The Eagles of Findlay Liberty-Benton (official OHSAA name designation) came to The Jungle on the campus of North Baltimore High School for the first time in many years, for some varsity basketball. It was a sloppy game from the start, with lots of whistles and plenty of foul shots.
The Tigers came out flat, with the their leading scorer Chad Wright getting into early foul trouble, attempting to block shots, then taking a seat on the bench. L – B looked like they could pour it on, with a pressure defense, but didn’t, and the Tigers were down just six after the first quarter.
It was much the same in the 2nd quarter, with players from both teams being whistled for more fouls. NB was able to keep pace as Sean Watson was hitting his shots, picking up the scoring slack for the Tigers. Watson hit 7 of his game high 24 points, to keep it relatively close going into the half, 30 – 23.
In the 3rd quarter L – B tried to get off to a quick start, wanting to bury the NB boys, but the Tigers had some tenacity of their own, outscoring the Eagles 18 – 17, behind the continued hot shooting by Watson.
Early in the 4th, NB tried to cut into the six point lead, but missed some key opportunities to challenge FLB, who hit foul shot down the stretch to pick up the 14 point win.
Watson led NB with the 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Chad Wright added 11 points and 8 rebounds; Lane Bishop had 4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists; Derek McMahon scored 8 points; Levi Newcomer and Noah Brian scored 3 points each; Christian Richmond had 2 assists.
NB falls to 2 – 2 overall, 1 – 1 in the BVC.
FLB was led by Jon Dager with 16 points and 5 rebounds. They improved to 2 – 1 and 2- 0 BVC.
FLB won the Junior Varsity contest 59 – 22.
