Mount Gilead’s Rowan Fitzpatrick goes up for a basket in his team’s Friday win over Grandview Heights.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
Timely scoring runs boosted the Mount Gilead boys’ basketball team past visiting Grandview Heights in a non-league contest on Friday night.
In their 53-47 win, the Indians finished the first quarter on an 8-0 run. They would add a seven-point run in the second quarter and one of nine points in the third, as they were able to answer the Bobcats every time they mounted a challenge.
“I think our defense was really improved tonight by the energy of the players,” said head coach Nathan Davis. That was definitely a win by them because they brought the energy tonight. We moved the ball very well. When we needed a score, we got a score.”
Early in the game, a 5-0 spurt by the visitors staked them to a 10-5 lead with 4:31 remaining in the opening period. However, the Indian defense would shut out their opponents over the rest of the quarter, allowing them to gain the lead.
Carson Trainer started Mount Gilead’s run with a basket. After a free throw from Hayden Somerlot, the Indians finished the quarter with a Rowan Fitzpatrick three-pointer and a bucket from Jacob Wilt to hold a three-point advantage after eight minutes of action.
Grandview would score five straight to open the second quarter, but the Indians had another response, holding the Bobcats scoreless for nearly three minutes. During that span, they got a three-pointer by Fitzpatrick, as well as a pair of Cameron Vickers’ baskets.
This gave the team a 20-15 lead and they would continue to hold an advantage at 26-23 going into the half.
The Indians would gain some breathing room in the third quarter. After a Bobcat bucket at the 6:35 mark pulled the visitors within a 28-27 margin, the MG defense would clamp down on them, not allowing another score by the visitors in the period.
Mount Gilead would get nine straight points over that time to open up a 10-point lead. Somerlot drained a three-pointer, while Mitchell Sayers, Hunter Lister and Fitzpatrick all added baskets to make it a 37-27 lead.
The team would then maintain a comfortable advantage throughout the fourth quarter with both Trainer and Lister connecting twice from the field, Somerlot hitting another three-pointer and Fitzpatrick hitting 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to finish off the Bobcats.
Fitzpatrick finished the contest with 16 points to lead the Indians. Trainer tallied 10 points and Vickers finished with eight.
With a young team composed mostly of underclassmen, Davis likes how the early-season schedule has unfolded. Mount Gilead first three games, as well as five of their first six, all are at home, allowing his players to gel as a team in friendly confines.
“Comfort is going to be very big with us being very young,” he said. “Tonight, I thought we did everything to the T that we wanted them to do. We didn’t look like a young team tonight. It was a good team win from the coaches to the players and everyone.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
