Boys Best of the Week: River Valley's Carson Smith sets records
Carson Smith had the greatest scoring night in the 60-year history of River Valley boys basketball.
Playing a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference game at Highland last week, the junior wing scored a school-record 48 points and knocked down 11 3-pointers in the 86-45 victory.
The 48 points tops the record of 47 set two seasons by Ethan Bell. He is the sixth Viking to reach 40 points in a game, joining Bell, Hayden Wallace, Danyon Hempy, Dick Hempy and Cengiz Kurkcu.
Smith had 13 points with three 3-pointers in the first quarter, then proceeded to score 24 points in the second period, nailing seven 3-pointers in eight minutes. He added 11 points in the third period and sat out the fourth period with the game in hand and the records secured. Smith was 9-for-9 at the foul line.
He previously shared the single-game 3-point record of eight with Bryan Chard and Dylan Johnson.
Teammates' Carson Myers and Chase Ebert backed him with 11 points each. For Highland, Zach Schmidt scored nine points.
Here are some more highlights from around the area over the last week in high school boys winter sports:
∎ Cardington posted a late surge to take the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Bowling Tournament over the weekend at Galion's Victory Lanes. Northmor led after three regulation games, 2,531-2,521, and held the lead after five Baker games. But in the final Baker game, the Pirates posted a 193 to Northmor's 152 to flip the outcome and take the title, 3,571-3,534. Cardington's Dylan Kiefer won the individual award with a 191-210-180 581, while Andrew Weber scored a 517, Zane Everly a 490 and Silas Horton a 479 for the Pirates.
∎ For Northmor, Wesley Hammond cracked the top eight with a 197-213-136 546 for seventh place. Also for the Knights, Cole Postell shot 535, Owen Philpot 533, Ryan Diehl 474 and Kaeson Ratcliff 443.
∎ After Cardington and Northmor, East Knox was third with a 3,433 followed by Mount Gilead's 3,386, Fredericktown's 3,270, Crestline's 3,252, Centerburg's 3,252 and Ridgedale's 2,857.
∎ Mount Gilead's Wyatt Irwin was KMAC runner-up with Crestline'd Cody Griffin after both recorded 570s. Irwin shot a 162-183-225 series. Also for the Indians, Graham Sherbourne was fifth with a 146-172-235 553. Jaxon Tinch had a 475, C.J. Kneipp a 468 and Austin Layer a 403.
∎ Jayden Reynolds threw a 511 to lead Ridgedale, while Bryce Harmon had a 416 and Dakota Callahan a 361.
∎ Highland's Trevor Stewart shot a 185 game and 364 series in a 1,857-1,701 loss to Centerburg.
∎ Graham beat North Union 2,612-1,937 with Zach Howald leading the Wildcats with a 366 series.
∎ In boys basketball, Elgin topped Mount Gilead 71-43 as Isaac Dillon put up 32 points on 13 of 21 shooting, plus added 15 rebounds and three steals. Carson Rife contributed 25 points on 10 of 15 shooting and had eight assists for the Comets, while Harrison Sager chipped in with eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks. In a 58-51 win over Temple Christian, Rife scored 15; Dillon 14 with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals; Sager 11 with nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks; and Stephen Castillo nine.
∎ Eight players scored in Ridgedale's 49-41 win over Tree of Life. Gage Gleespen led those scorers with 12, and Evan Ricketts added eight for the Rockets. In a 67-33 loss to Perry, Brayden Townsend had eight points for Ridgedale.
∎ Marquis Long scored 20 and Marcus Hemphill 12 in Marion Harding's 58-31 win over Ontario. In a 36-35 loss to Mansfield Madison, Long had 12 and Jayden Jones 11.
∎ North Union used overtime to beat Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division co-champ Indian Lake 67-65. Miles Hall paced the Wildcats with 25, while Tyler Krebehenne had 15 and Max Parish 14. In a 49-48 loss to Centerburg, Parish scored 22 and Hall 10.
∎ Pleasant knocked off Northmor 72-53 with Trey Booker getting 16, Riley Shaffer 15, Carson King 11, Nick Blubaugh nine and Wiley Smith eight for the Spartans. Grant Bentley scored 23, Jax Wenger 12 and Maxton Lower eight for Northmor. Booker then ended with 26 points to lead the Spartans to a 71-58 win over Galion as King chipped in with 11, Blubaugh nine and Shaffer and Smith eight apiece.
∎ Bentley scored 21 points, Lower 13 and Hunter Fulk eight in a 59-33 win over Crestline by Northmor.
∎ Highland fell to Utica 71-61. Brock Church scored 17, Gavin Hankins 16 and Gavin Toombs 12 for the Scots.
∎ River Valley will be sending swimmers to the Division II district meet at Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion on Thursday. The 200-yard medley relay was seeded 17th for the district after a time of 1:58.4 at the sectional meet, while the 200 freestyle relay is also 17th in 1:59.93, and the 400 free team is 12th at 3:55.04. Individually, Chase Osborne is 20th in the 500 free in 5:48.91, and Grant Ferguson is an alternate in the 50 free in 25.76.
∎ Pleasant's Jake Dendinger is a two-way individual qualifier for the D-II district meet, seeded 16th in the 200 individual medley in 2:16.97 and 18th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.35. The Spartans are also sending their 400 free relay team that is seeded 19th with a 4:07.18.
∎ The lone district qualifier for Mount Gilead in the D-II district is Cole Hershner, seeded 28th in 1:14.23, in the 100 breaststroke. The school's 400 relay squad is a district alternate with a 4:21.08
∎ Elgin's Jacob Faust qualified for the district in 23rd with 1:07.08 in the 100 backstroke.
∎ No Marion Harding swimmers advanced out of the Division I sectionals and into the district meet.
Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.
VOTE: Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll
Marion Harding bowler Jordan Hensley won the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Victory Lanes in Galion with a 245-212-224 681 series.
Pleasant bowler Johnathan Maran was runner-up at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Victory Lanes in Galion with a 277-152-211 640 series.
Cardington bowler Dylan Kiefer won the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Tournament at Victory Lanes in Galion with a 191-210-180 581 series.
Mount Gilead bowler Wyatt Irwin was runner-up at the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference Tournament at Victory Lanes in Galion with a 162-183-225 570 series.
River Valley basketball's Carson Smith set two school records in a win over Highland, scoring 48 points for the single-game mark and knocking down 11 3-pointers for that single-game record.
Elgin basketball's Isaac Dillon scored 32 points with 15 rebounds and three steals in a win over Mount Gilead.
North Union basketball's Mikes Hall scored 25 points in an overtime win over co-league champion Indian Lake.
Voting continues at MarionStar.com and its app through early Sunday morning.
In last week's poll, Pleasant wrestler Brandon Mulvaine, who earned his 100th career victory in the midst of scoring four pins en route to the 157-pound title at the Sally George Invitational, earned 1,056 of 2,766 votes (38 percent) to win it. Other nominees were River Valley basketball's Carson Myers, North Union bowler Logan Otten, Marion Harding basketball's Marquis Long, Ridgedale bowler Jayden Reynolds and Mount Gilead basketball's Matthew Bland.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Boys Best of the Week: River Valley's Carson Smith sets records
