MASON — Licking Heights put together an 18-5 run to close the first half and went on to hold off Wilmington 68-61 Friday in the first game of the Ohio Valley Hoops Classic at Mason High School.
The game was the season opener for Wilmington and its first-year head coach Matt Kramer.
“We weren’t very good today,” Kramer said. “We had guys out there playing their first varsity minutes and some weren’t ready for this. We needed to see this stuff. We have a long way to go.”
The Hornets closed strong in the first half largely when Wilmington’s Matthew Butcher was off the floor, tending to an injury.
“We were minus 15 with him off the floor in the first half,” Kramer said. “Without him, we didn’t do much right the rest of the first half.
“We see how important he is to us. With more experience, we won’t see as much a fall off.”
Wilmington led 20-18 in the second quarter then as the buzzer sounded for halftime, the scoreboard read 38-25. The score was changed to 36-25 at the half but the official scorebook had it 34-25. Regardless, the scorer’s desk settled on 36-25 at the break.
Collin Barker came off the bench to score eight points in the opening quarter. Chris Custis had a strong opener with four points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal as WHS led 18-16 after one.
But in the second, Wilmington made just 2 of 14 from the floor, including 0 for 5 beyond the arc. Cam Coomer had all seven of the Hurricane points in the second.
“Part of the grid lock with the offense is kids are still learning the system,” Kramer admits.
With Butcher back on the floor in the third, Wilmington began to chip away at the deficit, which was 13 at one point. Brady Vilvens, who had four blocked shots in the game, had seven in the third while Butcher scored six. WHS trailed by eight going to the fourth.
Wilmington drew even at 54-54 following a Gabe Jones steal on defense that led to Butcher’s three-point play a 3:09. Custis then scored on a stickback to put WHS up 56-54 with 2:47 to play. WHS trailed 61-59 with just over a minute to play but Licking Heights converted at the line to seal the win.
Coomer had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Butcher finished with 14 and Custis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
SUMMARY
Nov 29, 2019
Ohio Valley Hoops Classic
@Mason High School
Licking Heights 68 Wilmington 61
LH^16^20^13^19^^68
WI^18^7^18^18^^61
(68) LICKING HEIGHTS (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Goodrich 0-0-0-0 Brown 3-0-6-12 Collier 6-3-2-17 Moses 3-1-1-8 Anderson 4-0-3-11 Righter 3-1-0-7Spears 3-0-1-7 Burns 2-0-0-4 Twelve 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 25-5-13-68
(61) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Butcher 6-1-1-14 Coomer 7-2-5-21 Custis 5-0-1-11 Baltazar 0-0-0-0 Vilvens 3-1-0-7 Jones 0-0-0-0 Griffith 0-0-0-0 Glass 0-0-0-0 Warix 0-0-0-0 Barker 3-1-1-8 Brooks 0-0-0-0 Rosenwirth 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 24-5-8-61
FIELD GOALS: LH 25-58 (Collier 6-9); W 24-66 (Coomer 7-21 Butcher 6-15 Custis 5-10 Vilvens 3-7 Barker 3-10)
3 PT FIELD GOALS: LH 5-17 (Collier 3-6); W 5-27
FREE THROWS: LH 13-17 (Brown 6-6); W 8-9 (Coomer 5-5)
REBOUNDS: LH-42 (Moses 12 Anderson 8 Brown 8); W-30 (Custis 11 Butcher 5 Coomer 5 Vilvens 3 Barker 2)
ASSISTS: LH-11 (Brown 4); W-13 (Coomer 5 Vilvens 3 Custis 2)
STEALS: LH-4; W-10 (Vilvens 3 Coomer 2 Barker 2)
BLOCKED SHOTS: LH-1; W-5 (Vilvens 4)
TURNOVERS: LH-15, W-7
