Staff report
HOUSTON — Houston and Russia were tied at 8-8 in the early going Friday night at Houston, but the visiting Raiders went on a 13-0 run and never looked back in rolling to a 67-39 victory over the Wildcats in County boys basketball action.
The Raiders are 1-0 with St. Henry coming to town tonight. Houston is 0-1 and is back in action tonight at home against Newton.
“It was tied at 8 and then it was 21-8,” said Houston’s first-year coach Brad Francis. “Russia played a great first half. They hit five out of six threes and we also fouled them too much. But they really played well. Like a well-oiled machine.”
Cole Tebbe had 18 for Russia, Dylan Cordonnier added 14 and Jack Dapore finished with 13.
Cameron Arnold had 14 for the Wildcats.
Russia (67) — Cordonnier 14, Sherman 2, Cook 3, Monnier 5, Poling 4, Cohee 4, Tebbe 18, Dapore 13, Kearns 4.
Houston (39) — Leist 2, Freistuhler 6, Beaver 2, Ludwig 3, Arenold 14, Dilullo 2, Sluss 2, Bryant 2, Hensley 6.
Score by quarters:
Russia`25`46`56`67
Hoston`11`18`31`39
Three-pointers: Russia 6 (Cordonnier 2, Dapore 2, Cook, Monnier); Houston 4 (FDreistuhler 2, Ludwig, Arnold).
Records: Russia 1-0, Houston 0-1.
Reserve score: Russia 62, Houston 14.
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Jackson 54, Lehman 38
JACKSON CENTER — The Jackson Center Tigers had their hands full with Lehman for the entire first half, but used a strong third quarter to take control on their way to a 54-38 victory over the Cavaliers in the boys basketball season opener for both Friday night at Jackson.
The Tigers are 1-0 and head to Columbus Grove tonight. Lehman is 0-1 and is off until Dec. 16 at Hardin Northern.
Jackson led the entire first half but couldn’t pull away from the Cavs because of the play of Lehman’s 6-foot-3 junior Kameron Lee. He had 18 points on the night, including four three-pointers, and 15 of those came in the first half.
“To Lehman’s credit, every time we thought we could put some distance between us, they would come back,” said Jackson coach Scott Elchert. “Lee had an outstanding first half for them and hit a lot of tough shots.”
The Tigers led just 25-19 at the break, but opened up a 40-27 lead after three quarters.
Brady Wildermuth, the Findlay signee who is the key returner for the Tigers this season, poured in 29 points to lead all scorers, and Bryce Sosby hit three three-pointers on his way to 13 points.
“I thought it was a good night considering we have a lot of players with little experience and a couple other players with experience who are in different roles this season,” Elchert said. “We had good energy. Gavin Booser had a lot of rebounds you’d have to call energy rebounds. And they came at the offensive end.”
Booser led the Tigers on the boards with nine rebounds.
Lehman (38) — Sherman 5, Sargent 6, Rourke 2, Rodgers 7, Lee 18.
Jackson (54) — Booser 6, Sosby 13, Bunker 4, Murphy 2, Wildermuth 29.
Score by quarters:
Lehman`8`19`27`38
Jackson`13`25`40`54
Three-pointers: Lehman 5 (Lee 4, Sherman); JC 4 (Sosby 3, Wildermuth).
Records: JC 1-0, Lehman 0-1.
Reserve score: Lehman 45, JC 34.
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Fort Loramie 54, Anna 29
FORT LORAMIE — The Fort Loramie Redskins led by 10 points at the half, then dominated he final two periods to post a 54-29 rout of the Anna Rockets in County boys basketball action Friday at Loramie.
The Redskins are 1-0 and in action again tonight at New Knoxville. The 0-1 Rockets are back in action next Friday at Houston.
The Redskins trailed 8-4 when Anna hit a three-pointer early, but by the end of then opening quarter, they were up 12-10.
They kept the momentum into the second quarter and carved out a 26-16 lead at the break, then held Anna to just 13 points after the intermission,
“I thought we really played well defensively,” said Loramie head coach Corey Britton. “We talked about about playing tough, and holding a team like that to just 29 points is really doing the job. Offensively, we had too many turnovers but it was a good effort for the first time out.”
Evan Berning and Tyler Siegel were a two-man wrecking crew for the Redskins, with 17 points apiece. Dillon Braun had six rebounds and four assists.
Anna (29) — Frilling 5, Bensman 8, Roe 4, Cathcart 6, Elliott 2, Schmitz 4.
Loramie (54) — Meyer 2, Berning 17, Braun 5, Rosengarten 5, Pleiman 3, A. Siegel 2, T. Siegel 17.
Score by quarters:
Anna`10`16`21`29
FL`12`26`37`54
Three-pointers: Anna 2 (Cathcart, Frilling); Loramie 3 (Berning, Braun, Rosengarten).
Records: Loramie 1-0, Anna 0-1.
Reserve score: Game won by Anna.
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Fairlawn 64, Botkins 47
Botkins hung with Fairlawn well before the Jets pulled away to a 17-point win, 64-47, in the third County game of the night Friday at Fairlawn.
The 1-0 Jets are at Bradford tonight and Botkins travels to Parkway.
High-scoring Nathan Lessing led the way for the Jets with an opening-night double-double of 32 points and 10 rebounds. He did a lot of his damage from the line, hitting 9-for-11.
“He got to the line a lot and scored a lot inside,” said Fairlawn coach Justin Tidwell. “Botkins came out and smacked us in the mouth. We didn’t come out with the intensity we should have and our defensive effort wasn’t very good. But we got better and the offense did a good job of moving the ball around.”
For the Trojans, Luke Bergman had 20 points and Ethan Butcher 10.
Botkins (47) — Heuker 9, Metz 4, L. Bergman 20, A. Bergman 4, Butcher 10.
Fairlawn (64) — Lessing 32, Reck 6, N. Brautigam 8, Johnson 6, Hickman 8, D. Brautigam 4.
Score by quarters:
Botkins`10`20`35`47
Fairlawn`16`36`45`64
Three-pointers: Fairlawn 1 (Lessing, Johnson); Botkins 4 (L. Bergman 2, A. Bergman, Butcher).
Records: Fairlawn 1-0, Botkins 0-1.
