Jan 4, 2025
FLYING THROUGH THE AIR — Big Red’s Che’mier Adams goes up to put in a layup past Catholic Central’s Camden Bradley and Kolbe Krupp during Friday night’s game inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium. Big Red won the battle of once-beaten city rivals for it’s eighth-straight victory, 69-37. – Andrew Grimm
STEUBENVILLE — The formula for success is simple for Big Red — get after it on the defensive end and share the ball on the offensive end.
They’ve done both consistently on what is now an eight-game winning streak.
The latest of those consecutive victories again came in impressive fashion Friday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium by the tune of a 69-37 victory over city rival Catholic Central. Both teams entered the game on winning streaks and with just one loss.
“It started off back and forth a little bit, when our defense picked up we grew the lead,” Big Red head coach Mike Haney said. “The defense started getting quick steals and layups then we started making our 3s. The kids played hard and got after it.
“When we’re playing the way we want to, it starts on the defensive end. We get after, go full-court and get turnovers and layups.”
On the defensive end, forced turnovers and rebounds got the ball back up the floor in a hurry, and once it was on the offensive end, Big Red (8-1) again had four players reach double figures in the scorebook.
Aiden Davis hit four 3-pointers and netted a game-high 18 points, Will Taylor was close behind with 16, Tre Wiggins netted 15 and Santino Haney tallied 12 to round out the balanced attack.
“What I liked about it, too, was guys were sharing the basketball well,” coach Haney said. “Guys would look like they were going up to shoot and get it out to a guy that was wide open. That’s good to see as coaches, guys getting after it on defense and sharing the ball.
“It was a great atmosphere in here, it doesn’t get much better. It’s the city championship, these guys know each other and they’re a really good team.”
For Catholic Central (9-2), despite the similar records, it was expected to be a big challenge, and it indeed was. A challenge head coach Don Ogden hopes will help his group become even stronger as the season works into the second half.
“They are a very good team, they’re very athletic and just good basketball players,” Ogden said. “We wish them luck the rest of the year. Playing a team like that makes it real apparent what your weaknesses are and what you need to work on. Based on tonight, there’s a lot to work on, but that’s OK. The guys played hard.
“We’re a D7 team going up against a D3 team that’s loaded, hat’s off to them. When we get back playing at our level, I think we’ll be OK.”
The Crusaders were led by Benji Rook with 10 points, while Tommy Pergi netted nine and Camden Bradley and Andrew Rohde each tallied six.
Big Red opened a 24-10 lead after one and pushed the advantage to 42-20 at the break before pulling away even further with a big third quarter.
UP NEXT
Big Red: Was slated to host River View Saturday afternoon before hosting Wheeling Park in a key OVAC Class 5A matchup on Tuesday.
Central: Travels to Buckeye Local on Tuesday before host Bridgeport on Thursday. That game was originally scheduled for Friday but moved up a day.
Big Red 69, Catholic Central 37
BR 24-18-23-4 – 69
CC 10-10-9-8 – 37
BIG RED (8-1): Davis 6 2-2 18; Haney 5 2-3 12; Wiggins 6 1-1 15; Bowers 1 1-2 4; Taylor 8 0-0 16; Adams 1 0-0 2; Simon 1 0-0 2; Hinton 0 0-0 0; Boni 0 0-0 0; Rea 0 0-0 0; Gulan 0 0-0 0; Moore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28, 6-8; 69.
CENTRAL (9-2): Rook 3 2-2 10; Mitchell 1 1-2 3; Mihalyo 0 0-0 0; Krupp 1 0-0 2; Pergi 4 1-4 9; Rohde 2 2-5 6; Bradley 3 0-0 6; Poulin 0 1-2 1; Rambsel 0 0-0 0; Bier 0 0-0 0; McInnis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14, 7-15; 37.
3-POINT GOALS: Big Red 7 (Davis 4, Wiggins 2, Bowers); Central 2 (Rook 2).
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