Staff report
COLUMBUS — The Sidney Yellow Jackets went from giving up in the mid-80s last week in a loss to Piqua to allowing just 38 Tuesday afternoon, and it got them back on track in high school boys basketball action.
The Jackets were competing in the Columbus DeSales Holiday Classic against Logan, a team from Hocking County in the Southeast District. Sidney’s shooting woes kept the game close, but the Jackets had enough to come away with a 45-38 victory for a spot in tonight’s championship game against either DeSales or Lakota East.
The win put the Jackets at 7-2 on the season and dropped Logan to 2-5.
“Any time you play a team that has a potential hall of fame coach (Gary Kellough), you know they’re going to be well-prepared,” said Sidney coach Andy Slaughter. “He has a ton of wins and has been to the final four. They get after it and try to push it, but we did a good job of getting out on their shooters and communicating on screens. I was very happy with our defense, especially after the Piqua game. Defense is something we want to hang our hat on and after last week, we knew we had to get better.”
Sidney led 10-6 after a quarter but Slaughter said it could have been a big lead.
“We missed six layups in the first three-and-a-half minutes,” he said. “We had a chance to get away from them early and couldn’t finish around the basket. But at the end of the day, it’s a win, and I told the kids I’ll take an ugly ‘W’ over a pretty ‘L’ any day of the week. We got to 7-2, but we know we’re going to have to play a lot better (today) if we want a chance to win.”
The team came home Tuesday night and will return to Columbus today. Slaughter also returned to Sidney, but not until after the 8 p.m. game between DeSales and East.
Sidney outscored Logan 13-8 in the second quarter to open up a 23-14 lead at the half. They were able to maintain the advantage to the end.
“It was a very physical game,” said Slaughter. “They really let both teams play. There weren’t many fouls, and up to the time Logan had to foul at the end, I don’t think there were 10 fouls called.”
Lorenzo Taborn, Sidney’s 6-foot-4 post player, finished with a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jackets. Freshman Andre Gordon finished with 12.
Cameron Gallimore was held scoreless in the first half, but scored seven in the second. “Cameron hit some big shots for us in the second half,” the coach said.
Sidney (45) — Bowser 5, Gallimore 7, Taborn 13, An. Gordon 12, Rogers 8.
Logan (38) — Bell 1, Evans 2, Bakon 7, Landis 2, Smith 2, Little 10, Myers 6, Henthorne 7.
Score by quarters:
Sidney—10 23 32 45
Logan—6 14 25 38
Three-pointers: Sidney 2 (Gallimore, Taborn); Logan 3 (Myers 2, Bakon).
Records: Sidney 7-2, Logan 2-5.
