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National Trail basketball team was having fun with first tournament win in 5 years in a 68-36 win over Yellow Springs. 

TROY – National Trail led by just 6 points at halftime but stepped up their intensity on defense and got a hot hand from Kaeden Culbertson with 30 points to nearly double up Yellow Springs 68-36 in an OHSAA DVI 2nd round tournament game.

It would be the first tournament win for #5 seed National Trail since 2019. They will advance to play the #2 seed Troy Christian who defeated Triad 56-18.  The game will be played at Troy High School on Tuesday, March 3rd, tip off time is 6pm.

National Trail showed good balance in the opening quarter with 6 guys scoring … but at times may have overshared leading to turnovers with Yellow Springs trailing 12-7.

Senior Tayden Blevins would pick up two fouls and sat much of the first half but in his absence junior Johah Brinkley and sophomore Grady Ott would step up nicely. The duo each scored 3 points, grabbed rebounds and plugged the middle.

Sr. Tayden Blevins scored 1st two point of game early foul trouble limited his play.

Yellow Springs defensively started out in a box and one focused on shutting down senior guard Kellen Laird and the Blazers would insert reserve freshman Kaeden Culbertson in the second quarter, and he hit the court running.

He started out with a lay-up and a few plays later a triple to double the lead 18-9 for Trail.

Springs answered with a couple of buckets, but Culbertson would sink four straight free throws to keep the lead at 9, 22-13 at 3:30.

The Bulldogs cut the margin to 24-18 but Laird would knock down two freebies to end the first half up 26-18.

Trail looked to be a step quicker on defense and moved faster on offense pushing the tempo on offense to start the second half.

In fact, they would double up Yellow Springs in the 3rd quarter 22-11 with a 46-29 lead heading to the final frame.

With Springs going box and one on Sr. Kellen Laird he would get others involved sharing the ball making some nifty passes for six assist and ended with 10 points.

With the offense moving the ball better along with penetration by Laird with some nifty passes, better shots were taken and made.  Three players hit triples Culbertson, Blevins and Josh Brubaker.  Brinkley had 4 points and Laird 5 on two lay-ups, one and old fashion three, to blow the game open.

The offense was boosted in the 4th quarter by Culbertson hitting 3 consecutive triples, then a couple of drives to the rim for buckets, and another trey for a total of six in the game, he would end the game with 30 points.

Coach Blevins was able to sub out and get everyone into the game as the Blazers torched  Springs for a 68-36 win.

Freshman Kaeden Culbertson banging home a triple, one of six in the game as the freshman put up 30 points in win over Yellow Springs.

After the game the obvious question to coach Andy Blevins was when freshman Kaeden Culbertson emerged as scoring threat, like he did against Yellow Springs.

“Kaeden’s a great kid and has  played really well for us in a couple varsity games this year. He played JV all year as our starting point guard … but the whole goal behind this year was getting his ball handling and him ready for varsity basketball. As a freshman, coming in early, he was getting shoved around, pushed around. He wasn't quick enough, he wasn't strong enough. As you can see, he's made some strides. He's always been a pure shooter, but we're trying to prepare the rest of his game. He's in the gym probably about five days a week. So, he's a workhorse,”

That extra scorer gives the Blazers other options for when teams like Yellow Springs play a box and one to stop Kellen Laird as they did.

“We've been streaky shooting from three all year, hit and miss, so for us to have somebody come in was paramount to everything we got the rest of the game, because they couldn't just pack it in. They had to come out and guard. And even when it wasn't him, it's another kid catching, it opens a lot of stuff up for us,’ Blevins stated.

While the offense got going in 2nd half the biggest thing coach Blevins wanted out of his kids was pride, competitive fire, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

Jr. Jonah Brinkley used his size and strength to score inside and provide a capable back-up for Blevins in foul trouble. 

“Coming in here the goal is we've got to guard better. Instead, we came out and showed like what we've been doing the last three or four games where we've not played quality man to man defense.  We're letting guys drive by and there's no help side there. So, we really ripped them a little bit at halftime and challenge them. That was where I think that effort came from, in the second half. Have some pride for what's on your chest. You're trying to win the first tournament game since Cameron Harrison left the program five years ago. And I think they responded pretty well,” Blevins praised.

Blevins also shared more about the unselfishness of his senior point guard Kellen Laird who didn’t sulk or try to force things when they boxed him.  Instead, he shared the ball with some riveting passing and was the biggest cheerleader for freshman guard Culbertson.

“He (Kellen) was the biggest guy on the bench yelling for him (Culbertson).  Kaeden actually tied national trails record three pointers in a game tonight and they were yelling at me there with 30 seconds go, let him break it. And I'm like, No, we're done here. But it's good to see a guy like Kellen, a four-year starter, a senior, come in and be a huge advocate and a great teammate for a kid that's a freshman that's preaching to the type of culture we're trying to build here,” Blevins stated

Blevins can point to his own son senior Tayden Blevins as well for also staying involved after sitting much of the first half in foul trouble and a quick third foul in third quarter effecting his minutes on the floor.

“After he got that third one, I brought him off, had just a brief conversation. Look, it doesn’t matter, we need you to win this basketball game. He said, Okay, I got you and came back in and played some good minutes late third and early fourth quarter,” Dad said.

While Tayden was on the bench the Blazers had a couple of players ready to fill the spot, junior Jordan and Grady Ott and they filled their role well and Tayden was their biggest cheerleader.

Sophomore Grady Ott playing basketball for the first time since 6th grade give the Blazers an athletic forward and solid paint defender.

“Obviously, all year he’s been big to what we do, so I was happy to see both of them respond well. Jonah played a heck of game, had some nice cuts, finishing the basketball and rebounding. For Grady it’s his first time playing basketball since sixth grade he made some nice rebounds and contested shots. I think those guys carried the load sufficiently enough,” Blevins commended.

The tournament win, the first for coach Blevins as a boys varsity coach and also for National Trail was big for a few reasons.

“I think it’s a really big deal for what we're trying to build. We’re trying to get kids to buy into stuff they haven't bought into at National Trail in a long time. I think it helps us move forward, that these kids are like, Okay, we are playing for something in January, February and into March. This isn't just show up, mid-January and we're just hanging around till the end when baseball season starts, right?

“So, I want the kids to be excited. Usually, when you win, kids get excited and that's a good byproduct,” Blevins concluded.

The two senior leaders exuded the excitement eager to teach and share their wisdom, part of the culture coach talked about.  As for the future … well it looks good as well and it doesn’t hurt to have a freshman off the bench score 30 points either, talk about a by-product.

Box Score

Score by Quarter
12 … 14 … 22 .. 20 – 68 National Trail
07 … 11 … 11 … 07 – 36 Yellow Springs

Team Scoring

NT – Brinley 0-3-1/2 – 7, Cordle 0-1-0/0 – 2, Culbertson 6-3-6/6 – 30, Ott 0-1-1/2 – 3, Lipps 0-1-0/0 – 2, Blevins 1-2-0/0 – 7, Laird 1-2-3/3 – 10, Brubaker 1-0-2/2 – 5, Totals 9-14-13/15 - 68

YS – Reed 0-2-0/0 –4, Buster 1-2-0/0 – 7, Barker 0-3-0/0 – 6, Mikesell 1-2-1/1 – 8, Lewis 0-0-3/4 – 3, Horvath 0-1-0/0 – 2, Sajabi 0-2-1/2 – 5, Schultz 0-0-0/1 – 1, Totals 2-12 -6/9 - 36

The Blazer cheerleaders on the floor at Troy High School.
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Dixie seniors Collin Day and Brayden Puckett had solid games in their last career game as they leave the floor for the last time. 

Story and Photos by Dale Barger

TROY – The Dixie boys basketball team came up short 74-65 to Northeastern in the OHSAA DVI sectional tournament.  

Dixie started their 2025-26 season off with a win at Northeastern 52-47 and ironically found themselves paired up in their first game of the post season tournament.

After getting off to a good start on back-to-back triples: one by senior Collin Day, and the other freshman Mason Simonton, was followed up by a fast break lay-up from senior Brayden Puckett, the Hounds were up 8-4 and looked poised for a good game.

The Jets though took flight for a 12-point run that was aided by a number of miscues and turnovers for a 16-8 lead before Day knocked down a free throw to stop the run.

From that point Dixie would play catch-up the rest of the way. They trailed 18-12 after one with quarter, with Puckett scoring 5, Day 4 and Simonton 3.

Senior Collin Day hits a triple and scored 10 points in his last game as a Greyhound.

After the Jets expanded their lead to 40-29 in the 2nd period, Dixie fought their way back over the last minute of the half to close the gap to 42-36.

In the 2nd quarter Simonton began to heat up with two triples and 8 points, sophomore Caleb Russell had 6, Day 4, freshman Gracen Vorhis 3, sophomore Aiden Hammond 2 and freshman Elijah Dillon 1 point.

It would be like pushing the greyhound bus uphill all night for Dixie, they just couldn’t get it on the downhill side. Allowing Northeastern to answer every run they had with their own.

After starting off with a bucket to close to 42-38, the Jets took off again making it 47-38 before Simonton hit a short one-hander in the lane.

Simonton carried the load in the 3rd quarter scoring 9 of the 11 points for Dixie but Northeastern was up 55-47 heading into the final stanza.

Freshman Mason Simenton carried Dixie in the 3rd quarter with 9 points and ended the game with 25. 

The Hounds made another run with Puckett hitting a triple and Simonton a two with a toe on the line and it was now 55-52.  Moments later Simonton converted an old-fashion three-point pay and they were within two, 57-55.

All that work only to see the Jets top two scorers answer as junior Caleb Smith connected on his 4th triple, he was game’s high scorer with 27.  Senior Rhett Lough followed with a bucket at the rim, he had 20 points and Northeastern was back up 62-55.

Dixie had a few opportunities but couldn’t get stops and with the hounds trailing by 6, 68-62 with under a minute to play coach Nick Worley subbed out his two seniors.  Both Brayden Puckett and Collin day received recognition from their fans and teammates as they left the court for the last time in their careers.

Northeastern would win the game 74-65 ending Dixie’s season.

Senior Brayden Puckett holds the follow through in what would be his last made free throw in his career.  He scored 15 points for Dixie.

Both Seniors Brayden Puckett 15 and Collin Day 10 points played well in their last game and drew praise from coach Worley.

“Brayden is a four-year basketball player for us.  Last year he came off the bench and was hitting shots and towards the end of the year he really rattled off some good games, even had a couple 20-point games,” Worley exclaimed.

“He was stuck behind a lot of seniors, so the playing time wasn't really probably where he wanted it, but this year, he came right into a leadership role.

“Collin’s been more of a quiet kid, but he'll do anything for you. He'll bust his butt in practice,  100% nonstop,” Worley applauded.

“He can shoot it as well. He had to play a little big and rebound for us this year due to our size.  Of course he's a really good cross-country runner too,” Worley added.

“Both boys came in and took leadership roles, so all these freshmen and sophomores love them. And I can only imagine how hard it was for those two boys to play with a bunch of younger kids, and the age difference, it's hard, you know, we have basically two kids that can drive to practice so everybody else is getting dropped off,” Worley explained.

“I’m going to miss both of them and I appreciate everything they've done for us,” Worley stated.

Sophomore Aiden Hammond is one of the young talented player Coach Nick Worley is excited to have returning next year. 

For Dixie it might not be the season they all hoped for with a final record of 5-17 … but with just two seniors graduating, no juniors, 5 sophomores and 4 freshman returning those minutes played will be valuable come next season.

The future looks good with some young dynamic players that include freshman Mason Simonton who had 25 in the game and sophomore guard Aiden Hammond who is a slasher and can get to the rim to score in multiple ways, and sophomore Caleb Russell who had 9 points in the game, averaged 12 a game to lead the team this year. 

For coach Worley that is more than enough to work with going forward but he knows the guys have to put in the work in the off season and get stronger as well.

“I’m really proud of our kids, they battled every night in, night out and we got a lot of young guys coming back, guys that can play, we just got to get in the weight room, and in the gym.

And I got a bunch of guys that are willing to do that. So, I'm pretty excited,” Worley concluded.

Box Score

Score by Quarter
12 … 24 … 11 … 18 – 65 Dixie
18 … 24 … 13 … 19 – 75 Northeastern

Team Scoring

DIX – Russell 0-3-3/3 – 9, Vorhis 1-0-0/0 – 3, Hammond 0-1-0/0 – 2, Day 1-3-1/2 – 10, Dillon 0-0-1/2 – 1, Simonton 4-5-3/3 – 25, Puckett 4-1-1/3 – 15, Totals 10-13-9/14 - 65

NE – Newman 0-3-1/6 – 7, Neer 0-4-2/3 – 10, Loush 0-10-0/0 – 20, Shockey 0-1-5/6 – 7, Smith 5-4-4/5 – 27, Ketchum 1-0-0/0 – 3, Totals 6-22 -12/18 – 74

Coach Nick Worley addresses his young team in a timeout. They battled but came up short in game with Northeastern.
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Mississinawa finished strong with 19 points in 4th quarter to defeat Botkins 48-33 and advance to District Championship in OHSAA DVII girls basketball.   

Story and Photos by Dale Barger

SIDNEY – Mississinawa Valley got off to a great start in their OHSAA DVII district semifinal game … then had to overcome turnovers and foul trouble by finishing strong for a 48-33 win over Botkins. 

They  advance to the District title game on Saturday February 28th verses #1 Middletown Christian. Ironically, it’s the same team they defeated in volleyball for a district championship last fall. Game time is 2pm and will be played at Tecumseh High School

It was the second meeting with Botkins this year, the Hawks won in the regular season 52-35. 

Mississinawa appeared to be on their way to duplicating that effort with a 12-7 advantage and a big momentum play from Makenna Hoggatt to end 1st quarter.

Makenna inbounded the ball with less than a second to go off a Botkins player, she stepped in caught the carom, then flicked a quick short corner shot at the buzzer for a 14-7 lead.

Makenna had five points in the quarter, Tenlee Woodbury a triple, Brooklynn and Cassidy Seubert along with Cora Hoggatt each had two points.

Freshman Cassidy Seubert gave the Hawks a boost and scored 8 points in the game.

Mississinawa continued to build the lead in the second frame with Brooklyn and Cassidy Seubert both scoring four points each in the paint for a 22-9 lead by the five-minute mark.

The Hawks however plagued by fouls with Paige Emrick already sitting on the bench, and midway of 2nd quarter Brooklynn Seubert joined her, with two fouls each.

Botkins seized the moment cutting the margin by getting to the free throw line for four points, a triple and lay-up to trail 24-16 at the break.

Lilly Geesaman was called into action and was able to convert on this lay-up in a win over Botkins.

Botkins scored first in the 3rd quarter, and the deficit just 6 points, 24-18. 

They pressured Mississinawa into 6 turnovers on their first 7 possessions … fortunately they weren’t able to capitalize even with Brooklynn and Paige both on the bench with 3 fouls.

On the 7th possession Cassidy Seubert scored in the paint breaking a 6-minute Hawks scoring drought going back into the 2nd quarter.

It would be a dogfight the remainder of the period that Botkins won 10-5 to trail by 3 points, 29-26 heading into the final stanza.

The unrecognizable Mississinawa team in the 3rd quarter showed up and out in the 4th and did it by being more aggressive on defense and offense.

Cora Hoggatt scored 3 straight possessions to help Hawks get going in 4th quarter. 

They attacked Botkins defense and got a quick bucket from Brooklynn in the paint, then back-to-back Cora Hoggatt lay-ups to push the lead to 35-26 at 5:41 with Botkins needing a timeout.

Mississinawa defense yielded a turnover resulting in a fast break lay-up from Cora for a double-digit lead.

But Mississinawa continued to battle themselves as Brooklynn took a seat with her 4th foul and Tenlee Woodbury was poked in the eye the Hawks would have to fly without them.

Botkins gave themselves a shot in the arm on a triple and a free throw with the score under double digits 37-30.

Makenna hits a big corner three late to give Mississinawa breathing room.

MV responded with Emrick driving baseline then passing opposite corner to Makenna Hoggatt, who drained a trey to go back up 40-30 to give Mississinawa some breathing room with 2:14 left to play.

Brooklynn returned to the lineup and the Hawks were content to work clock.

Free throws are key in big games and Paige Emrick hits 6 late in the game for MV.

While Emrick was held scoreless from the field in the game she would net 6 free throws in the stretch and Brooklynn scored on a lay-up to ice the game 48-35.

In the previous game between the two schools the outcome was the same and the margin nearly the same as well.  However, in the regular season contest Mississinawa was seemingly in control throughout and this time they had to overcome adversity to earn it.

“We felt like coming in the only way we were going to lose is if we beat ourselves. And that's what we were starting to do, I give the girls credit, we didn't play well, but survived and advanced,” Mississinawa coach Kirk Comer said after the game.

“We couldn’t go into our half-court trap too early with Paige and Brooklynn in foul trouble but in the 4th quarter we did that along with going box and one on their good shooter,” Comer stated.

Brooklynn Seubert WOAC Player of Year gets to the rim for two of her 10 points.

The Hawks aggressive defense led to more assertive offense and built their confidence and none bigger than the three pointer from Makenna late in the 4th.

“We got timid, playing on our heels, but then started attacking and good things started happening.  We're up seven, and Makenna hits the corner 3 and it gave us a little breathing room.  Our girls hit some big ones when we had to have them,” Comer explained.

He also praised the play of some of his younger players who were thrust into action.

“Cassidy came in and gave us great minutes and scoring in the paint. We also got some good minutes to help with ball-handling from Lilly Geesaman,” Comer commented.

It was an ugly win for Mississinawa, but a win is a win.  And while some of the adversity in the game was self-imposed via fouls and over twenty turnovers.  The  Mississinawa girls basketball team came to form in the fourth quarter and was the recognizable team we knew and hope to see again in their district championship game on Saturday.

Brooklynn Seubert and Cora Hoggatt led the way with 10 points each, Makenna Hoggatt had 9, Cassidy Seubert 8, Paige Emrick 6 and Lilly Geesaman 5.

Box Score

Score by Quarter

14 … 10 … 05 … 19 – 48 Mississinawa Valley
07 … 09 … 10 … 07 – 33 Botkins

Team Scoring

MV – Geesaman 1-1-0/0 – 5, M. Hoggatt 2-1-1/2 – 9, C. Seubert 0-3-2/2 – 8,
C. Hoggatt 0-5-0/0 – 10, Emerick 0-0-6/8 – 6, B. Seubert 0-5-0/2 – 10, Total 3-15-9/14 - 48

BOT – McPheron 0-1-0/2 – 2, Wendel 1-2-1/6 – 8, Egbert 1-0-8/10 – 11, Gerstner 2-0-0/0 – 6, Huelskamp 0-1-4/4 – 6, Totals 4-4-13/22 – 33

Mississinawa Coach Kirk Comer was relieved to see his team turn it up in 4th quarter and advance to the District Championship game on Saturday at Tecumseh High School in a 2pm a 2pm gave vs Middletown Christian.
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Ansonia team celebrates after closing out win over Legacy Christian to advance to the District Finals for the first time since 2009. (Dale Barger photo)

COVINGTON – Ansonia the 6th seed in the OHSAA DVI Girls Basketball Tournament defeated #3 Legacy Christian 48-35.  The Knights came into the game with an 18-5 record and Champions of the Metro Buckeye Conference.

The Tigers leaned on their defense holding Legacy to two points and scoreless for 6 minutes of the 2nd quarter and finished strong going a combined 17-for-20 from the free throw line to pull off the mild upset.

Sophomore Charlotte Barga set the tone early with two quick triples and her ability to get into the lane for scores as well.  She led with 16 points.

It was a tight game for both teams to start as they traded baskets and leads. Charlotte Barga hit two triples, and Olivia Creager had four points for the Tigers, but Legacy held a slim 11-10 lead at the end of the first period.

Ansonia got the lead 12-11 to start the second quarter on a baseline jumper from Autumn Best. The Knights responded at 6:36 to go up 13-12, but they wouldn’t score the remainder of the first half.

Sophomore Autumn Best off the bench hit two big jumpers in the first half.

The Tigers went on a 12-0 run in that span by sharing the basketball with five players scoring. Best added another bucket, Lydia Hahn had an old fashion 3-point play, Rose Barga a corner triple that had the Tiger crowd standing and cheering as Ansonia took a 24-13 lead at the break.

Legacy Christian known for being a physical team and able to apply pressure forcing turnovers turned up in 3rd quarter.  They came out and banged a triple to start and then forced a few turnovers to cut the margin to 24-18.

Senior Rose Barga although injured has made spot appearances in the last two games and hit a big corner three.

After spending most of the first half on the bench due to foul trouble London Reichert finished a left-handed hook for two and converted a 3-point play on the foul.  Hahn followed up with a lay-up to push the lead back out to 29-18 at the five-minute mark.

Holding a 35-25 lead Legacy’s Grace Breeding connected on a trey to help the Knights win the quarter 15-11 cutting the margin to 35-28 heading into the final stanza.

Legacy cut it to five, but fouled Reichert who made two free throws to stop the surge going up 37-30 at 6:38.  Three more free throws; one from Hahn and two from Creager made it 40-31.  Creager’s elbow jumper a few minutes later pushed it to 42-31at 3:21.

Sr. Lydia Hahn converts big old fashion 3-point play to help Tigers win over Legacy.

That’s when the Tigers spread the floor pulling the ball out making Legacy gamble for a possible lay-up, or foul Ansonia sending them to the free throw line.

”Once you get up double digits you want to make sure as a team you're getting layups or nothing. We told our girls to spread out our base offense against their 1-3-1,  pull it up higher so we can make the easier pass and if you got a driving lane or a back door cut for an easy layup, take it.  If not, take care of the basketball and make them come foul. And we we're shooting free throws the majority of the fourth quarter,” Custenborder stated.

Although London Reichert sat much of 1st half she would score 7 points in 2nd including going 5-5 from the free throw line.

Legacy was unable to break the Tigers whose free throw arsenal kept the Knights at distance the rest of the way by going 10-for-13 in the quarter and 17-for-20 in the game.

Ansonia went on to win the district semi-final game 48-35 to advance to the District Championship game on Saturday February 28th at Monroe High School.

They will take on #2 seed West Liberty Salem who ended Arcanum’s season in a 45-44 thriller.  Game time is now set for 11am.

After the game Custenborder talked about the importance of free throws and how the team has turned it around from being a 50% free throw shooting team.

“Free throws, the girls hate it, we've went from shooting 10 in practice to 20 in practice to 50 in practice. They say it takes too long to shoot 50, but honestly, since we switched our percentages have gone way up. At the start of the year, we were like right around 50% which is not very good for a varsity basketball team, so we've had to work on it more and towards the end of the year started to shoot them a lot better,” Custenborder stated.

Another key to the game was defense as the Tigers held a team scoring 54 points a game to just 35.

“Our girls do a great job of prepping for other teams. We expect them to know about 10 to 15 of the other team’s sets, and we do different stuff in all 10 to 15. It's not like just a base defense and they do a great job of executing that stuff,” Custenborder clarified.

“They have three girls that can just go get a bucket anytime they want so I’m very happy with our individual defense on them, and team defense for helping out on those drives and rotating on the backside.  When you can slow those three down you’re going to do pretty well,” Custenborder explained.

Rose Barga a key player sustained a late season injury but rather than dwell on that the Tigers had players step their game up to compensate.

Sophomore Shyann McKenna helped the Tigers handle the pressure and scored on this shot in the lane. 

“Our girls have stepped up for Rose. Lydia Hahn and Shyann McKenna have had to handle so much pressure the last couple games where Rose took a lot of that pressure away from them, really for their whole basketball careers. And they've done such a good job the last two games against teams that get after you, by taking care of the basketball,” Custenborder praised.

He also recognized the effort of senior Olivia Creager who had 12 points and sophomore Charlotte Barga who had 16 in the game.

"OC" came up big multiple times with timely shots to keep Legacy in their heels and scored 12 in the game.

“Those two “OC” (Olivia Creager) and Charlotte have stepped up their scoring a lot here as of late.  Charlotte's just been on a mission, she wants it bad, while still taking her outside shots, but she's getting to the hole so much more now, being a lot more aggressive, and that's just going to make her game so much better,” Custenborder added.

Ansonia won a district championship back in 1992 and their last appearance in a district final was in 2009.

Ansonia will need everybody at their best with reserves in practice and during the game when they play for a district championship on Saturday.

The Tigers are poised as the team has stepped up their game, and with the fans support and the energy from the reserve players in practice and on the bench to ignite them it might just be the edge they need to help bring home their 2nd ever district championship on Saturday.

Box Score

Score by Quarters

10 … 14 … 11 … 13 – 48 Ansonia (16-9) Record
11 … 02 … 15 … 07 – 35 Legacy Christian (18-6) Record

geTeam Scoring

ANS – C. Barga 2-1-8/8 – 16, Hahn 0-2-2/3 – 6, Best 0-2-0/0 – 4, R. Barga 1-0-0/0 – 3,
Creager 0-5-2/4 – 12, Reichert 0-1-5/5 – 7, Totals 3-11-17/20 – 48

LC – Allport 1-3-1/1 - 10, Dry 1-0-1/2 - 4, Combs 1-3-3/4 - 12, Breeding 1-3-0/0 - 9,
Totals 4-9-4/7 – 34

Ansonia coach Connor Custenborder gives "Mom" assistance coach Kim Custenborder a high five after defeating Legacy Christian to go to the district finals. 
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TV South's Aiden White dishes in the lane where the Panthers used their size in paint to pull out a 62-60 win over Riverside. (Dale Barger photo)

TROY – Twin Valley South survives and moves on in the OHSAA DVI boys basketball tournament with a 62-60 win over Riverside.

“I don't think we played very well. The guys agreed. We didn't play very well, but we still got the win. They (Riverside) played a great game.  We were able to survive and advance getting the first win in post season tournament for South since 2019,” said Coach Kerry Crouch who won the District 15, Division VI “Coach of the Year” in boys basketball.

South jumped out on top early on a 3-pointer from Parker Howard but the Panthers, were plagued by turnovers much of the quarter which allowed Riverside to jump out to a 15-9 first quarter lead.

Eleven of Riverside’s points came from sophomore Brody Osborne who was on the scouting report as a good three-point shooter. Osborne topped all scorers in the game with 28 points.

“Their number two (Osborne) is a great shooter, and we came in knowing he was going to shoot the ball every time he touched it, and he did, so we had to switch Trent on him in the second half,” Crouch stated.

Parker Howard opened game with a triple and scored late on this drive in the lane in TVS win over Riverside.

Trailing 19-13 In the second quarter South would work together as a team and started to feed the post and the tandem of Trent Ray and Lucas Barlow went to work as the Panthers went on a 14-0 run. 

The duo accounted for all 18 points in the quarter, Ray 10 points and Barlow 8 to surge ahead 27-19 … but the defense would give up a few easy ones at the end with the Panthers leading 27-25 at the break.

“One of the things we talked about before the game. And then during timeouts is we should be looking inside to Lucas, Trent, Parker … whoever's inside posting up,” Crouch said.

 
Lucas Barlow scores between two defenders, he asserted his size to score 20 points in the game.

That formula worked and continued into the 3rd quarter with Ray and Laiden Carver each scoring 6 points with South opening up a 43-34 lead heading into the final stanza.

The nine-point lead appeared to be the magic mark for Riverside to make a comeback or in this case a lack of focus maybe on Twin Valley South as the Pirates charged back closing the gap to 46-43 at the six-minute mark and would lend itself to an exciting final period and finish.

Over the next six minutes South was able to move ahead by four points and every time they did Riverside answered with a three as Osborne, Shoe and Hurley hit timely shots with the last one at 1:26 in the game drawing the Pirates to 56-55.

Riverside eventually tied the game on a turnover that led to a Sanford lay-up tying the game at 58 with 36 seconds left to play.

In need of a big play Trent Ray stepped up driving the lane, taking the bump and finishing an off-balance one-hander falling down drawing the foul.  He converted the old-fashion 3-point play for a 61-58 lead.

Trent Ray takes the bump and scores late.  He had 25 points to help the Panthers win their first tournament game since 2019. 

Riverside missed an opportunity to tie the game on a three-point attempt then fouled Aiden White.  White missed the first but made the more important second shot to make it a two-possession game with 3.5 seconds left to play leading 62-58.

Riverside would score at the buzzer on a lay-up, but Twin Valley South held on for the 62-60 tournament win.

Trent Ray scored 25 points to lead the Panthers … but also got a big game from Lucas Barlow with 20 points as well.

While South got the win coach Kerry Crouch had to remind his team that you can’t take any opponent lightly, especially in the tournament.

“We came in thinking that we are going to be a little better than we did. I mean, during timeouts, I kept saying we're getting seven, nine-point leads and then letting them back in,” Crouch stated.

“It’s because we're lazy, lackadaisical on the defensive end. They got some offensive rebounds they shouldn't get, even off foul shots. We had a couple turnovers, so we’ll get in practice this weekend and work at a lot on ball pressure and a lot of rebounding drills,” Crouch explained.

Crouch would like to see more consistency and focus throughout the game and praised the play of Barlow and Ray for finishing well inside.

Twin Valley South now moves on to play in second round where they will play #3 seed Springfield Emmanuel Christian at Troy High School on March 2nd at 7:30 pm.

Box Scores

Score by Quarters

09 … 18 … 16 … 19 – 62 Twin Valley South (13-10) Record
15 … 10 … 09 … 26 – 60 Riverside (6-17) Record

Team Scoring

TVS – Howard 1-1-0/2 – 5, White 0-0-1/2 – 1, Ritchie 0-2-1/2 – 5, Carver 0-3-0/0 – 6, Barlow 0-8-4/7 – 20, Ray 0-12-1/2 – 25, Totals 1-26-7/14 – 62

RIV – Osborne 3-7-5/8 – 28, Shoe 3-0-3/6 – 12, Sanford 1-2-0/0- 7, Mazareigos 0-4-0/0 – 8, Hurley 1-0-2/2 – 5, McCully 0-0-0/2 – 0, Totals 8-13-10/18 – 60


South cheerleaders on floor at Troy HS in Panthers tournament game with Riverside.
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