull out the 33-25 win.
“Quite honestly we got beat the first half,” Mississinawa Valley coach Tim Barga said. “I asked the kids, ‘Why did we work so hard in the second half?’ Because we got behind for not working hard in the first half.”
“We struggled tonight offensively knocking down shots. If we don’t make open shots from the perimeter it can be a long night,” Barga stated.
D.J. Howell was the only player for either team to score in double figures with 11 points on the night despite fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Mississinawa Valley falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Cross County Conference and will travel to take on Tri-Village Friday night.
“When these two teams get together you know it’s going to be a battle,” Ansonia coach Devin Limburg said.
“We stress defense and if it’s a low scoring game in the 20’s or 30’s we feel like we can grind it out for a win and it was awesome to see other guys step up, seeing 6 or 7 guys in the box scores with everybody contributing is right where we want to be,” Limburg added.
No one scored in double figures for Ansonia. Matthew Shook led the Tigers with 8 points. They improve to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the Cross County Conference. Ansonia will host Franklin Monroe on Friday.
Score by quarters
Ansonia^10^6^10^7^–^33
Mississinawa Valley^4^7^6^8^–^25
Individual scoring
Ansonia – Matthew Farrier 0-0-2/2 – 2, Reece Stammen 0-2-2/4 – 6, Hunter Buckingham 0-2-0/0 – 6, Matthew Shook 0-4-0/4 – 8, Hunter Muir 0-1-0/2 – 2, Payton Setser 0-2-0/0 – 4, Andrew Rowland 0-1-3/4 – 5. Totals 2-10-7/16 – 33.
Mississinawa Valley – Trent Collins 0-0-3/4 – 3, Alex Scholl 0-2-1/2 – 5, Cody Dirksen 0-1-1/2 – 4, Blake Scholl 0-1-0/0 – 2, D.J. Howell 3-1-2/3 – 11. Totals 2-6-7/11 – 25.
Three Pointers:
Ansonia 2 (Buckingham 2)
Mississinawa Valley 2 (Dirksen 1, Howell 1)
Records: Ansonia (2-2, 2-1), Mississinawa Valley (2-3, 1-2)
