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By Jonathan Magnin
Monroe — Southern Wells’ and Adams Central’s boys’ basketball teams went back and forth Friday night at the Hangar.
Unfortunately, the Raiders were unable to pull out the victory in the initial game for first-year head coach Ryan Thomas, falling to the Jets 58-52.
The Raiders were done in by their turnovers (18 for the game) and free-throw shooting (16 of 26, including 6 of 12 in the fourth quarter).
“Something we got too to improve on,” said Thomas referring to the turnovers. “I think if you have more than 10 turnovers a game that’s too many and we just got to learn to hang on to the ball.”
Southern Wells (0-1) jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead in the first quarter, with Luke Roush scoring six of his nine points in the opening stanza.
But Adams Central (1-1) would not go quietly into the night, closing to 15-8 by the end of the opening quarter and then outscoring the Raiders 16-10 in the second quarter to trail by one at halftime, 25-24.
After starting the game shooting 5 of 8 from the field, the Raiders went 4 for 14 in the second quarter, while committing seven turnovers to allow Adams Central back in it.
“We just had some problems knocking some shots down,” said Thomas. “I felt we did a good job on the boards in the first half, but unfortunately they just caught fire in the second and third quarters.”
Adams Central jumped out quickly on Southern Wells in the second half, hitting three consecutive shots to go up 31-25. But the Raiders maintained pace, led by senior Chase Harris, who brought Southern Wells back with eight of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter, helping the Raiders take a slim 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
“Chase was just dominant for us tonight,” said Thomas of his senior forward. “He is our foundation, but our guys got to know that when defenses start focusing in on him they got to step up and hit some shots as well.”
In the final stanza, Adams Central got a quick lay-in from Ben Snider, and then a three from Nathan Busse put Adams Central up 41-38. It would be a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as the Raiders couldn’t buy a bucket in the fourth quarter, shooting 4 of 18 and 6 of 12 from the free-throw line.
“You look at that last free-throw stat, and look at the scoreboard,” said Thomas.
Adams Central’s lead stretched to 49-42 with 2:59 to go, but the Raiders were able to dwindle it down to three after Harris hit one of two free-throws with 2:20 left. But Adams Central held the Raiders at bay by connecting on their free throws down the stretch, shooting 13 of 18 in the fourth quarter.
“It was a tough one to lose because all the kids played really hard tonight,” said Thomas. “The guys really wanted to win this one.”
Adams Central took the junior varsity game 52-35. Southern Wells was led in scoring by Levi Sherman with 13 points, while Devin Price contributed seven. Travis Huffman tallied six, Jagger Love four, Adam Sills three and Kyle Penrod two. Adams Central was led by Blaze Brookes with 10 and Spencer Sharp with eight.
The Raiders will take a few days to regroup before they head south to battle Eastbrook (0-1) Tuesday night, while Adams Central will travel over the state line to battle Parkway, Ohio, Saturday night.
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Adams Central 58
Southern Wells 52
At Monroe
Southern Wells Raiders
Player FGM-A FTM-A PF TP
Drew Penrod 3-11 2-4 3 8
Clayton Hamilton 0-2 1-2 1 1
Trevor Bower 3-4 0-0 3 6
Tanner Prible 3-11 1-1 5 7
Luke Roush 2-8 5-9 4 9
Zach Thompson 0-1 0-0 1 0
Drew Runkle 0-1 0-0 1 0
Chase Harris 7-15 7-10 4 21
Gage Minniear 0-0 0-0 3 0
TOTALS 18-38 16-26 25 52
Adams Central Flying Jets
Player FGM-A FTM-A PF TP
Kam Fiechter 1-2 1-2 0 4
Ben Mishler 4-13 7-10 1 15
Nathan Busse 3-8 5-6 3 13
Tim Sipe 2-3 1-2 4 6
Evan Timmons 1-4 0-0 1 3
Nathaniel Fiechter 0-0 0-2 1 0
Maverick Baumer 2-5 0-0 0 4
Isaac Luginbill 0-1 0-0 1 0
Ben Snider 3-6 3-4 4 9
Will Schultz 0-1 0-0 0 0
Dalton Combs 1-4 2-4 4 4
TOTALS 17-47 19-30 19 58
Southern Wells (0-1) 15 10 13 14 – 52
Adams Central (1-1) 8 16 12 22 – 58
Three-point Goals: Southern Wells 0-16 (Penrod 0-5, Prible 0-5, Roush 0-4, Hamilton 0-2); Adams Central 5-22 (Busse 2-6, Timmons 1-4, K. Fiecther 1-2, Sipe 1-1, Mishler 0-4, Baumer 0-2, Combs 0-2, Snider 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 30 (Harris 9, Bower 5, Minniear 4); Adams Central 30 (Snider 8, Baumer 6, Mishler 4). Assists: Southern Wells 7 (Penrod 3, Hamilton 2, Roush 2, Bower 1); Adams Central 9 (K. Fiechter 3, Busse 2, Mishler 1, Sipe 1, Baumer 1, Snider 1). Steals: Southern Wells 6 (Hamilton 2, Minniear 1, Bower 1, Prible 1, Penrod 1); Adams Central 3 (K. Fiechter 1, Snider 1, Mishler 1). Turnovers: Norwell 18, Adams Central 13. Technicals: None.
Officials: Jeremy Pruitt, Zach Bower, Dave Stauffer.
JV Score: Adams Central 52, Southern Wells 35.
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