NEW RICHMOND — After Blanchester blistered the nets Tuesday in the first half, it was New Richmond that couldn’t miss in the second half in an 82-74 Lions victory.
“Overall I’m not disappointed because we knew it was going to be a physical, slugfest-type game,” BHS head coach Adam Weber said. “We didn’t back down.”
Blanchester shot 65.4 percent in the first half (17/26), using strong ball movement and good transition offense to beat the Lions down the floor.
The Wildcats closed the first half on a 13-5 run, getting baskets by Alec Richardson, Jordan Stroud and Nick Hopkins. Blan led 38-33 at intermission.
New Richmond came out strong in the third period. The Lions scored the first 10 points out of the break to take a 43-38 lead.
In all, it was a 16-4 Lions run over the first 4:45 to surge to a 49-42 lead with 3:15 left in the third.
In the fourth, the Lions stretched the lead to 68-56 with 6:12 remaining. Blanchester struggled to cut its deficit, shooting just 37.1 percent in the second half.
“I think we were getting the same looks we got in the first half,” Weber said. “In the second half, those looks weren’t falling in. I think we counted 10 times it was on the rim, and just fell out.”
However, New Richmond failed to put the game away thanks to poor free throw shooting. During a two-minute stretch late in the fourth, the Lions made just 5 of 10.
This gave Blanchester a sliver of hope. Hopkins scored to pull Blanchester within 79-70 with 1:05 left. After a steal, Richardson scored to make it a 7-point deficit.
Following another Lion turnover, Quenton Miller scored to make it 79-74 with 42.4 left.
New Richmond turned it over again coming out of the timeout. Stroud had a look at three which could have pulled Blanchester within two, but it missed. The Lions rebounded and put the game away.
“We utilized every timeout the way we were hoping,” Weber said. “They were listening and following instructions and got a shot every time.”
JD Durham led the Lions with 26 points while Franklie Taubee added 23 points.
“I’ve got to give their two shooters credit,” Weber said. “Other than maybe one poor rotation early in the half, all the rest of them seemed like they were pretty well defended.”
Stroud led Blanchester with 20 points. Richardson had 15 points and 7 assists.
SUMMARY
Jan. 5, 2016
@New Richmond High School
New Richmond 82, Blanchester 74
B 16.22.11.25…..74
N 11.22.23.26…..82
(74) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Alec Richardson 6-1-2-15, Nick Hopkins 4-0-0-8, Quenton Miller 4-0-3-11, Dylan Miller 0-0-3-3, Jordan Stroud 9-1-1-20, Nick Grogg 3-2-0-8, JD Wiederhold 4-0-1-9. TOTALS 30-4-10-74.
(82) NEW RICHMOND (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Jonathan Lang 1-0-0-2, Michael Williamson 0-0-2-2, Adam Nassar 2-0-0-4, JD Durham 8-3-7-26, Frankie Taulbee 9-5-0-23, Gage Kramer 7-0-6-20, Nick Sanchez 1-0-3-5. TOTALS 28-8-18-82.
FIELD GOALS: B 30/61 (Stroud 9/15, Richardson 6/18, Hopkins 4/7, Q. Miller 4/9, Wiederhold 4/4); N 28/57 (Taulbee 9/17, Durham 8/11, Kramer 7/12)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: B 4/16 (Grogg 2/2); N 8/21 (Taulbee 5/9, Durham 3/5)
FREE THROWS: B 10/13 (Q. Miller 3/4, D. Miller 3/3); N 18/29 (Durham 7/8, Kramer 6/12)
REBOUNDS: B 33 (Wiederhold 6, Q. Miller 5, Stroud 4, Richardson 3, Hopkins 3); N 34 (Kramer 10, Sanchez 6, Durham 5)
ASSISTS: B 18 (Richardson 7); N 14 (Sanchez 6)
STEALS: B 11 (Richardson 4, D. Miller 3); N 9 (Taulbee 4, Williamson 3)
BLOCKED SHOTS: B 4; N 1
TURNOVERS: B 15; N 14
