Sports
Boys Basketball: Lucasville Valley handles Nelsonville-York in District Semifinal
By: Morgan Overbey
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Unfortunately, for the Buckeyes their season came to an end against a tough Lucasville Valley team, 61-40, in the Division III District Semifinal game.
Both teams started out the game a bit on the slow end, but for the Indians they really turned up the heat in the second quarter and they never looked back from there. The ultimate plague for the Buckeyes was their inability to make shots and their height disadvantage. N-Y was 21 percent from the field and 0-9 from behind the arc. The Buckeyes have just two players, Daniel Kline and Kyle Moore, who are above six foot tall, but the Indians had a slight advantage with all five of their starters listed at six foot or taller.
Coach Kline looked to get their running game going in the second quarter, but the Buckeyes weren’t able to make enough stops to get in that rhythm.
“We wanted to run the floor and stretch out the court, but we didn’t do that as well as I would have hoped,” said Coach Kline regarding his teams offensive drought. “Overall, their size did give us some problems.”
Lucasville Valley used a 22-10 second quarter run to finish out the first half with a double-digit lead. The Indians were able to get a lot of easy inside shots unlike the Buckeyes. They pounded it into three of their big men the entire game. Hayden Dunn, who came off the bench, had a game-high 18 points and Luke Keller and Jordan West both chipped in another 11 points a piece.
For the Buckeyes, the seniors stepped up, which although they lost, was a good way to finish off their careers. Daniel Kline led the Buckeyes with 14 points and Casey Cox contributed another nine to that. Kyle Moore also had a big night with six points, seven rebounds and six blocks.
Although Nelsonville-York’s season has come to end, Coach Kline said it will be tough losing their seniors, but they have a lot of talent to look forward to next year.