PITSBURG – Mississinawa Valley took on Franklin Monroe in the nightcap of the opening round of the 53rd annual Jet Holiday Tournament.
It was a high scoring affair in the opening quarter with the Blackhawks getting the better of the two, leading 22-16.
Trent Perkins got Mississinawa rolling leading a balanced attack by four Hawks scoring seven points. Ethan Bowman had six, Devin Rinderle five and Colyn Nelson four.
“I thought Trent set the tone for us tonight,” Mississinawa Valley boys basketball coach Tim Barga said.
“He came out and knocked down some early shots and really got us going,” Barga said.
Franklin Monroe had five different players score in the opening quarter with Zach Hyre and Kyle Ressler both scoring four points each, Bradey Hesler and Cade McGlinch each with three points, and Ethan Conley had two.
But the Jets cooled off in the second period while the Hawks continued to soar with Bowman pouring in nine points to give MV a 41-24 halftime advantage.
Franklin Monroe didn’t fold after the break. While looking out of sync offensively in the second quarter the Jets got it rolling in the third frame by spreading the wealth around with all five players on the floor scoring.
The Hawks kept pace with Rinderle leading the way with eight points as MV led 57-42.
In the final stanza Rinderle continued to light it up, scoring 12 of his game-high 26 points to hold off another high scoring frame from Franklin Monroe.
Jet freshman Ethan Conley worked hard in the second half and even harder in the final stanza, scoring 10 of his team-high 20 points … but it wasn’t enough to overcome a huge night offensively for Mississinawa who earned an 82-60 win over the host Jets.
Franklin Monroe placed three players in double digit scoring with Conley leading on 20 points and 12 rebounds. Both Hyre and Hesler each added 11 points as well.
Rinderle led the way for MV with 26, Bowman had 21, Perkins 13 and Nelson 11 points as the Blackhawks advanced to the title game to take on the Brookville Blue Devils.
“We can talk all night about Ethan Bowman, Devin Rinderle and Colyn Nelson … but we have to have all our guys contributing, and we got that tonight,” Barga said.
“Dalton Geesy showed toughness at times battling for rebounds, and he got a few stick backs, and Andrew Johns didn’t play a bad game either; he just didn’t have many opportunities to score … this was a complete and total team effort, and I’m proud of them for that,” Barga said.
“Tonight everyone was looking for one another and sharing the ball. We had our heads up, got the ball up court, and we executed well most of the game. We did get a little sloppy late, but overall it was a good game,” Barga added.
“We have been very inconsistent this year and haven’t put together two good games in row. We’re going to see tomorrow night if we can do that in the championship game,” Barga concluded.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
MV….22…19…16…23 – 75
FM….16…08…18…18 – 60
Individual scores:
Mississinawa Valley
Ethan Bowman 21, Trent Perkins 13, Colyn Nelson 11, Devin Rinderle 26, Andrew Johns 4, Dalton Geesy 7 – Totals 6-25-14/19 – 82
Franklin Monroe
Kyle Ressler 9, Cade McGlinch 7, Zach Hyre 11, Austin Brown 2, Ethan Conley 20, Bradey Hesler 11 – Totals 3-19-13/20 – 60
3-pointers:
MV – 6 (Rinderle 3, Bowman 2, Perkins 1)
FM – 3 (Ressler 1, Hyre 1, Hesler 1)
