Gehlken's hot 3rd quarter leads Bishops past River View
ZANESVILLE - At halftime, the River View boys basketball team trailed Bishop Rosecrans by 15 points.
Dominic Mohr had 21 points for Rosecrans, but the game was far from over. The Black Bears were 8 of 17 from the field, Jonathan Dart was controlling the inside with 10 points, and despite the deficit at the half, they were more than capable of getting back into the game.
Then Aaron Gehlken took over.
Travis Johnston hit two 3-pointers to start the half. But Gehlken, who moved to fourth on the Rosecrans all-time scoring list with a game-high 29, scored 17 points in the third quarter on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. That third quarter performance pushed the Bishops to a 72-39 win over the Black Bears.
"We said, we have to keep him in front, because he is really dangerous when he drives and can kick it to other people, but he can shoot, so you have to get a hand off. He can just do so many things. To be honest, we have a hard time stopping him, and so does everybody else. When a guys is hot like that, you just have to hope he misses," River View coach Jason Trout said.
Coach Todd Rock and the Rosecrans' coaching staff spoke to their players about pushing the basketball and getting good looks. That's what the Bishops got, as they were 11 of 15 in the third, with six of them being 3s.
"We moved the ball really well, and it flowed really well," Gehlken said. "The main thing is that everybody around me can shoot, and that makes it a lot easier because they don't key on me."
The Bishops ended the third with a 62-32 lead, and from there the game was over, despite another eight minutes that needed to be played.
"(Gehlken) just went unconscious in the second half," River View coach Jason Trout said. "Even when we had a guy on him, he was making a setback 3. I told the kids there isn't much they can do if he is making those. He is a really nice player."
In the first half, however, River View was in the game, although the score may not show it. The Black Bears were scoring inside and doing what they wanted on defense, keeping both Michael Fisher and Aaron Gelhken in check.
"We wanted to get in into Dart, then once we get a couple from him, we went go back to Jake a couple and that tends to open things up for us," Trout said. "We did a really good job getting the ball in, attacking in the fast break and got some good buckets."
"We were pretty happy about the way we were playing defensively," he said.
The difference in the first half was senior Dominic Mohr, who was averaging 8.7 points per game entering Tuesday's game. His 21-point performance in the first half kept the team in the driver's seat.
"We tell him every day at practice, 'You have to step up.' He has great moves inside, he can shoot from the outside, and tonight was just an example of how he did that. We told them it's going to depend on these other guys on how far we go in the tournament. We can be dangerous," Rock said.
Rosecrans will host Claymont on Friday for Senior Night, while River View will travel to Coshocton for the final game of its county rivalry.
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Stat book
River View 12-8-12-7 — 39
Bishop Rosecrans 18-17-27-10 — 72
River View: 17-44 FG, 3-8 FT, 2-10 3pt. (Brillhart 1) 26 rebounds (Dart 8), 11 turnovers, 6 Assists, Steals 1 (Belangia 1). Scoring: Dart 6 0-3, 12, Brillhart 3 2-2, 9, Belangia 3 0-0 7, Hocter 2 0-0 4, Gossman 1 1-2 3, Orillion 1 0-1 2, Vickers 1 0-0 2
Rosecrans: 27-54 FG, 9-15 FT, 9-25 3pt. (Gehlken 5) 35 rebounds (Hagy 5), 5 turnovers, 13 Assists, Steals 9. Scoring: Gehlken 9 6-7 29, Mohr 10 3-5, Johnston 2 0-0 6, Clifford 2 0-2 4, Fisher 2 0-0 4, Nash 1 0-0 2.