SIDNEY — Two weeks after failing to hold on to a big early lead and losing its season opener, Sidney rallied from a big early deficit and earned a comeback win.

Junior guard Julius Spradling scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 56-47 win over West Carrollton in a Miami Valley League game on Friday.

It was the fourth straight win for Sidney (4-1, 3-1 MVL Valley Division), which hasn’t lost since a 63-59 defeat against Troy on Dec. 1.

The Pirates have six players on their roster 6-foot-4 or taller, including Chylan Ingram, a 6-7 junior forward.

The squad’s height gave Sidney some problems, but Spradling excelled. He raced by defenders on drives and made 3-of-4 three-pointers.

“He had a heck of a game,” Sidney coach John Willoughby said. “To me, it was the best game of his career so far. And in a tough game.

“… He’s hard-nosed. He’s the standard of what our players should be, how hard they play and how great teammates should be. …How we gets after it, we all have to get after it. He does that game in and game out.”

Spradling is averaging 16.2 points per game. He’s shooting 42.1 percent both from the field and from 3-point range and is shooting 73.5 percent from the free-throw line.

Sidney pulled away in the final minutes.

The squad led by two before A’Zon Steele made a jumper with about 3:30 left to push the lead to 49-45, and after a quick missed shot by West Carrollton, he made another basket with about 2:40 left to increase the lead to six points.

West Carrollton made a basket to pull back within four, but Ethen New made a wide-open 3 with 2:12 left to give Sidney a 54-47 lead.

Steele finished with 13 points and had three rebounds and three assists. Spradling had six rebounds and two assists.

New, Jayce Daniel and Mitchell Davis each scored six points. Daniel had four rebounds, three steals and two assists; Davis had six rebounds and two assists.

West Carrollton led 16-8 in the first quarter, but Sidney scored the last four points of the quarter, then continued its hot run with a 13-6 advantage in the third. The Yellow Jackets either led or were tied the rest of the way.

“We didn’t give up when we had a bad start. We stayed together and we kept on working at it,” Willoughby said.

Willoughby was happy with the squad’s defense. Sidney forced 14 turnovers and was able to rebound well after the first quarter. The Pirates finished with a 31-23 rebounding edge.

“We were happy with our zone defense, but we weren’t rebounding well out of it, so we went back to man,” Willoughby said. “I’m usually a man-to-man guy anyway. We stuck with the man for the rest of the way. We were better positioned to rebound in our man-to-man. I know they had a lot of offensive rebounds, but we were right there.”

Sidney is scheduled to travel to Fairborn on Tuesday and to Piqua on Friday.

Willoughby said he’s been happy with the team’s progress the last two weeks. Sidney is one of five MVL teams with one league loss.

“Against Troy, we didn’t handle our lead very well, and I think we’re getting better at that, recognizing what’s a good possession and what isn’t, and really buckling down on the defensive end,” Willoughby said.

Sidney honored participants in a Dec. 11, 1993 game against Dayton Colonel White at halftime during Friday’s game. It was recently the 30th anniversary of Colonel White’s 130-122 victory; the 252 points scored by both teams remains the highest amount scored in any game in OHSAA history.

Players and coaches from both Sidney and Colonel White (now Thurgood Marshall) were in attendance, as well as an official.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.