Gales can't sustain hot start against Grove City
LANCASTER — Riding a two-game winning streak, Lancaster couldn’t have asked for a better start Friday against visiting Grove City.
The Golden Gales continued their strong play and jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but they weren’t able to sustain their momentum as the Greyhounds quickly found their rhythm. They made four 3-pointers and finished the quarter by outscoring Lancaster 27-7.
That gave Grove City the breathing room it would need, even though Lancaster made a nice run in the fourth quarter by cutting the deficit to six, it wasn’t enough.
Grove City made 8-of-10 free throws in the final minute to keep the Gales at bay and went on to post a 70-59 Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division victory.
“Lancaster has been playing well and we have a lot of respect for them,” Grove City coach Greg Waits said. “They just beat a good Reynoldsburg team and we knew we would have our work cut out for us, but I thought our kids did a good job after the initial burst and played well the rest of the game.
“They outhustled us to start the game. We felt like our secondary break and the pressure we put on them, offensively, would be big. We knew we would be okay if we settled down and got some stops. We felt like we could beat them down the court and get some easy looks and I thought we did during that stretch in the first quarter.”
Rocky Jorgenson scored inside and Chandler Dawson connected on back-to-back 3s to give the Gales (7-14, 1-12) their quick 8-0 lead, but Lancaster then went ice cold, making only 2-of-12 the rest way in the first quarter.
On the other side, the Greyhounds (8-12, 3-10) were on fire. They made 9-of-13 shots in the first quarter, including four 3s from Sam Saxton.
“We started out well and we came out with great energy, and then Grove City hit shots and we knew they were capable of that,” Lancaster coach Luke Truex said. “We knew they had guys that could fill it up from the outside, and when they weren’t hitting shots, they were getting offensive rebounds.
“We dug ourselves a hole, but I give my guys credit for coming out in the second half and cutting it to six. We just couldn’t get that one stop to get it tighter and then they just extended it out.”
The Gales trailed by as many as 15 points in the second quarter and they cut the deficit to 39-27 at halftime. After a slow start to the third quarter, Lancaster caught fire, hitting five consecutive shots to cut the margin to 50-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
Trailing 60-48 with just over two minutes left, the Gales made one final push, thanks to Jacob Arter, who hit two 3s and scored off a turnover, which the Greyhounds’ lead to 62-56 with 1:17 left.
Grove City ended up hitting 22-of-27 free throws and out-rebounded the Gales 44-35. Anthony Tyree led all scorers as he finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds. He was also 10-for-12 at the free throw line. Saxton made five 3s and finished with 15.
Arter and Dawson led the Gales with 16 points each. Arter added eight rebounds, while Dawson had five rebounds and made four 3s. Coy Kitchen added nine points and 11 rebounds and four assists.
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Stat Book
Grove City 27-12-11-20 — 70
Lancaster 15-12-17-15 — 59
Grove City: Jones 2 8-10 12, Poole 3 1-2 7, Saxton 5 0-0 15, Tyree 6 10-12 22, Sammeth 3 2-2 9, Burgess 2 1-1 5. 21-54 FG, 22-27 FT, 6 3pt. (Saxton 5, Sammeth), 44 rebounds (Tyree 15, 14 turnovers, 12 Assists (Jones 7).
Lancaster: Walker 10-0 2, Arter 7 0-0 16, Kitchen 4 1-3 9, Gootee 3 0-0 7, Dawson 6 0-0 16, Wilson 0 2-2 2, Jorgenson 1 5-6 7. 22-63 FG, 8-11 FT, 7 3pt. (Dawson 4, Arter 2, Gootee), 35 rebounds (Kitchen 11), 14 turnovers, 13 Assists (Kitchen 4).