Halftime deficit dooms Maysville in loss to Meadowbrook

BELMONT – Maysville made the third-quarter push it needed, but third-seeded Meadowbrook did not wilt under the pressure Wednesday night.

The Colts withstood a 10-of-13 shooting performance by the Panthers in the quarter and marched on with a 65-46 victory in the Division II sectional at Ohio University-Eastern.

Meadowbrook advances to face the winner of Steubenville-Minerva at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Poor free-throw shooting — Maysville was 5-of-13 at the stripe in the first half — and the Colts' rebounding advantage had the 18th-seeded Panthers down 35-22 at halftime.

Maysville trimmed that deficit to seven three times in the third, including 51-44 on a Zack Smith 3-pointer with 43 seconds left in the quarter.

However, the Panthers (6-17) failed to score again until the 2:15 mark of the fourth, while the Colts had the first 14 points of the frame to seal it.

"I thought we played good enough to win," Maysville coach Chris Rider said. "We mixed up our defense, but their size led to offensive rebounds and our free-throw shooting hurt us. That has been the difference for us all year."

Meadowbrook (20-3), which finished with a 33-25 edge on the glass, forced seven turnovers and limited Maysville to 1-of-8 shooting in the fourth.

"Give Maysville credit, they made it a dog fight. We had to battle the whole way," Meadowbrook coach Keith Arnold said. "I felt we picked up our defensive energy late in the third, and we did a good job executing our offense over the last four and half minutes of the game."

Chase Roberts finished with 19 points, and Smith added nine for the Panthers, who graduate two players — Nate Vallee and Kameron Hartman.

Rider hopes improved numbers will aid the program's improvement.

"Since the first of the year, we've played everyone tough," he said. "Our (junior varsity) team was good with five sophomores and five freshmen. We still need to gain experience, but we have to use our numbers to our advantage."

Maysville overcame a 6-0 deficit to open the game and led 14-12 after a 3 by Roberts. However, Parker Black answered with a 3 to put the Colts up 15-14 after one.

Three straight putbacks sparked a 12-2 Colts run to open the second, and a three-point play by Logan Wolverton capped that spurt, making it 27-16.

The Panthers didn't get closer than eight the remainder of the first half, while Joe Carpenter and David Jirles had late hoops to put Meadowbrook up 13 at the break.

Isaiah Green finished with 18 points and Black added 12 for the Colts, who were 26-of-50 from the field with 12 turnovers.

Maysville finished 19-of-41 shooting, including 3-of-10 from behind the arc, and committed 19 turnovers.

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