Sports
Boys Basketball: Lancers can’t slow down Rebels
By: Ian McConville
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On most other nights, a 56 point performance by Federal Hocking would be more than enough for a victory. However, this was not one of those nights, as the Lancers fell to South Gallia by a final score of 72-56.
Fed Hock was led by Chris Saylor, who finished with 18 points, and Max Carney who finished with 13. But the lights out three-point shooting of Dalton Matney and the strong performance of Corey Haner, who finished with a game high 28 points, was more than enough to doom the Lancers, who now fall to 5-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
The Lancers had seemingly numerous opportunities to close the Rebel lead, but every time Fed Hock got close, South Gallia would pull further away.
Federal Hocking tried multiple different defenses to stop the quick attacking Rebel offense, implementing everything from a full-court press to a 2-3 zone. But no matter what the Lancers tried, South Gallia just could not miss, which was very troubling to assistant coach Jeremy Tolson.
“We didn’t play well on defense, and give a lot of credit to South Gallia. They’re a good team. They got out and ran on us a little bit, started off quick, slowly went out of it and our guys didn’t get the job done,” commented Tolson after the game.
Fed Hock went cold from long range tonight, forcing themselves to become one-dimensional. This led to 18 Lancer turnovers for the game and allowed the Rebels to double-team down low, preventing Fed Hock from getting the ball inside and having to settle for mid-to-long range jumpers.
The Rebels were able to garner multiple second-chance opportunities down the stretch, which prevented the Lancers from working their way back into the game. Throughout the contest, Fed Hock threw the ball away, giving South Gallia fast-break chances and more time to set up their offense, which ultimately led to the Lancers undoing.
Federal Hocking will have to fix the holes in their game quickly, as they return to their home court on Friday to take on Belpre. The Rebels travel to Wahama on the 20th.