By Mark Carpenter-
Dec. 13, 2019 at North Adams High School. North Adams 61 Peebles 42. That was the first and only regular season meeting between the two boys’ basketball squads chosen to be at the top of the standings in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. Fast forward 15 days to Dec. 28 and the championship game of the 2019 Holiday Classic, where the two teams met again in the same place for what will be the final time of the 2019-20 season.
High school basketball can be a funny thing, especially when it involves two very talented and evenly matched squads. Though North Adams had easily won the first meeting between the two teams, Peebles turned the tables in meeting number. With an impressive defensive showing and four players scoring in double figures, the Indians got their revenge in a big way, capturing the Holiday Classic championship with a 56-38 triumph.
“We changed up some things defensively for this game,” said Peebles head coach Josh Arey. “We wanted to concentrate on keeping them out of the paint and we had to make changes to compete with them this time. We really packed it in and they didn’t shoot well from the perimeter and that allowed us to do what we wanted to do.”
“We were able to press in a few situations that allowed us to change the tempo and we were able to run sometimes when the opportunity presented itself, and we executed in our halfcourt offense.”
Saturday night’s championship contest began as a defensive struggle, or an offensive drought, for both sides as no one scored for nearly the first three minutes of the game, but when the scoring did start it resembled the Allied assault on D-Day. The first four baskets of the game came from beyond the three-point arc, two by each side- Jayden Hesler and Seth Meade for the host Green Devils, Alex Camp and Oakley Burba for the Indians to leave the game tied at 6 apiece. The Burba trey, however, was the beginning of an 8-0 Peebles run over the final two minutes of the first quarter, with the Devils in a cold shooting snap and after one it was the Indians leading 11-6.
That run extended to 12-0 as the second period began with Peebles getting baskets from Burba and Kyle Lightner to lead 15-6 before the Devils finally broke a five minute scoring drought with a three-point play by Cade Meade at the 4:51 mark. The Indians responded with buckets by Hunter Ruckel and Weston Browning to go up by double digits, but the Devils finally found the range and scored the next eight, capped by an Austin McCormick basket that cut the Peebles lead to 19-17. The final points of the first half came on two Browning free throws and the Indians took a 21-17 advantage to the break.
The close score at the half led the big crowd on hand to expect a competitive, down-to-the-wire second half but the Indians had other ideas. Peebles stormed out of the halftime respite with a quick 7-0 run, baskets by Ruckel and Browning followed by a Dawson Mills three-pointer resulting in a 28-17 lead. The Devils went three minutes into the half before they scored, but they scored five straight to again cut the Peebles lead to single digits, but the suddenly red-hot Mills hit two more treys and two more buckets in the paint by Browning were part of a 10-3 run and a close game was getting out of hand as the Indians led 40-27 after the third quarter closed.
Coach Arey’s squad continued to build their lead as the fourth quarter began with Ruckel hitting a free throw and then going long distance for a triple that made it 44-27. With 5:18 to play, Mills drilled his fourth three-pointer of the half and the Indians were now firmly in control of the title contest, leading 48-30. With the outcome no longer in any doubt, both coaches emptied the benches with just over a minute left to play and though North Adams got the final points of the game on a “basket and one” by Seth Vogel, it was the Indians and their loyal following celebrating a tournament championship with the 56-38 victory.
The victorious Indians were led by a quartet of players in double figures, topped by Classic Most Valuable Player Weston Browning’s 18 points. On the strength of his three-point prowess, Dawson Mills scored 12 with Hunter Ruckel adding 11 and earning a spot on the All-Classic Team. Oakley Burba rounded out the double figures scoring with 10 points as Peebles improved their record to 5-2 on the season.
“Dawson can stretch defenses for us and when he does that it just opens up the court for our other guards to penetrate,” said Coach Arey. “Hunter Ruckel keeps getting better and better in our system and Weston is the best point guard in southern Ohio.”
Poor shooting has been the rule rather than the exception in the early season for North Adams (6-3) and the Classic title game was another struggle. Cameron Young led the Devils with 11 points, the only North Adams player to hit double figures. Jayden Hesler scored 8 with Cade Meade and Austin McCormick adding 6 each. Hesler and McCormick represented North Adams on the All-Classic Team. The loss snapped a six-game North Adams winning streak.
Peebles
11 10 19 16 —56
North Adams
6 11 11 10 —38
Peebles (56): Mills 4 0-0 12, Burba 3 3-4 10, Ruckel 3 4-6 11, Camp 1 0-0 3, Lightner 1 0-0 2, Browning 5 8-9 18, Team 17 15-19 56.
N. Adams (38): Hesler 3 1-2 8, C. Young 3 3-4 11, Brand 1 0-0 2, Vogel 1 1-1 3, S. Meade 1 0-0 3, C. Meade 2 2-3 6, McCormick 3 0-0 6, Team 14 7-8 38.
Three-Point Goals:
Peebles (7)- Mills 4, Burba 1, Ruckel 1, Camp 1
N. Adams (3)- Hesler 1, C. Young 1, S. Meade 1
