By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the high school boys basketball games from Jan. 19 – 21.

Mississinawa Valley 43 (1-13, 0-6) vs Ansonia 64 (4-9, 2-5)

The Tigers pick up a rivalry home win over the Blackhawks in the Route 47 Shootout. Ansonia head coach Tony Overton said after they got a boost in energy in the second half, they started to roll.

“We have been able to put four quarters yet together. We’re still working on that. I gave them a pretty good talking at halftime to raise our energy and that seemed to help. Got some spark off the bench, that helped and that brought the morale up for some of the older guys. I was proud of our effort for the last 12 minutes or so,” Overton said.

The Tigers had a 23-18 lead at halftime. Both teams played a physical and intense brand of basketball. Both teams were diving for loose balls and both scored off second chance opportunities.

Mississinawa Valley head coach Cole Hamilton said the team did a great job in the first half containing senior Ethan Reichert. He also said senior Bryson Gower did a great job defending Reichert and getting him into foul trouble early.

From there, the team was able to get the offense going to stay in the game.

“Ten days ago, Reichert scored 34 points on us. Kind of shut him down a little bit, focused on their inside game. Got Reichert into foul trouble, that led us to some easy points in the first half,” Hamilton said. “Went back to it in the second half, buckets weren’t falling. Fell a little short tonight.”

Hamilton said the inside-out game was working offensively, until he noticed some of his players getting tired and the shots started to fall a little short.

Then it was Ansonia getting the inside-out game going. The Tigers made seven threes in the second half, five in the fourth and nine overall.

Overton said when the team can be patient, set screens and work the paint they can get the inside-out game going. With the right shooters in place, they can put points on the board.

Freshman Bennett Lehman came off the bench strong in the second half with four made threes, three of them in the fourth quarter. Senior Matt Barga and senior Landyn Bowman both made threes as well in the fourth quarter.

Ansonia also limited Mississinawa Valley’s second chance opportunities. Overton said the team kind of stood around in the first half. The boost in energy helped the team get more stops on the defensive end.

“The second half, our energy got a lot better. We ended up having some guys crash the boards. We got some stops. When we got stops, that’s when we were able to be able to pull away there at the end,” Overton said.

Ansonia outscored Mississinawa Valley, 24-15, in the third quarter and rode that momentum for the win.

Barga led the team with 17 points. Reichert and senior Trevor Hemmerich both had 15 points and Lehman had 12 points. For Mississinawa Valley, freshman Cing Scott had 14 points and Gower had 13 points. Senior Aron Hunt had nine points.

The Blackhawks will be at Bradford next on Jan. 26 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off. They will then host Fort Recovery on Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

After a road game at Minster, the Tigers will host Preble Shawnee on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. and then host Covington on Jan. 27 at 7:15 p.m.

Around the county:

Arcanum 52 (7-8, 3-3) vs Dayton Christian 57 (7-5, 4-1)

The Trojans made it a close game after being down 25-12 in the first quarter. Sophomore Regan Christ led the team with 15 points and senior Braylen Etherington had 10 points. Junior Landon Flatter had nine points. The team will host Twin Valley South on Jan. 26 at 7:15 p.m. and then host Milton-Union on Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Franklin Monroe 58 (10-4, 5-1) vs Yellow Springs 31 (2-10, 0-5)

The Jets bounce back with the win over Yellow Springs. They led 34-13 at halftime and didn’t let up. Junior Eric Brenner led the team with 21 points. Sophomore Lucas Brenner had 12 points and senior Gage Wackler had 11 points. The team shot 50% from the field and from three-point range. They will next host Tri-Village on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. and then head to Bradford on Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Greenville (3-13, 3-9)

The Green Wave split their weekend games. On Jan. 19, they won 49-40 at Troy. Junior Drew Hamilton had 20 points to lead all scorers. Junior Liam Jasenski had 11 points off the bench. They held Troy to 18.2% shooting from three. The Green Wave then lost to Bethel at home, 58-36. Bethel outscored Greenville 16-2 in the second quarter on their way to the win. Hamilton led with 10 points. Junior Layne Hocker had nine points. After a MVL game against Xenia, Greenville will travel to Stebbins on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Tri-Village 74 (13-1, 6-0) vs Smithville 45 (5-9, 3-4)

The Patriots get a non-conference road win over the Smithies. They outscored Smithville 27-9 in the second quarter and 24-11 in the third quarter. The team shot 60% from the field. Sophomore Trey Sagester led the team with 26 points. Seniors Braden Keating and Reed Wehr both had 14 points. The Patriots will head to Franklin Monroe on Jan. 26 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off and then host Troy Christian on Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Versailles (7-6, 2-2)

The Tigers split their weekend games. They lost at Minster, 48-31. They followed up that game with a road win over Covington. Senior Carson Heitkamp led the team with 16 points. Sophomore Drake Ahrens had 15 points, junior Jace Watren had 12 and senior A.J. Griesdorn had 10. The Tigers will play two more road games. They will be at St. John’s on Jan. 26 for a 7:30 p.m. tip off and then be at Russia on Jan. 27 for a 7 p.m. tip off.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]