BLANCHESTER – Things looked bleak in the first quarter Tuesday for the Blanchester boys basketball team against Fayetteville.
The Rockets surged out to an 18-5 lead with 1:35 left in the first quarter. Over the next 19 minutes of play, it was all Blanchester.
Blanchester outscored Fayetteville 50-17 over that stretch, and cruised through the fourth quarter to a 61-50 victory.
BHS head coach Adam Weber said once the Rockets cooled off, the Wildcats wore them out.
“We just committed to just getting their heads together and rally and start fighting a little bit more,” Weber said. “There were a couple plays where we willed ourselves into a couple buckets and it just carried over from there.”
It started with Dylan Miller. He nailed all three of his – and the Wildcats’ – three-pointers during a 17-4 second quarter run. Blanchester took a 32-31 lead into the intermission.
Jordan Stroud got hot coming out of the locker room. He scored 10 of his 11 points in the third. Blanchester blasted the Rockets with a 19-2 quarter that put the game out of reach.
After a tough season-opening loss Saturday to Eastern Brown, Weber saw a different Wildcat team against the Rockets.
“It was night-and-day from the other day,” Weber said. “It’s what I expected us to be in the first place. I think they really got a taste of what they can do. When they felt that Fayetteville was out of gas, then they had the advantage from then on.”
Dylan Miller was one of three Wildcats in double figures with 17 points. In addition to Stroud’s 11 points, Quenton Miller added 10 points. Nine different Wildcats scored.
Weber believes his team is capable of even more than it displayed during the middle two quarters.
“We’ve been pushing them hard in their conditioning,” Weber said. “When they get to the point where every ball, every play, every possession is vital, they could be very, very impressive.”
Max Lanham led Fayetteville with 18 points. The Rockets didn’t do themselves any favors from the free throw line. Fayetteville made just 8 of 27 from the stripe. Blanchester made just 12 of 22.
SUMMARY
Dec. 1, 2015
@Blanchester High School
Blanchester 61, Fayetteville 50
F 18.13.02.17..…50
B 09.23.19.10..…61
(50) FAYETTEVILLE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Caleb Dowers 1-0-0-2, Cole Schaefer 4-1-0-9, Max Lanham 5-2-6-18, Kyle Meyer 0-0-1-1, Timmy Crone 2-0-0-4, Max Iles 2-1-0-5, CJ McCulley 1-0-0-2, Zak Smyth 4-0-1-9. TOTALS 19-4-8-50.
(61) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) David Trivett 0-0-1-1, Alec Richardson 1-0-0-2, Dade Coyle 1-0-2-4, Quenton Miller 5-0-0-10, Dylan Miller 6-3-2-17, Cam Carroll 2-0-2-6, Jordan Stroud 4-0-3-11, Nick Grogg 2-0-0-4, JD Wiederhold 2-0-2-6. TOTALS 23-3-12-61.
FIELD GOALS: F 19/51 (Lanham 5/14, Schaefer 4/6, Smyth 4/5); B 23/63 (D. Miller 6/11, Q. Miller 5/12, Stroud 4/11)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: F 4/18 (Lanham 2/9); B 3/15 (D. Miller 3/6)
FREE THROWS: F 8/27 (Lanham 6/8); B 12/22
REBOUNDS: B 40 (Wiederhold 10, Richardson 6, Q. Miller 5)
ASSISTS: B 6 (Richardson 4)
STEALS: B 13 (Richardson 4, D. Miller 3)
BLOCKED SHOTS: B 6
TURNOVERS: B 18
