WILMINGTON — It was a tale of two halves for the Wilmington Hurryin’ Hurricane in their Friday night rematch with the SBAAC league leader Goshen Warriors.

After Wilmington kept it close, trailing by just two points at intermission, the Warriors went on a 23-9 run in the third period en route to a 70-53 victory at Fred Summers Court.

“We really played well in the first half and made it competitive,” said WHS head coach Jaevin Cumberland. “Unfortunately for us, they took it to us in the third quarter and we could not stop them.”

Goshen senior Caden Zeinner was unstoppable for the Warriors, leading all scorers with 39 points. He put together a 21-point effort in the first half, then scored 18 points in the second half. During the third period, he accounted for 11 of the Warriors’ 23 points.

In a losing cause, Mikey Brown led the Hurricane attack with 18 points, including 10 in the second quarter as Wilmington outscored the Warriors, 17-9, to close the deficit to a field goal at 26-24.

After falling behind, 49-33, the Hurricane mounted a comeback when Fickert nailed a rainbow trey, cutting the deficit to 53-40 and Kibler got the margin to just eight points, 53-45, with 4:00 to play in regulation, but the Hurricane would get no closer.

Jayceon Kibler had 16 points, including 13 of the Hurricane’s 20 points in the final quarter. Non-starter Chase Fickert added 12 points, 10 in the second half, which included a pair of three-pointers.

The Hurricane will travel to Blanchester Saturday night and Cumberland is hopeful they can duplicate their first half effort from Friday, but sustain that type of effort over four quarters.

“We can come right back (Saturday) and try to get back on the winning track. We competed hard for three quarters (against Goshen), but once again, the third quarter was our downfall,” the coach said.

Goshen plays New Richmond on Saturday night. After the contest at Blanchester, Wilmington has a make-up game at Batavia on Tuesday night, then closes out the regular season with its home finale next Friday, hosting New Richmond.

SUMMARY

Feb 9, 2024

@Fred Summers Court

Goshen 70, Wilmington 53

G^17^9^23^21^^70

W^7^17^9^20^^53

(70). GOSHEN (2fg-3fg-ft-tp). Zeinner 13-3-4-39, Muchmore 0-0-1-1, B. Settlemayer 1-1-6-11, C. Settlemayer 0-0-0-0, Moore. 3-0-0-6, Kazli 0-0-3-3, Ball 1-0-0-2, Alderman 1-0-0-2, Haley 2-0-2-6. TEAM TOTALS. 21-4-16—70.

(53) WILMINGTON (2fg-3fg-ft-tp). Brown 6-1-3-18, Fickert 3-2-0-12, Rickman 0-0-0-0, Streety 0-0-0-0, Platt 0-0-0-0, Cumberland 1-0-3-5, Custis 0-0-0-0, Massie. 2-0-0-4, Kibler 3-0-10-16. TEAM TOTALS. 15-3-16-53.