West Muskingum upends Meadowbrook to clinch share of MVL Small School title

BYESVILLE − Visiting West Muskingum secured at least a share of the Muskingum Valley League Small School title on Tuesday evening with a 65-48 victory over Meadowbrook.

The Tornadoes had to work for the big victory, battling through a case of nerves with the high stakes, as well as a renewed effort from the host Colts, who were coming off their first win of the season last Friday with a 60-58 victory over Crooksville.

But head coach Jeff Rinkes' squad was able to overcome it all, and now have the opportunity to claim the MVL championship all to themselves with a homecourt victory over second place New Lexington on Friday night.

The Panthers stand one game behind West M in the standings after beating Morgan on Tuesday.

"Tonight was not our cleanest game, kind of ugly in fact," Rinkes offered. "But it was a really big win and tonight we will take it. I don't like to see those type of games especially at this time of the year, with so much on the line and now a really big game looming on Friday with New Lex."

"We clinched a share of the MVL Small School tonight so this was the big one," Rinkes added. "Now on Friday, New Lex will be coming in wanting to share with a win. So that's why I would have preferred to play a nice clean game tonight leading into that one."

West Muskingum, who improved to 13-2 in MVL play and 17-4 overall, will be looking to claim their first outright MVL championship since the 1990-91 season.

"We will just get back to work Wednesday and Thursday and try to clean some stuff up," Rinkes continued. "But really you couldn't keep how big a game tonight was from the kids. The whole community and the whole school were excited and talking about it. So that pressure was on them I'm sure under the circumstances. With a two quarter JV game tonight, feeling the pressure of a big game, that all throws a 17-18 year old kid off kilter a bit. So we got the job done, and that's what really matters in the end."

In the opening quarter, Meadowbrook stayed right with the visiting Tornadoes trailing by a slim 10-7 margin after the first eight minutes of action.

Senior Dayne Singleton popped in four points to pace the Colts, with sophomore Colton Delancey knocked down a triple for three points. Senior Noah Ray paced West M with four points in the frame.

West Muskingum pulled away a bit in the second stanza, outscoring the Colts by an 18-11 margin to push the lead out to 28-18 at the halftime break.

"I thought our guys really battled tonight, played super hard right off the opening tip," Meadowbrook head coach Teryn Jarrett explained. "We were on the floor scrapping, that's as hard a first eight minutes we have played all year.

"So 10-7 after the first, and I thought a couple things didn't go our way or it would have been closer," Jarrett added. "Thought we carried the effort over to the second quarter, but we just had a little rough spot we seem to have all year. And they pushed it out on us to get the lead up to 10."

West M was then able to maintain control in the second half, finishing with a 37-30 scoring advantage to collect the key MVL victory.

"But you can see the improvement we are making. Our younger guys are starting to step up more," Jarrett said. "Teams can hurt us as much with their pressure, as we are doing a better job of handling the pressure. And we are just being more consistent with our decision making in the half court as well. So there are steps being made to get where we want to be. But as I've said all year, it's a process and there are no quick fixes. But now we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel."

West M placed three players in double figures, led by sophomore Jake Anton with 15, followed by Ray with 14 and senior Jack Porter tallied 11. Senior Jacob Allen chipped in eight markers and senior Gage Newsom finished with seven.

Delancey finished his night with a game-high 20 point effort to lead Meadowbrook (1-19, 1-14 MVL), including drilling five 3-pointers. Singleton added 16 points, while freshman Masyn Campbell pumped in 12 points in the fourth quarter.

NEXT −West Muskingum hosts New Lexington in the battle for the MVL Small School title on Friday, while Meadowbrook treks to Morgan.

Warren 83, Cambridge 72

Despite knocking down a total of 13 3-pointers on Tuesday night, host Cambridge High dropped an 83-72 decision to Warren High on Tuesday during Senior Night inside Gene Ford Gymnasium.

Cambridge seniors Caden Moore, Davion Bahr and Alex Lacey were honored in a brief pre-game ceremony.

Moore and sophomore Jesiah Barnett started the three-point barrage in the first quarter with each knocking down a pair of long bombs. Cambridge lit up the scoreboard with 20 first-quarter points, but the Warriors scored 29 points as big man Trent Taylor scored 12 points inside.

Freshman Garrett Carpenter had the hot hand in the second period draining a trio of three-pointers in the period while seniorDavion Bahr and junior Devin Ogle each scored five. Cambridge scored 19 points in the period, but the Warriors scored 22 and expanded their lead to 12 points at the half.

The teams played to a 16-16 tie in the third quarter with Carpenter hitting two more bombs and Moore and Barnett each hitting a triple.

Moore also led the Bobcats (4-17) in the game with 18 points. Carpenter and Ogle each scored 15 and Bahr and Barnett each scored 11.

In JV action, Warren beat the young Bobcats 47-28. Mason Gregg scored eight points to lead Cambridge while Cinjin Gibson and Cash Kinnan each scored five.

NEXT −Cambridge travels to Garaway in the regular season finale on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m.

Wheeling Central Catholic 47, Buckeye Trail 42

WHEELING, WVa. −Visiting Buckeye Trail dropped a 47-42 decision to Wheeling Central Catholic on Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference matchup.

Trail jumped out to a 19-10 lead after the opening quarter, but the Maroon Knights would outscore the Warriors 28-9 over the next two quarters to take control.

Buckeye Trail managed a 14-7 scoring edge in the final quarter, but came up just short in the comeback attempt.

Junior Charlie Parry paced Buckeye Trail with 13 points, with senior Isaac Beaver adding 11 including a trio of 3-pointers. Senior Garrett Burga chipped in with nine for Trail.

Buckeye Trail slips to 12-7 on the season with the OVAC road loss.

NEXT −Buckeye Trail will play host to Fort Frye on Friday, with JV action slated for an 6 p.m. tip-off.

Tri-Valley 67, John Glenn 43

DRESDEN − Host Tri-Valley (14-7, 12-3 MVL) led after each stoppage to down John Glenn (11-10, 9-6 MVL) in MVL Big School Division play.

No other information was available.

NEXT − John Glenn will host Sheridan on Friday at 6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: West Muskingum upends Meadowbrook to clinch share of MVL Small School title