BOYS

Alder controls second half in win at River Valley

Jonathan Alder outscored River Valley 45-23 in the second half of a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Red Division win.

Rob McCurdy
Reporter

CALEDONIA - A five-point possession proved to be the difference maker Friday night.

With Jonathan Alder leading 25-24 just 80 seconds into the second half, 6-6 junior post Trey Pugh drove to the basket for a layup and foul. The Pioneers rebounded his missed free throw and kicked it out to senior Jon Peters who stroked a 3-pointer for a 30-24 edge.

River Valley's Carson Parsell would try to answer with a layup from Dustin Johns, but that would be all the closer the Vikings would get. Alder scored on seven of its last eight possessions of the third quarter and cruised to a 68-45 road victory in a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Red Division game.

"We said at halftime it was a 23-22 game and we got a lot of shots. We just didn't make a lot of shots, a lot of quality shots," Alder coach Brent Cahill said. "We told our kids to keep playing. The third quarter we were really efficient and made a high percentage of shots and tough shots.

"It kind of separated from there."

The Pioneers (16-4, 10-2) made 10 of 18 shots in the third period and outscored the Vikings 23-13 in the stretch. Alder then started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run in the first 2:10 to essentially put it away.

"Jonathan Alder really outplayed us for four quarters tonight even though halftime was fairly close. It seemed like we were playing from behind and had a chance early in the third, but they separated pretty quickly in the second half and dominated it," RV coach Steve Comstock said.

Alder shot 50 percent for the game and made 16 of 28 shots in the second half. Meanwhile, RV (11-8, 5-7) struggled all night offensively, shooting 31 percent. Alder also owned a 41-30 edge on the boards, getting 11 points on second chances.

Peters led Alder with 18 points, while Pugh added 17 points and 14 rebounds, and the team's leading scorer Andrew Koenig had 16 points.

The Pioneers put the clamps on the MOAC's leading scorer Danyon Hempy, as the 6-4 senior struggled to get his jump shot going. Hempy still finished with a game-high 25, points but was just 1 of 9 from the arc and 6 of 11 from the foul line.

"When Danyon doesn't come up with a superb game, we're going to struggle, and this was not his best game by far," Comstock said. "For the first time in two years he didn't shoot well."

Hempy added nine rebounds and a pair of assists, while 5-8 junior guard Hayden Wallace put up nine points with a pair of assists. Jax Harville had six rebounds.

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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Stat Book

Jonathan Alder 15 8 23 22 - 68

River Valley 9 13 13 10 - 45

JA: Cal Duckworth 0 1 1, Tanner Killian 2 1 5, Jaron Wheelbarger 0 2 2, Trey Pugh 6 5 17, Jon Peters 6 1 18, Jacob Koenig 2 2 7, Matt Seimer 1 0 2, Andrew Koenig 7 1 16. 24-48 FG, 13-25 FT, 7 3-pointers (Peters 5, J. Koenig, A. Koenig), Rebounds 41 (Pugh 14), Turnovers 9, Record 16-4, 10-2.

RV: Hayden Wallace 4 0 9, Jax Harville 2 0 4, Carson Parsell 2 0 4, Dustin Johns 0 3 3, Danyon Hempy 9 6 25. 17-54 FG, 9-16 FT, 2 3-pointers (Wallace, Hempy), Rebounds 30 (Hempy 9), Turnovers10. Record 11-8, 5-7.