Guards lead Hamilton past Big Red in Buckeye 8 Challenge
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Steubenville knew it had a size advantage on Hamilton Township.
However, the advantage at the guard spot lied with the Rangers, who are from suburban Columbus. And, most times -- including Saturday afternoon -- guard play wins.
That proved to be the case again inside the Ohio University Eastern Health and Physical Education Center where Hamilton Township posted a 62-50 victory in the sixth-annual Buckeye 8 Challenge.
"Give Hamilton Township credit," Big Red head coach Mike Haney said. "They played hard and got after it."
Trying to offset their guard play and penetration as well as trying to capitalizing on the usual shooting difficulties that OUE presents, Big Red came out in zone.
"We wanted to try to slow them down a little bit," Haney said.
It took the Rangers a quarter to adjust as Steubenville owned an 11-9 lead after one. That's a lead Haney felt could have -- and should have -- been bigger.
"I thought we had opportunities early, but we missed a lot of shots," Haney said. "We created some turnovers, but we didn't convert in transition."
Meanwhile, the Rangers started to solve the zone in the second quarter. They outscored Big Red, 20-8 and took control.
Hamilton extended its lead to as many as 18 in the third and seemingly kept Steubenville at bay from there. Big Red got the lead under 10 just twice in the fourth quarter and never any closer than nine.
"We went to the man to put a little bit more pressure on them and were able to make a run, so that's my fault for keeping us in the zone for so long," Haney admitted. "We've had some trouble scoring. We just need to execute better (offensively)."
Fueling the Rangers attack were senior Marquis Moore, who was named the game's MVP, and Ato Forson. Each had 18. Sean Moore added 14.
Steubenville, which is now off until hosting its annual holiday event on Friday and Saturday, was paced by senior Calvin Bickerstaff's 14. Junior Chase Zimmerman added 10 and senior Trillyun Jones went for nine.
Hamilton Township 62, Steubenville 50
HT 9-20-4-19 -- 62
S 11-8-4-17 -- 50
HAMILTON TWP (62): Mikell 2, 0-0 4; M. Moore 5, 7-10 18; S. Moore 5, 2-2 14; Forson 6, 4-7 17; Holt 2, 3-4 8; Larimer 0, 0-0 0; Totals: 20, 16-23 62. STEUBENVILLE (50): Jones 3, 1-2 9; Sawyer 2, 1-1 5; Bickerstaff 7, 0-2 14; Zimmerman 4, 2-2 10; McCoy 2, 1-4 5; Krause 1, 0-0 2; Jackson 0, 0-0 0; Kernahan 2, 0-1 5; Totals: 21, 5-12 50.
3-point goals: HT: M. Moore, S. Moore (2), Forson, Holt. S:Jones (2), Kernahan.