ALEXANDER (4-7)
Coming off a streak that saw the Spartans lose five in a row, Alexander has caught the winning bug and has defeated its past two opponents.
After blowing out Nelsonville-York last week in a surprising outcome, the Spartans kept the momentum alive by defeating River Valley Tuesday, perhaps keeping their season alive as well.
“We’ve progressively gotten better each day during the season, and it’s nice to get two in a row,” Alexander coach Blaine Gabriel said.
Alexander defeated the Raiders 43-32 in a game that saw one of the Spartans’ few seniors, Jake Grey, score 18 points.
“It was back and forth the whole game, and no team played super great in the first half,” Gabriel said. “We were able to get some kids to step up and make some foul shots and easy layups.”
Tuesday’s contest against River Valley was Alexander’s last home game before the Spartans head on a four-game road trip, including a makeup game against Athens.
“We’ll find out what kind of team we really have on the road. Plus, we play nine games in the next 30 days, so we’ll find out where we’re at,” Gabriel said.
— Paul Meara
pm312207@ohiou.edu
ATHENS (5-7)
The Athens High School boys basketball team, losers of five in a row, are looking to get back on track this Friday with a road contest against Wellston.
Wellston (6-2) has won five in a row, surpassing Athens’ previous record of 5-2 before its five-game skid. The Bulldogs beat the Golden Rockets at home by a score of 57-46 Dec. 13, but this contest will be a little bit different.
Wellston is playing much better basketball now, and the game is going to be played in Wellston’s middle-school gym because of incomplete repairs on the high-school gym. The combination of the two is something that Athens coach Jeff Skinner said his team is not looking forward to.
“They are playing very well right now, and we have to go on the road,” Skinner said. “And as if that is not bad enough, we have to play them in their middle-school gym.”
If Athens is going to break out of this funk, Skinner said his team would have to improve its ball handling against the pressure defense that comes with tough competition. He also said the team is looking forward to the challenge.
“We take it one day at a time,” Skinner said. “We have a young and inexperienced team playing a challenging schedule. We love the challenge, but with it comes the possibility of these types of stretches. We have to continue to learn and improve.”
— Austin Stahl
as506610@ohiou.edu
NELSONVILLE-YORK (7-5)
Unfortunately for the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes, their game this Friday at division-leader Vinton County comes at an inopportune time.
The Buckeyes have lost two consecutive games after running off five consecutive wins, and stumble into Friday’s game in McArthur against the Vikings with a 2-2 record in the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio division.
“We have to start playing with the confidence we had before (the Alexander game),” Nelsonville-York coach Jay Kline said. “A season can have lots of ups and downs, so we just need to turn it around as soon as we can.”
Vinton County, which has already beaten Nelsonville-York this season, is undefeated in the TVC at 5-0. The Vikings sit three games ahead of a slew of teams tied for second place.
Nelsonville-York committed more than 20 turnovers in both recent losses, and hit just one 3-pointer against Logan Tuesday night. The Buckeyes will need better shooting and ball handling if they hope to pull off the upset against Vinton County.
— Nathan Cotton
nc606411@ohiou.edu
