If the 12-contest boys race for the Shelby County Athletic League title is going to the wire, one of Botkins’ league foes needs to pull off an upset win over the Trojans, and soon.
Botkins, 11-0 overall and 6-0 in the SCAL, travels down County Road 25A to Anna, 7-4 and 4-2, on Friday night in the ScoresBroadcast.com Game of the Week. The pre-game segment starts at 7 p.m. for the online audio stream and for the WMVR, 105.5 TAM FM, radio simulcast.
Back on Dec. 7, Botkins thumped Anna, 67-43, as guard Jayden Priddy-Powell poured in 21 points. Jacob Pleiman added 15.
Anna and Fort Loramie sit behind Botkins with two losses in the SCAL. Jackson Center has three league defeats but has completed its pair of games with the Trojans. The Redskins tangle with the Tigers Friday at Jackson Center, which also has Anna and Fairlawn remaining at home.
The Rockets snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday. They put together a solid game of four good quarters in downing Fairlawn, 72-68, at the Jets gym. Rocket Isaiah Masteller drilled home 26 points.
That triumph enabled Anna to forget the Saturday loss at St. Henry when the Rockets blew a 17-point halftime lead and fell in two overtimes.
Meanwhile, the battle-tested Trojans are coming off a weekend which produced two three-point triumphs over strong foes Jackson Center and Fort Recovery. The black and gold trailed late in the fourth quarter of both games.
Botkins, once again ranked fourth in the state in Division IV, starts a stretch of six road encounters in seven contests this evening. Tomorrow night in Lima, D-II Bath is Botkins’ opponent.
Antwerp, the state’s number one rated D-IV team, was added to the Trojans road slate for Monday, Jan. 25. In Monday’s second AP Poll, Antwerp garnered 12 of 20 first place votes. Botkins picked up two.
The last SCAL school to streak through the league schedule with a 12-0 mark was Jackson Center in 2011-2012. The 27-1 Tigers won every league contest but two by nine or more points and didn’t drop a game until the state championship.
