
Late comeback not enough for Federal Hocking at Belpre
By: Charlie Lusk
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BELPRE, Ohio (WOUB) — Coming into Friday night, the Federal Hocking Lancers were still winless in TVC-Hocking play. With a trip to Belpre on the horizon, the Lancers were eager to upset the second place Golden Eagles to take their first conference win. While battling hard, especially in the third quarter, Federal Hocking fell 59 to 56 at Belpre.
The Lancers got to a red-hot start coming out to a 9 to 2 run to start the game. Wren Ballew and Cam Joy set the tone early in the match offensively. Cam Joy continued this offensive production throughout the 48 minutes finishing the game with 25 points and 4 assists.
“He’s finally coming out of his shell and becoming the player, I know he can be,” said Coach Jonathan Thompson on Joy’s performance. “He’s turning into a leader; he’s been committing himself to doing that kind of thing in practices.”
But the slashing abilities of Malik Currie helped the Golden Eagles offset the run and tie the first quarter at 14.
Belpre took this momentum for the rest of the half allowing just 6 points in the second quarter. This match has already proven that it was streaky, and the third quarter proved that.
After a subpar second quarter scoring wise, the Lancers found themselves down 30 to 20 to end the half. The second half adjustments for Federal Hocking worked like a charm. The full court press of Belpre was figured out to the tune of 22 points in the second quarter for Federal Hocking. Rustam Waltz got open under the basket over and over again in the third quarter picking up 11 points in the period.
Federal Hocking took a short lead in the fourth quarter off of a Mosiah Cottrill triple. But after back and forth, the defensive shape of the Golden Eagles held off further momentum shifts for the Lancers. A Nasiah Spencer three-pointer put the nail in the coffin for Federal Hocking’s comeback hopes.
After the thriller of a match, Belpre still see themselves 5-1 in conference play looking forward to a game against Trimble on Tuesday. As for Federal Hocking, they continue searching for that conference win when they travel to Eastern next Tuesday.