The Boys Varsity Basketball team kicked off their season on the road at Athens with a 71-54 non-conference victory over the Bluejays. The team used a convincing first half to build a 15 point lead at the half, and then hold off the Bluejays the rest of the way.
The Blackhawks found success with their pressure defense early along with some inside scoring from Winston Poehler. The Blackhawks attacked the rim throughout the night as well, holding a rebounding edge the entire night. Winston Poehler had a huge first half to say the least as he dumped in 20 points while Dominic Sherwood scored eight in the half and Mason Gay added six. The Blackhawks led 37-22 at the half.
Athens battled back as the Hawks built their lead to 20 at one point. The Jays then got hot and cut the lead to eight with less than seven minutes to go in the game. Key hoops by Sam Wells and Colin Fritz, along with some free throws held the Jays off. The Blackhawks went 8 for 10 on the free throw line when it counted. The Blackhawks had five players score five or more points in the half. The Blackhawks used that balanced scoring to win by a final score of 71-54.
The Blackhawks outrebounded the Jays 51-38 and had 13 steals with only 9 turnovers.
Box Score: Winston Poehler 26 pts, 17 rebs, 5 steals; Dominic Sherwood 16 pts, 9 rebs, 4 stls; Colin Fritz 10 pts, 4 asts; Sam Wells 8 pts, 7 rebs, 2 asts; Mason Gay 6 pts, 8 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls; Brett Baehr 5 pts, 2 rebs; Colton Paczkowski 2 rebs, 1 stl.
Coach's Comments
We were consistent in the first half offensively, moving the ball and working it inside and out. We got into a little bit of trouble in the second half taking quick shots and we fed into Athen's run. I give the guys credit as they corrected themselves and got into good possessions and built the lead back up.
We battled for some tough rebounds at the end of the game when we really needed to hold them to one shot. We took care of the ball for the game also.