Strong second quarter lifts John Glenn past New Lexington, 61-49 in MVL tilt

NEW CONCORD − A strong defensive effort, coupled with a dominating second quarter proved a winning formula for host John Glenn on Friday night in an Muskingum Valley League tussle with New Lexington inside The Tank.

Leading by a slim 9-8 margin after the first quarter, John Glenn erupted in the second stanza with an 18-4 scoring edge to grab a comfortable 27-12 lead at the halftime break.

And in the second half of play, the Muskies made that lead hold up for a 61-49 victory to improve to 1-1 on the young season.

"That second quarter was clearly was the difference tonight," JG head coach Eric Sheck said. "Our defense was pretty good in that quarter. Thought we forced them into some tough shots, and luckily they didn't go down. But we've got to do that every single night, just bring it on the defensive end.

"You know with the exception of Larrick, we are not very big. I know Nathan is about 6-3 or so, but we have a bunch of guards that are a little smaller," Sheck continued. "So we have to be a little tougher, try to create tempo. I thought we did a nice job of that tonight."

To open the decisive second period, the Muskies reeled off the first 12 points to boost their lead out to 21-8 at the 3:03 mark on senior Nathan Walker's triple.

New Lexington finally broke the run with senior Lukas Ratliff scoring on a strong drive to the hoop to pull within 21-10, but the damage was already done.

Walker and junior Noah Winland each scored five points in the frame, with senior Kaiden Walls adding four with a pair of baskets to help the Muskies build the lead.

A cool shooting touch by the Panthers, is something that has plagued the team throughout the first three games on the young season, according to New Lexington head coach Jeremy Duerr.

"We had a lot of good looks early I thought," Duerr said. "We just were not shooting it well, but we got it to 9-8 at the end of the first quarter. And we thought we were doing alright, but the shooting woes continued into the second quarter. Really we have not shot the ball well through our first three games now. We've got some good shooters on this team, right now the shots just not falling.

"We just could not find a way to get the ball in the basket in that first half," Duerr added. "And that put us behind the eight ball at half time, facing a pretty big deficit. Overall I thought we battled all night, think we cut it down to like 8-10 a few times in the second half. But we just could not get over that hump, just could not recover from that second quarter."

New Lexington battled in the second half with a pair of runs, pulling within 36-25 with 3:43 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from sophomore Bentley Hanson. And then narrowing the margin to 47-40 on a bucket from sophomore Isaiah Stephens with just 4:08 left in the game.

But both times, the Muskies would regain control of the game en route to opening the MVL season with a home court victory.

Walker led the Muskies with a team-high 18 point night, with double figure help coming from junior Caleb Larrick with 12 and Walls who finished with 10.

Winland checked in with eight markers, with freshman Stehl Bates adding six and sophomore Will Nicolozakes chipping in with five points for the winners.

Ratliff and Stephens each enjoyed solid efforts with a game-high 19 points to lead the Panthers (2-1, 0-1 MVL).

"We needed to get a win, especially coming off that loss on the road to Tusky Valley in the opener," Sheck said. "Tusky Valley has a good team and deserved to beat us that night. But we had a week to prepare for tonight and I think we were ready to go. New Lex is a pretty darn good team, and I know they are going to win a lot of games this year so it was nice to get this one tonight, but it's a case of enjoying right this tonight. Then we are right back to work tomorrow.

"But we got a big week coming up, we are on the road at River View Tuesday then we have Maysville coming here on Friday," Sheck explained. "So we are going to get a pair of pretty good teams coming up this week. We will need to be prepared and ready to build off this win tonight."

John Glenn collected a 40-26 win in the JV game to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Brayden Davis and Trent Milliner each tallied nine points to lead the young Muskies, with CJ Dolan adding eight and Justin Stambush with seven. Garrett Blosser led New Lex with 10 and Sam Rupe finished with six.

NEXT - Both teams are on the road Tuesday, with John Glenn visiting River View and New Lexington traveling to Sheridan with 6 p.m. JV start times at both sites.

kstutton1@gannett.com; 1-330-806-5692.

Sheridan 64, Meadowbrook 18

THORNVILLE −A.J. Winders led a balanced offense with 12 points as the Generals scored 17 straight points in the first quarter and rolled to an MVL crossover win in their season opener at Glen Hursey Gymnasium.

Reed Coconis added 10 points and Blake Turnes, Raine Rodich and Caden Sheridan nine for the Generals, who led 37-6 halftime after cruising to a 17-0 lead to start the game.

Winders scored eight of his points in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers. Evan Anderson, in his first year on the varsity, scored all seven of his points in the second quarter.

Dayne Singleton scored all eight of his points in the second quarter for Meadowbrook.

Sheridan won the reserve game, 51-21. Kory Holden had 10 points and Hayden Henry eight for Sheridan, with Masyn Campbell leading Meadowbrook with six points.

NEXT −Meadowbrook will host Tri-Valley on Tuesday with JV action tipping off at 6 p.m.

Buckeye Trail 56, Barnesville 53

BARNESVILLE −Buckeye Trail picked up win number one of the season Friday night with a hard-fought 56-53 victory over host Barnesville in a non-league match-up.

Senior Garrett Burga recorded a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds to pace Trail (1-1), with senior Isaac Beaver adding 10 points and sophomore Koen Eagon finishing with nine points. Junior Charlie Parry pulled down seven rebounds.

"Tonight was a battle to the end against a well-coached Barnesville team," Buckeye Trail head coach Gregg Strasser offered. "We had some key rebounds late in the game, along with some huge free throws to help close it out. Proud of our guys tonight."

NEXT − Buckeye Trail opens IVC action on Tuesday with a road game at Malvern at 6 p.m with JV action.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Strong second quarter lifts John Glenn past New Lexington, 61-49 in MVL tilt