Bethel-Tate’s Talon Armacost follows through on a shot for the Tigers against New Richmond. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond’s Grant Hess lines up a shot for the Lions against Bethel-Tate. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond’s Rylan Utter brings the ball upcourt for the Lions against Bethel-Tate. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
Bethel-Tate’s Zach Marlow drives to the basket against New Richmond. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
A strong effort at both ends of the court in the third quarter pushed the New Richmond Lions to a 44-35 win over Bethel-Tate on Tuesday, December 6.
The Lions outscored the Tigers 16-7 in the third period, turning a 21-20 lead into a 37-27 advantage to improve to 3-0 on the season. Bethel-Tate dropped to 2-1 with the loss.
“First three minutes of the third quarter, they came out and jumped on us,” Bethel-Tate head coach Tom Jutze said. “That was kind of the difference in the ballgame.”
New Richmond head coach Eric Thompson praised his players for how they were able to find a way to win.
“Our guys played really hard,” Thompson said. “One of the things I think our team does really well is finding ways to win the games. It’s not always the prettiest. We struggled from the free-throw line and we missed a couple easy bunnies at the rim in the fourth quarter, but our guys found a way.”
The Tigers led 13-12 after one period on a wild three-point shot from Zach Marlow, who collected a loose ball near the sideline and fired up a shot off one foot. He swished it and the Tigers took a slim lead into the second quarter.
New Richmond outscored the Tigers 9-7 in the second quarter, taking a one-point lead on a free-throw by Tanner Skaggs with no time left in the half.
They then started the third quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 30-22 advantage midway through the third. The Lions only scored 23 points in the second half but Bethel-Tate managed just 15 over that same span.
“We just couldn’t generate some halfcourt offense,” Jutze said. “Giving up 44, 45 should win you a high school game. We just couldn’t generate points tonight.”
The Lions’ defense played a large role in that lack of success, according to Thompson.
“Our defense is really, really good,” Thompson said. “It keeps us in games. That’s the second game out of three we’ve held opponents under 40 points. We really guard the ball well and we play hard defensively.”
New Richmond switched things up offensively in the second half and that led to a bit more offensive output.
“We made some adjustments on offense to make sure we kept Bethel on their toes defensively,” Thompson said. “Defensively, I told them we have to rebound. I thought we did a great job on the two bigs for Bethel who are really good, some of the best bis in the league. We did a really good job crowding the floor on them, making it tough.”
Rylan Utter led the team with 16 points. He also had eight rebounds. Grant Hess tallied nine points and four steals. Luke Abbott finished with six points and five boards.
Cooper Tidball tallied six points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists.
“I thought Rylan was really good tonight,” Thompson said. “Tidball had a ton of rebounds, Abbot, a senior captain for us, he keeps us in these games but it’s always a team effort. All 10 guys play, all 10 guys contribute.”
Caleb Stephen tallied four points. Nick Stoffel had two points. Skaggs finished with one point.
“Little details go a long way for us,” Thompson said. “Running our stuff a little bit crisper in the second half helped. We started out slow from deep. Our guys just settled in.”
Marlow led the Tigers with 12 points. Austin Brookenthal and Griffin Davis scored eight points each. Blake Brookenthal tallied three points and seven rebounds. Carter Vianello and Cody DeBell scored two points apiece.
“I thought we competed well,” Jutze said. “I thought we competed hard tonight. We fell short, we have a lot to clean up. It’s still early in the season.”
Both teams returned to league play on Friday, December 9. The Lions host Batavia while Bethel-Tate traveled to Williamsburg.
The Lions topped Batavia 61-50 behind a 23-point first quarter outburest. Utter tallied 15 points, Abbott scored 14 and dished out six assists while Stephen led all New Richmond scorers with 17. Hess tallied a double-double for the Lions with 10 rebounds and 10 points.
Bethel-Tate fell to Williamsburg 45-32 that same night. Austin Brookenthal had 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks in that contest. Davis finished with six points.
New Richmond also traveled to Purcell Marian on December 10 for a non-league tilt.
The Lions suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Cavaliers as a 22-9 rally in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough. New Richmond fell to the hosts 56-55.
Abbott scored 16 points in that game. Utter finished with 13 and Stephen tallied 11.
The Lions are scheduled to visit Clinton-Massie on Friday, December 16. Bethel-Tate hosts Felicity that same night.