Friday roundup: Botkins edges Fairlawn in boys basketball season opener

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BOTKINS — Botkins scored the last five points of the game to earn a 43-39 win over Fairlawn in a season opener on Friday night.

Fairlawn led 16-15 at halftime, but six Botkins players scored in the third quarter to help their team take a 31-25 lead. Botkins made 8-of-12 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to help preserve the win.

Ethan Butcher led Botkins with nine points, while Zane Paul and Spencer Heuker added eight points each. Tyler Fries scored seven.

Fairlawn was led by Luke Hickman, who scored 12 points. Austin Piper added nine, and Skyler Piper scored eight.

Botkins made 11-of-22 free-throw attempts in the game, while Fairlawn made 6-of-8. The Trojans shot 46 percent from the field (14 for 30), while Fairlawn shot 43 percent (14 for 32). The Jets won the rebounding battle 23-11 but had 15 turnovers compared to seven by Botkins.

Botkins (1-0, 1-0 Shelby County Athletic League) hosts Parkway on Saturday, while Fairlawn (0-1, 0-1) hosts Bradford.

Russia 66, Houston 31

Russia blew open a season opener SCAL game against Houston in the third quarter. The Raiders had a 20-4 scoring advantage to extend their 12-point halftime lead to 28 points.

Jack Dapore scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half to help spark the big win. His second-half points came on four 3-pointers.

Daniel Kearns and Jordan York added 10 each, while Evan Monnier scored eight. Kearns scored eight of his points in the second half.

Howie Ludwig led Houston with 11 points.

Russia plays at St. Henry on Saturday, while Houston’s next game is Friday at home against Anna.

Kalida 52, New Bremen 43

Kalida outscored the Cardinals 15-10 in the fourth quarter to pull away to a nonconference win in a season opener. Most of Kalida’s points in the fourth quarter came from the foul line, as the team made 10-of-15 free-throw attempts.

New Bremen trailed 20-14 at the end of the first quarter and 30-21 at halftime.

Avery Powers led New Bremen with 16 points, while Grant Hoehne scored eight. Trevor Lambert led Kalida with 17.

Kalida made 22-of-30 free-throw attempts in the game, while New Bremen made 6-of-13.

New Bremen hosts Troy Christian on Friday.

Triad 68, Riverside 35

Briley Harlan scored 25 points and Jacob Simonelli added 24 to help the Cardinals earn a big win over Riverside. Triad jumped out to a 19-3 lead and cruised to the lopsided win.

“Tonight, you just have to give credit to the way that Triad played,” Riverside coach Seth Bodenmiller said. “Any time a team shoots as well as they did, you have to be able to answer back every step of the way. We got off to an incredibly slow start tonight and struggled to find our way out of the slump in the first half.”

Riverside held Triad to 23 points in the second half compared to 45 in the first but still were outscored by six points.

“We came out of halftime a little bit more comfortable and aggressive defensively, but they continued to make shots,” Bodenmiller said. “Right now, the important thing is to move on from tonight’s result, learn from some of our mistakes, and focus on our game tomorrow night.”

Riverside shot 29 percent from the field in the game, including 23 percent from three-point range.

Lane Willoby led Riverside with nine points, while Wyatt Auflick scored eight.

Russia opens season with big SCAL win over Houston

Staff report

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