By Mark Carpenter-
Two of the top dogs in the big school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference collided again on Tuesday, Jan. 15
at West Union High School and the results were eerily similar, other than which side came out on the winning side of the scoreboard. Back on Dec. 21 the Dragons of West Union traveled to Eastern Brown and hung a 58-54 defeat on the host Warriors. On Tuesday night, the Warriors made the return trip to Adams County looking to avenge that earlier defeat. There were 112 combined points scored in the first meeting of the two teams and on Tuesday night there were 113, but this time more of them went to the Warriors as they handed the Dragons a critical conference loss, holding off a West Union comeback to pull out a 58-55 victory.
The formula under Eastern coach Rob Beucler has always been a simple and familiar one, play tough, aggressive defense and grind it out in the halfcourt, though this year’s version of the Warriors is a little more athletic and can push the tempo when necessary. That, along with the fact that the Dragons were overly generous in turning the ball over, added up to the visitors getting their ninth win in 12 outings for the season, while the Dragons fell to 6-6, 5-2 in the SHAC.
Eastern Brown wasted no time on Tuesday night in showing their intentions on revenge, scoring the game’s first nine points, a run that included three-point goals from Titus Burns and Colton Vaughn. It took over two minutes for the Dragons to get on the board on a spinning layup by Conner Campbell, but another long bomb by Eastern’s Marcus Hamilton propelled the Warriors to a 12-4 advantage.
The Dragons, as they would for the entire night, began to claw their way back, getting three-pointers from Bowan Tomlin and Ryan Rothwell to slice the Eastern lead down to 16-14, but a triple at the horn from Dustin Jimison gave the Warriors a five-point lead after the first eight minutes of action.
The second stanza began with Tomlin nailing another of his patented step back threes and a Clayton Madden free throw that drew West Union within one, but the Warriors responded with an 8-2 run that gave them a 27-20 lead. Eastern Brown maintained that lead by dominating the boards on both ends of the floor and getting a nice reverse layup by Vaughn and a bucket from Trent Hundley.
It was Tomlin who almost single-handedly kept the Dragons in the game in the first half, scoring 14 and it was his basket late in the half that got the home team within 35-29 at the break.
The Warriors came out of the halftime respite just like they had came out in the first quarter and scored the first eight points to build a double digit advantage at 43-29, but momentum can be a crazy thing in a high school basketball game. Just as quickly, the Dragons rattled off the game’s next 10 points and a basket by Rothwell cut the Eastern lead to 43-39 with 3:14 left in the third quarter., before a scoring drought hit both teams.
The next basket came with 10 seconds left in the third from Eastern’s Colton Vaughn but West Union’s Zane Kingsolver banked one home at the buzzer and heading into the final quarter of play, it was Eastern still on top by four at 45-41.
The final eight minutes was nothing short of a battle, with the Dragons desperately trying to take the lead away from theirs guests but the Warriors steadfastly holding off all challenges. The third trey of the game by Tomlin made it 47-44, but the Warriors counter punched with baskets by Hamilton and Vaughn to again extend the margin to seven. Back again came the Dragons, baskets by Campbell and Tomlin getting them back to within three with just under five minutes to play.
With 3:12 to go, a long three out of the corner by Campbell cut the Eastern lead to 55-53 and it looked like the Dragons were set to make their big move, but the experienced Warriors were worthy of the challenge. Two free throws by Gage Boone put Eastern back up by four but a Kingsolver basket with 2:33 left sliced that gap in half. Neither team then scored for nearly two minutes, until Eastern’s Hamilton was fouled with 34 ticks remaining on the clock. Hamilton missed the front end of the bonus and West Union coach Austin Kingsolver called for a timeout.
Out of that break, the Dragons looked for a game-tying shot against the swarming Eastern defense and finally got a jumper from Kingsolver with 10 seconds left that was off the mark. The Warriors grabbed the rebound and again Hamilton was sent to the line, this time with just four seconds left. He hit the first shot, missed the second, and the Dragons called another timeout with 3.4 seconds to go, having to travel the length of the court and hit a three to tie.
The ball was inbounded to Tomlin, who surrounded by a trio of Eastern defenders, got off a desperation shot from just past midcourt that looked like it had a chance, but glanced high off the back of the rim and the Warriors could breath that sigh of relief and board the bus back to Brown County with a 58-55 conference win in their pocket.
In the “W”, Eastern placed a pair of players in double figures- Colton Vaughn with 17 and Marcus Hamilton with 16, accounting for 57% of their team’s scoring. Gage Boone added 9, including four fourth quarter free throws.
The Dragons put a trio of players in double figures, led by Bowan Tomlin with 23, with Conner Campbell adding 11 and Zane Kingsolver 10.
The road gets no easier as another team comes to town on Friday night, looking for revenge at the Dragons’ Homecoming. After dropping a 68-59 decision in the championship game of the recent Holiday Classic, the 11-2 North Adams Green Devils come to West Union looking to spoil Homecoming, avenge an earlier loss, and pick up an important SHAC victory, weather permitting.
Eastern Brown
19 16 10 13 —58
West Union
14 15 12 14 —55
E. Brown (58): R. Boone 1 0-0 2, Hamilton 5 5-8 16, Vaughn 8 0-0 17, G. Boone 2 5-7 9, Burns 2 0-0 5, Jimison 1 0-0 3, Garrett 1 0-0 2, Hundley 2 0-0 4, Team 22 10-15 58.
W. Union (55): Rothwell 2 0-0 5, Staten 2 1-1 5, Madden 0 1-2 1, Tomlin 8 4-4 23, Conner Campbell 5 0-2 11, Kingsolver 5 0-0 10, Team 22 6-9 55.
Three-Point Goals:
E. Brown (4)- Hamilton 1, Vaughn 1, Burns 1, Jimison 1
W. Union (5)- Rothwell 1, Tomlin 3, Conner Campbell 1
