By Mark Carpenter-
A critical conference road game in one of the toughest venues in southeast Ohio. That’s what faced the North Adams Green Devils last Friday night as they attempted to keep pace in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference with a trip across the county border to face the Eastern Brown Warriors.
Both the Green Devils and Warriors are still in the think of the SHAC big school race, both looking up at the Ripley Blue Jays, who remain unbeaten in conference play. Friday night’s outcome would go a long way in determining the conference winner and runner-up.
For three and a half quarters it looked like the Devils were going to stay right on the heels and one game behind the Blue Jays, but the host Warriors had other ideas. Down by 11 in the third quarter, the home team rallied to pull out an exciting two-point decision, surviving a last second North Adams three-point attempt to eke out a 43-41 victory.
“We got that lead in the third quarter and from that point on just didn’t take a lot of good shots,” said North Adams head coach Nathan Copas.
In the cramped confines of the EHS gymnasium, fans saw a defensive struggle for the game’s first eight minutes, though the shooting from beyond the arc dominated what scoring their was. Of the six combined baskets in the first quarter, three came from three-point land- two for Eastern, Gage Boone and Titus Burns, and one from the Devils’ Elijah Young, and after one the Warriors held a slim 8-7 advantage.
The North Adams offense woke up in the second period, again doing serious damage from long distance, getting a pair of three-point goals from Elijah Young and another from Cameron Young. In all, the visitors outscored the Warriors 15-8 in the second frame to go to the halftime break holding a 22-16 lead.
The Devils increased that lead to double digits in the third quarter, getting another Cameron Young three-pointer and two baskets from Cade Meade, but Eastern Brown fought back. The Warriors got threes from Colton Vaughn and Trent Hundley and by the time the quarter ended, the North Adams lead had been sliced to a precarious three points at 33-30.
As Coach Copas commented, the Devils didn’t get many good shots in the final quarter and what they did get, didn’t fall. The only North Adams points in the game’s last eight minutes came from big man Austin McCormick, who scored all eight as the Devils saw their lead disappear. Getting seven points from Burns, the Warriors held a 43-41 lead with 5.9 seconds to go, but the Devils had possession on their end on the side of the floor in front of their bench.
Coach Copas used a timeout and drew up a play to possibly tie or even win the game, with Elijah Young inbounding the ball and then getting it back. That part worked but a screen on the play never materialized and Young was forced to give up the ball across the court to point guard Jayden Hesler whose three=point attempt at the horn was off the mark and the Warriors had escaped with a big conference win on their home court.
“Jayden got a really good look on that final shot, but it just didn’t go down,” said Copas.
The loss dropped the Devils to 7-2 in the SHAC, alone in second place, but just one game ahead of two teams tied for third place at 6-3, Eastern Brown and West Union.
McCormick led the Devils on Friday night with 12 points, joined in double figures by Elijah Young with 11, with Cameron Young adding 8.
Eastern Brown was paced by Titus Burns with 13 points, with Trent Hundley scoring 9 and Colton Vaughn 7. Nearly half of the Warriors’ points came from beyond the three-point arc, as they drilled seven in the win.
The Devils (13-3) got back in the win column on Saturday night with a 60-49 home win over Lucasville Valley and will get an opportunity to tighten up the conference race on Friday, Feb. 1 when they travel to Ripley to face the Blue Jays, looking to avenge a 62-50 loss earlier this season on their home court in Seaman. On Saturday, Feb. 2, North Adams will go out of conference to host the Northwest Mohawks.
North Adams
7 15 11 8 —41
Eastern Brown
8 8 14 13 —43
N. Adams (41): Hesler 1 2-2 4, C. Young 3 0-0 8, E. Young 4 0-0 11, C. Meade 3 0-0 6, McCormick 5 2-2 12, Team 16 4-4 41.
E. Brown (43): Hamilton 2 0-0 5, Vaughn 3 0-1 7, G. Boone 1 0-0 3, Burns 4 2-3 13, Garrett 1 0-0 2, Wiles 2 0-0 4, Hundley 4 0-0 9, Team 17 2-4 43.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (5)- C. Young 2, E. Young 3
E, Brown (7)- Hamilton 1, Vaughn 1, G. Boone 1, Burns 3, Hundley 1
