Hardwood Heroes
Federal Hocking beat Belpre in nailbiter 71-66
By: Charlie Lusk
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STEWART, Ohio (WOUB) —- On Thursday night, the Federal Hocking Lancers beat the Belpre Golden Eagles 71-66 in a TVC-Hocking clash of the titans. Looking to repeat last year’s TVC-Hocking title, the Lancers were looking to avenge their earlier loss to the Golden Eagles while Belpre was looking to replicate those results. In a back-and-forth matchup, Federal Hocking would pull it away.
The first quarter was a tight contest as both teams showed their offensive might. Belpre offense in the first quarter was carried by Junior Bass. His midrange jumper and low post was near automatic early setting the pace for the Golden Eagles.
The Lancers matched that as Cameron Joy and Andrew Airhart grabbed 6 and 5 points, respectively. 16 to 15 Lancers.
As the second quarter commenced, Federal Hocking caught fire and started to pull away. The Lancers started to slow down the Golden Eagle’s offense and force some turnovers. Additionally, the perimeter shooting, and low post scoring both heated up. These two combined allowed Federal Hocking to control the pace and run and gun their way to 28-point quarter.
Andrew Airhart at the buzzer made a 3 pointer to extend the lead to 15 going into the second half.
With all the momentum seemingly towards Federal Hocking, Belpre would respond in the third quarter. Blake Church and Derek Liston both stepped up big for the Golden Eagles. Church would effectively drive to the basket for 4 inside buckets. As for Liston, he converted on two big triples including one at the third quarter buzzer. After looking knocked out, Belpre was looking dangerously close to completing the comeback. 59 to 53 Lancers.
After that third quarter scare, the Lancers held on for just long enough to take the victory against their conference opponents. In his first game back for a few weeks, Tariq Cottrill put the Golden Eagles away at the charity stripe in crunch time. But the biggest X-factor in the contest was Cameron Joy. His 18 points and 8 rebounds, including 10 points in the second half, allowed Federal Hocking to keep their distance from Belpre on the scoreboard.
With the win, the Lancers shot up to first place in the TVC-Hocking. The Belpre Golden Eagles return to conference play against Eastern at home next Wednesday at 7:15pm. As for Federal Hocking, they travel to cross divisional opponent Vinton County on Saturday at 7:30pm.