The Buckeye Valley boys basketball team used a 6-0 run to end the third and a gritty final couple minutes down the stretch to outlast visiting Olentangy 64-58 in non-league action Wednesday night in Delaware.
The game couldn’t have been much tighter.
The Barons (3-1), who won for the third straight time after dropping their opener at Delaware Hayes, led 15-12 after a back-and-fourth first quarter and 26-25 at the break.
The third-quarter spurt gave them some breathing room heading to the fourth, but the Braves (1-1) closed the gap in a hurry.
Ethan Smith, who poured in a team-best 19 points for Olentangy, scored inside to cut his team’s deficit to a point, 54-53, with 2:47 left, but BV’s Brad Koehler confidently stepped into an open three — the biggest shot of the night to that point — and buried it to push the lead back to four.
Again, the Braves didn’t blink.
Jack Huskey scored to get them back within a bucket and, after Owen Osborne scored for BV, Smith answered with a three-pointer to make it a 59-58 game with 57.7 seconds left.
The triple was the last hoop the Braves would score, though, as the Barons pulled away in the final minute. Osborne split a pair at the charity stripe and, after a Dylan Thompson steal, Troy Scowden was fouled immediately after securing the inbound pass.
Scowden missed the front end of the one-and-one, but the ball went off Olentangy. Thompson received the ensuing inbound pass, was fouled and hit two at the line to bump the lead to 62-58 with 17.1 left.
Thompson hit two more after a stop at the other end to smooth out the scoring summary.
Osborne had a game-best 20 points from BV while Thompson finished with 15 and Scowden closed with 14.
Huskey backed Smith with 15 points while Gideon Alabi had nine in the setback.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Wabash jumped out to a big halftime lead and never looked back en route to a lopsided 86-58 North Coast Athletic Conference win over host Ohio Wesleyan Wednesday night at Brach Rickey Arena.
The Little Giants (5-3, 2-1 NCAC) led 46-27 at the break thanks to 52% shooting from the floor. The Bishops (4-4, 1-2 NCAC), meanwhile, struggled to find their form, shooting just under 30% in the opening 20 minutes of action.
The second half featured more of the same as Wabash pulled away thanks in part to a game-best 22 points from Jack Davidson and 19 more from Tyler Watson.
Henry Hinkle, an Olentangy Liberty grad, led OWU with 20 points while Grant Spicer chipped in 12.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Five different Oberlin payers scored in double figures as the first-place Yeowomen cruised to a 70-46 North Coast Athletic Conference win over visiting Ohio Wesleyan Wednesday night at Philips Gymnasium.
Alyson Jefferson led all scorers with 17 points while Gina Lombard added 15, Bryana Woodard finished with 12, Camille Zinaich had 11 and Sammy Spanier closed with 10 for Oberlin (8-0, 3-0 NCAC).
The Bishops, who trailed 23-13 after the first quarter and 43-24 at the break, got a team-leading 12 points and nine rebounds from Cierra Joiner. Kasey Schipfer was also steady in the setback, collecting 10 points, six boards, three assists and three steals.
