Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Panthers routed
Ledgemont and the Wildcats rolled over Bloomfield.
By JIM FLICK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
WARREN — Bristol and Mogadore advanced in the first round of the Division IV tournament Tuesday night, with both teams turning in convincing victories.
“This is what I love about Ohio basketball,” said Bristol coach Mark Giesy. “We all come in 0-0, undefeated, and if we win, we move on.”
Bristol (3-17) moved on by shellacking winless Ledgemont (0-21) 83-50, while Mogadore (3-18) advanced by defeating Bloomfield 62-21.
The first game of the evening at Warren Harding High, between Mogadore and Bloomfield, got off to a slow start. More than two minutes of defensive struggle elapsed before Mogadore’s Chad White scored the game’s first points. The field goal was the first of White’s game-high 23 points.
The first quarter ended with Mogadore leading 7-5.
The scoring pace picked up in the second quarter, as both teams scored 17 points, and Mogadore led 24-22 at halftime.
Mogadore increased its lead in the second half, outscoring Bloomfield 20-16 in the third quarter to take a 44-38 lead at the three-quarter mark.
The Wildcats pulled away in the final quarter. Their lead reached 57-49 on a lay-up by Steve Seymour with 2:17 remaining.
Kyle Otto scored nine points for Mogadore, while Nathan Tarter and Travis
Gilley each contributed eight points. Jesse Headley led Bloomfield with 16 points, while Aaron Knight tallied 15 points and James Poole added 12 points.
“I’m happy for our kids,” said Mogadore coach Scott Pollock. “They worked hard for a team with just two wins on the season.
“Our kids did a nice job of keeping the lead,” Pollock added.
Bloomfield shot poorly during the game, connecting on only 19 of 57 shots fro the field.
“They missed enough to keep us in the lead,” Pollock said.
In the night’s second game, Bristol started the game at a frantic pace. Shooting often and accurately from the start, the Panthers burst out to a 16-4 lead halfway through the first quarter. Bristol led Ledgemont 28-16 at the end of the first quarter, and 47-24 at the half.
Jake Sloan tallied 14 of his game-high 22 points in the first half to pace Bristol’s first-half offense. Chris Collins scored all 11 of his points before halftime, including three 3-pointers.
Ledgemont started the second half by concentrating on defensive efforts to slow Bristol’s scoring. The Redskins forced a series of third-quarter errors and cut Bristol’s lead to 49-33 in the third quarter.
But Bristol quickly recovered, stretching the lead to 67-40 at the end of three quarters.
With victory assured, Geisy replaced his starters with bench players, but still outscored Ledgemont 16-10 in the final period.
Brendan Wilson came off the bench to score 12 points for Bristol, while Andy Halko added 10 points. By the time the game was over, 11 players had scored for the Panthers.
Derek Campbell led Ledgemont with 16 points, while Shane Ritts tallied 9 points.
“We’ve improved a lot during the season,” Geisy said.
His team had won only two games before Tuesday night’s tournament victory, so Geisy joked that his team wasn’t accustomed to holding a big lead and grew nervous in the second half.
The big lead gave him an opportunity to test untried players, Geisy said. At one point late in the game, he said, three sophomores and two freshmen were on the court for Bristol.
Geisy said he’s optimistic about his team’s chances in the upcoming tournament games.
“We’re young and we’re weak, but we’re strong enough to get what we want,” he said.