Goshen and New Richmond combined to score 102 points in the second half of the Lions’ 76-73 win over the Warriors at home on Friday, December 6, 2019.
The second half was a far cry from the first two quarters of play, in which the teams finished with 57 total points. New Richmond jumped ahead early and led 16-10 after one quarter. Goshen trimmed that lead to 26-21 at halftime.
The third period was all Lions. New Richmond dropped 30 points on the Warriors, holding Goshen to just 14 in the period.
The script flipped in the fourth quarter, as Josh Hice and the Warriors exploded for 38 points. Hice connected on several three-point shots in the period, scoring 18 points in that quarter alone to help pull Goshen back into the game.
“He was huge for us,” Goshen head coach Brandon Baker said. “All 18 were while he was just exhausted. We had played him so much in the game, and we cranked up the press and he’s a big part of that. Josh made some big plays.”
Baker also praised Bradley Moore for his play in the period. Moore finished the game with eight points overall off the bench.
“He hasn’t been getting the minutes that he wants, and that happens to a lot of people,” Baker said. “He was patient and waited. We needed him today, and he stepped up for us and played great.”
New Richmond head coach Brian McMonigle said the Lions simply started to run out of gas a bit in the fourth quarter after the team’s big third period.
“We got a little tired,” McMonigle said. “We were trying to find a good rotation in the third quarter and it was working and they were on such a roll, we just kind of rolled with it. Sone of our guys got tired, our defense stopped playing hard and they took advantage of it.”
New Richmond got a boost from two key players. Freshman Evan Ipsaro continued the solid start to his varsity career, scoring 22 points and collecting five steals while dishing out six assists. Teammate Kadin Pollard dropped 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds off the Lions’ bench.
“We play good team basketball,” McMonigle said. “Our guys are very unselfish. When we get in transition, they know how to finish. Both Ipsaro brothers hit their free throws at the end to seal the win, that’s clutch too.”
The Lions finished 26 of 33 from the free-throw line in the game against the Warriors. Goshen shot 16 of 23 from the line and 7 of 19 from behind the three-point line as the team, yet again, had to rally from an early deficit.
“It’s concerning that in our last scrimmage and our first three games, we’ve had a poor first quarter,” Baker said. “We’ve got to fix that. We got a few wins early by getting down and pressing our way back into it, and I told the guys, ‘That’s not always going to work.’”
Hice led all scorers with 28 points. Jack Webster tallied 18, with Hunter Slusher scoring 14. In addition to Ipsaro and Pollard, New Richmond got 11 points from Shep Lansaw and 10 from Will Hess. John Ipsaro tallied nine, with Justin Ackerman adding eight to help the Lions to a key win to start the season.
“It’s huge,” McMonigle said. “They’re such a good team, starting off the second game of the year, that’s kind of rough. You’d like a couple games to do that, but it is what it is. Everybody was playing league games tonight, everybody was in that situation. For us to pull it out, that’s huge.”
Baker was just as complimentary of both the Lions and the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference’s American Division as a whole.
“This league is a bloodbath,” Baker said. “I told the guys, ‘Get ready for this every night. Every Friday, that’s what this is going to be like.’ New Richmond is a good team, and they played well.”
Both teams are preparing for league contests on Friday, December 13. Goshen is scheduled to host Western Brown, while the Lions are slated to travel to Batavia. Both games are scheduled to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m.