Galion falls to North Union
GALION — Galion may have just one win in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference this season, but North Union coach Brian Terrill sent out a warning to other teams in the conference about facing the Tigers in the second half of the season.
"Right now anyone that plays Galion needs to be scared, because Galion can knock anybody off right now," Terrill said. "I'm just glad to say we don't have to play them again this year."
Terrill's Wildcats were outplayed by the Tigers in the first quarter, with the hosts jumping out to a 19-10 lead at the first break. After that, the teams looked pretty even, with the score tied at halftime, and then the Wildcats taking a six-point advantage into the final period. North Union stretched the lead to double digits before Galion managed to cut it to as little as five, but the now 12-2 Wildcats stood pat and held on for a 10-point win.
"I think Galion is much improved, I think they matched up well with us today," Terrill said. "They played with us for three quarter last time, you add (Chase) Cook into the mix and they are a better team, they have a deeper bench. I was worried about our readiness. … I thought we played well in the endgame."
In the first game of the season, North Union won by a 21-point margin. This time, it was a completely different Galion team on the court. The team has not only grown throughout the season and added Cook to the starting lineup, but just before the game, coach Matt Valentine decided to switch up the offense and test something new out, admitting the team had "nothing to lose."
"We met today in shoot around and I was thinking last night how we could change things up and thought, the hell with it," Valentine said. "I was online and (found Teddy Dupay's style of offense). His idea is to spread the floor completely, get the ball in your best player's hand and go. If we're going to turn it over, we're going to turn it over attacking the hoop. That's what we did today and it worked out well … but we need to be in top-notch shape and we're not yet."
Valentine said he was pleased with how his team played and was most impressed by the defensive effort put forth against a tough North Union team. The one player the Tigers struggled to stop, though, was 6-foot-5 senior Ronnie Rayburn, who quietly scored 20 points.
"Ronnie is a very, very smart basketball player," Valentine said. "He's a senior and he plays like a senior in college. He's so smart, he's under control … and he passes the ball very well. He's very patient getting his points."
As for Terrill's words of warning to the rest of the league, Valentine said he takes it as a "huge compliment."
"I thought over the past couple of weeks we had taken a step backward, but tonight it was definitely a positive," Valentine said. "We had a couple guys step up that have played mostly JV lately. … Their energy in practice and in games has gotten better."
Rayburn led all scorers with his 20 points, while Harley Day added 11 more for the Wildcats. Galion was led by freshman Isaiah Alsip's 19 points, Jack McElligott chipped in 13. Turnovers hurt the Tigers, who finished with 20, 11 coming in the second half.
Galion is in action again Friday, welcoming Buckeye Valley to town with tipoff set for 6 p.m., North Union hosts Bucyrus in a non-conference game on Monday with tipoff also at 6 p.m.
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Twitter: @Zachary_Holden