Sports
Nelsonville-York Has Comeback Win Over Southern
By: Will Price
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Nothing was going Nelsonville-York’s way early against Southern. Turnovers and missed shots plagued them through a first quarter in which they only scored seven points. Two 3-pointers from Jensen Anderson gave the Tornadoes control of the game early and sprung them to a 17-9 lead early in the second quarter.
That’s when the Buckeyes defense clamped down.
Thanks to their smothering defense and clutch free-throw shooting, Nelsonville-York used a 14-point run, which spanned most of the second quarter into the third, to defeat Southern, 40-37.
Starting with about six minutes left in the second quarter, the Buckeyes held the Tornadoes scoreless for the rest of the half as they started their comeback. Nelsonville-York capitalized and took the lead 21-17 at half, a lead they never gave back on their way to their second victory of the season.
Nelsonville-York head coach Jamie Justus praised his team’s defensive effort after the game.
“We’ve been preaching on it daily, playing really good man-to-man defense,” Justus said. “They really locked in.”
Offensively, the Buckeyes were led by Ethan Bohyer, who had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ethan Perry added 11 points and four assists, leading the team in both categories.
Despite the offensive drought in the middle of the game, Southern stayed close with some timely shots from Brayden Cunningham, who had 13 points off the bench. Anderson scored 10 points and Trey McNickle corralled eight rebounds for the Tornadoes.
The game wasn’t without its second-half bumps for the Buckeyes. After going up 30-21 early in the fourth quarter, four straight turnovers by Nelsonville-York let the Tornadoes right back into the game and allowed the crowd to get back into it as well.
With less than two minutes to go and Southern down three, Anderson rebounded his own miss and hit a layup to shrink their deficit down to one. Nelsonville-York answered with two free throws from Bohyer to put the lead back at three. McNickle hit a shot with 30 seconds left to put Southern down one, but this time Perry responded with two big free throws of his own, leading to one final possession for Southern. Their desperation 3-point shot fell short, and the Buckeyes left Southern High School with the victory.
After a successful start to the season, Justus is optimistic about his team.
“The guys are working hard,” Justus said. “We’re happy to be at 2-0.”
Next up for the Buckeyes are the Miller Falcons on Saturday.