Rangers girls improve to 12-3 on season with non-conference win against Botkins.
NEW KNOXVILLE — The New Knoxville Rangers boys basketball team won their second straight game with a 42-40 victory against Fort Jennings on Saturday.
The Rangers (5-9) had to come back for the win down 39-35 entering the fourth quarter after the Musketeers used a 22-11 third-quarter advantage to pull ahead.
Sammy Anspach led the charge with a pair of free throws to pull the Rangers within two and tied the game one possession later with a layup. Carson Beirlein broke the tie with a layup off a rebound on Anspach’s free throw in the team’s next possession.
After Nick Trentman’s free throw pulled the Musketeers (3-8) to one, Fort Jennings never scored again as Beirlien’s lone free throw down the stretch were the last points of the game to secure the win.
After the Rangers trailed 12-9 through the first eight minutes, New Knoxville outscored Fort Jennings 15-5 in the second quarter to lead 24-17 at halftime.
Anspach pulled the Rangers to within one with a jumper to open the second stanza. The Musketeers regained the lead on an Evan Hoersten 3-pointer but an Anspach layup and Max Henschen’s 3-pointer began a 10-0 run by the Rangers to close out the first half.
Anspach led the Rangers with 14 points, followed by Beirlein with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists. Patrick Covert added seven points and six boards and Henschen contributed six points and two rebounds. Ryan Osborne also had six rebounds.
The win on Saturday marks the team’s first two-game win streak since back-to-back wins on Dec. 14 and 21, 2019.
The Rangers junior varsity team fell 43-26.
New Knoxville will play Friday at Parkway.
__ BOTKINS 55, NEW BREMEN 44
NEW BREMEN — Botkins shot 50% from the floor, outrebounded New Bremen in the game and used a first-quarter lead to keep the Trojans ahead of the Cardinals for a 55-44 non-league win on Saturday.
Botkins opened the game with a
16-8 advantage, after Nick Alig bucket pulled within one in the opening minutes of the game, to lead 2213 at the end of the first quarter. The
Cardinals pulled the game within six after Mitchell
Hays’ bucket, but a
Botkins’ 3-pointer put the Trojans up by nine, 29-20, to go into the half.
From there, the
Trojans outscored the Cardinals 14-7 in the third quarter to lead by double-digit points and seal the game for the win. The loss snaps a six-game win streak for the Cards.
Reece Busse led the Cardinals with 11 points, six rebounds and two assists. Alig followed with nine points and four boards and David Homan finished with nine points. Hays contributed seven points.
New Bremen did win the junior varsity game 46-18.
The Cardinals will play Friday at Versailles.
__ MINSTER 79, HOUSTON 38
HOUSTON — The Minster Wildcats jumped out to a 20-6 first-quarter lead and led by as much as 44-15 by halftime en route to a 79-38 non-conference win against Houston on Saturday.
Three players scored in double figures for Minster, led by Justin Nixon with 20 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the floor. Nixon also had six rebounds, two assists and three blocks. Bryan Falk followed with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and Brady Hoelscher with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Minster junior varsity team won 78-25.
Minster will host St. Henry on Friday.
__ ST. MARYS 60, UPPER SCIOTO VALLEY 44
MCGUFFEY — The St. Marys Roughriders outscored Upper Scioto Valley 33-14 in the second half to defeat the Rams 60-44 on Saturday.
Austin Parks led the Roughriders with 18 points, followed by LeTrey Williams with 15 points and 10 points from Jace Turner. Parks also recorded four dunks in Saturday’s game — a school record for the most dunks in a game. The sophomore also moves into second with the most dunks in a season with 14, four behind Greg Yingling (1992-1993) and his 19 career dunks is second behind Yingling’s 38 (1990-93).