By Rob Kiser
Not that it came easy by any means, but the Russia boys continued their success in the Buckeye Insurance Group Holiday Classic Thursday at Garbry Gymnasium, opening Green Bracket play with a 65-45 win over Troy Christian.
Russia, looking for its fourth straight Classic title, will play Covington for the tournament title at 7 p.m. Friday, while Troy Christian will play the loser of that game at 4 p.m. Friday.
“More than anything, I think our kids look forward to getting on this floor (where Russia plays the sectional tournament) two times,” Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier said. “We don’t play in a lot of venues like this where it is pretty open. It gives you a little different shooting background and it’s always good to get on this floor.”
After getting down 4-0 early, Russia quickly turned the tide. After two baskets by Daniel Kearns, Jack Dapore hit two threes and Ethan Monnier added one, with Cole Tebbe and Drew Sherman getting open for easy baskets to make it 17-7 late in the first quarter.
“We talk all the time about getting it to the open man,” Cordonnier said. “Find the open man and we did that. There isn’t anybody who doesn’t have the green light to shoot if they’re open.”
Russia led 30-16 at halftime and got off to a fast start in the second half. Dylan Cordonnier scored the final basket of the opening half, the first basket of the second half, then had an assist on length of the court pass to Hunter Cohee, who had given Russia a spark off the bench in the first half.
After a Peyton Spurlock basket, Sherman drilled a three to make it 37-18.
But, Troy Christian didn’t go away. With Russia leading 41-21, the Eagles scored seven quick points to make it 41-28 late in the third quarter. But, that was as close as the Eagles would get.
Russia expanded the lead to 50-33 by the end of the quarter and Troy Christian couldn’t put any dent in it during the fourth quarter.
Dapore led a balanced Russia attack with 12 points and eight rebounds. Cordonnier had 10, Tebbed added nine and Cohee scored eight.
Russia improved to 6-2.
Troy Christian (45) — Anderson 15, Schenk 7, Spurlock 10, Strine 2, Case 6, Kremer 5.
Russia (65) — Cordonnier 10, Sherman 7, Poling 5, Tebbe 9. Dapore 12, Kearns 6, Monnier 6, Cohee 8, Cook 2,
Score by quarters:
Troy Chr.`9`16`33`45
Russia`17`30`50`65
Three-pointers: Troy Christian: 3 (Case 2, Spurlock) Russia 7 (Dapore 3, Monnier 3, Cordonnier, Sherman.
Records: Russia 6-2, Troy Christian 3-3.
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Covington 58, Lehman 48
PIQUA — Lehman played Covington even in the opening quarter, but the Buccaneers gained the upper hand in the second quarter and held on the rest of the way to defeat the Cavaliers 57-48 Thursday in the first round of the Piqua Holiday Tournament.
The loss left the Cavaliers at 1-4 on the season and they will play Troy Christian Friday at 4 p.m. in the consolation game of the Green bracket.
From a 3-3 score in the early going, the Cavs went on 5-0 run on a bucket by Bryce Kennedy and a three-point play by Dylan Arnold to go up 8-3.
However, Covington scored the final five points of the first quarter to tie the game up, then outscored Lehman 15-8 in the second quarter to lead 23-16 at the half.
The Buccs then increased the lead to 41-26 after three periods.
The Cavaliers made a run in the final quarter, cutting the margin down to 54-49 on a Kam Lee three-pointer with a minute to play. But the Buccs made free throws down the stretch to keep the lead safe.
Lee had 16 and Arnold 15 for Lehman, and the two combined for 20 of Lehman’s 22 fourth-quarter points.
Lehman (48) — Gilardi 2, Magoteaux 4, Kennedy 5, Rodgers 6, Arnold 15, Lee 16.
Covington (57) — Murphy 7, Pond 10, Blei 24, Atkinson 5, Miller 12.
Score by quarters:
Lehman`8`16`26`48
Covington`8`23`41`57
Three-pointers: Lehman 5 (Arnold 2, Lee 2, Kennedy), Covington 6 (Blei 4, Miller 2).
Records: Lehman 1-4, Covington 5-2.
