(December 30th, 2014) – SHERWOOD: Fairview High School served as the site for a match-up of epic proportions between the Locomotives of Montpelier and the Cadets of Hilltop. The North Western Ohio Athletic League and Buckeye Border Conference neighbors met in the Sherwood institution after each squad lost the first round of a tournament held there. That didn’t stop this game from being incredibly entertaining and fun, however.
The contest came down to the wire, with the Cadet boys besting the Locos by the narrowest of margins, 59-57.
Quinn Smtih made all the difference for the boys from West Unity. The sophomore had 21 points and 5 steals against Montpelier. Hilltop was exceptional at taking possessions away from Locomotive ball handlers, as six players recorded multiple steals in the game. Kelby Grime, who also had 4 assists, Ryan Brooker, Erik Stipe, and Tim Maneval all made 3 steals in the contest. Jalen Towers chipped in another 2 steals, while Collin Sabins also stole the ball once. It was this defensive effort on the Cadets’ part that led to the Locos having a damaging 20 turnovers.
Towers also played a large role in the Hilltop scoring attack. He put up 15 points, also pulling in 6 rebounds. With only 16 rebounds in the game, the Cadets had a difficult time keeping up with Montpelier on the boards. The Locomotive boys brought down 26 boards, using their size advantage to control the destiny of missed shots on both sides of the court.
Maneval added another 14 points to the Hilltop total, to go along with his 2 rebounds and 1 assist. The sophomore standout, along with Quinn and Sabins, was one of three Cadets to knock down a three pointer against the Locomotive perimeter defense. The team went 3 for 8 from beyond the arc, good for a 38% accuracy rate. Montpelier also made a trio of three point attempts, though it took 12 shots to do so. That put them at 25% shooting from three point range.
Scoring for the Locomotives came largely from the duo of Michael Blake and Nate McCord. Blake, a sohpomore, and McCord, a senior, each scored 20 points, despite the tenacity of the Cadet defense. Both players, even with their radically different styles of play, made their points in a similar way. Between them, they connected on 14 of Montpelier’s 17 successful two point field goals. Thanks to their efforts, the Locos shot 55% from within the arc, which put them at 47% shooting overall from the floor.
But it was shooting from the line that plagued the boys from Montpelier. While they made 14 shots from the charity stripe, which was the same amount made by Hilltop, they had 22 attempts in the game. The Cadets only had 18 shots to do so, giving them a percentage of 78% from the line. The Locomotives were only good on their extra points 64% of the time.
In the end, Hilltop used aggressive defensive tactics to gain the upper hand on a larger, more athletic Montpelier unit. While the Locos didn’t help their own cause on the free throw line, they did have a higher success rate shooting the ball, and were able to easily outrebound the Cadets. Yet that didn’t matter as much when the Hilltop boys kept robbing them of possessions, which is the most valuable thing in basketball.
If a team wants to win, they must hold on to the basketball.