SIDNEY — Vandalia-Butler has frustrated opponents this year, and Sidney was the latest to be exasperated on Friday.

Sidney struggled to keep up in the second half and lost 50-38 in a Miami Valley League game. The Yellow Jackets trailed 18-15 at halftime, but a barrage of 3-pointers in the third quarter allowed Butler to build a double-digit lead.

Butler (6-2, 6-1 MVL Miami Division) hasn’t allowed more than 49 points this season and has held four opponents under 40 points.

The Aviators’ zone largely contained Sidney.

The Yellow Jackets have the three players averaging double figures, including Julius Spradling and A’Zon Steele, who lead the MVL in scoring. The three average about a combined 46 points per game and were held to a combined 22 on Friday.

“We didn’t come out strong enough, didn’t come out motivated enough,” Sidney coach John Willoughby said. “… We did too much dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, not doing anything with it, missing some guys that are open, not passing the ball well off of our moves.”

Sidney (5-3, 4-3 MVL Valley) has a tough week scheduled next week. The Yellow Jackets are scheduled to host Northmont (5-4) on Wednesday, travel to Tippecanoe (6-2, 6-1 MVL Miami) on Friday and host Bellefontaine (1-5) on Saturday.

“It’s going to be tough for us,” Willoughby said of three games in four days. “We’re starting to be inconsistent. We’ll play well, then not play well. We can’t do that. I told them yesterday in practice, the way we were practicing, going through our shooting, looked like the night before Fairborn (a 44-42 loss on Dec. 19).

“I just told them a team will typically have two games the whole season where they’re mentally not ready to play. We’ve had our two, and that’s got to be it.”

Steele and senior forward Mitchell Davis each scored 12 points. Davis, who is 6-foot-4, helped Sidney stay in it with several baskets in the post, including a dunk on a bullet pass from Spradling at the start of the third quarter to cut the gap to one point.

But Butler dominated the rest of the quarter thanks in part to AJ Holderman, who made three 3-pointers and scored 13 points in the quarter. The Aviators led 39-23 heading into the fourth.

“I thought we could have got it inside all night against them, and didn’t take advantage of it,” Willoughby said. “… Offensively, we’re not pushing it hard enough. Once we get into the halfcourt, we’re just playing with it too much. We’ve got to get over it.”

Sidney switched to a full-court press in the fourth quarter, started the quarter on a 15-2 run and pulled within 41-38 on a three-point play by Davis with about two minutes left.

But Butler beat the press on three consecutive possessions and made layups to quickly push the gap to nine points. Sidney didn’t score again.

“Once we got it down to (three), we took three tough shots, and with that, they threw it over our heads, and we didn’t get back,” Willoughby said. “We did well for a while, but didn’t do very well with our press, did not cover it very well. Let them throw it across the court.”

Holderman led Butler with 19 points.

Anna crushes Fort Loramie, loses to Minster

Anna dominated Fort Loramie 51-19 on Friday and lost 57-49 to Minster on Saturday to move to 5-4 overall.

The Rockets, which are tied with Jackson Center for third place in SCAL standings, trailed Fort Loramie 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. But they outscored the Redskins 17-0 in the second and 17-4 in the third to run away.

Brady Wenning led Anna with 11 points while Trey Heitkamp added 10.

Minster scored the first 14 points on Saturday and led the whole way. Anna cut the gap to 31-24 at halftime and pulled within two in the second half, but the Wildcats pulled away at the free-throw line in the final minutes.

Mason Carey led the Rockets on Saturday with 21 points while Heitkamp added 20.

Russia dominates Meadowdale for WPTW Holiday Classic title

Russia had no problem in the WPTW Holiday Classic championship game on Friday at Garbry Gymnasium. The Raiders beat Meadowdale 84-45 to earn the tournament’s trophy.

Russia led 43-22 at halftime.

Senior guard Hayden Quinter and senior forward Felix Francis were named to the all-tournament team.

The Raiders (8-0) are scheduled to travel to Botkins (6-0) for a Shelby County Athletic League showdown on Tuesday. Both Russia and the Trojans are tied for first place in SCAL standings with 4-0 league records.

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