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Redskins cruise past Jets

WINTERSVILLE – Joe Dunlevy figured Union Local would employ a zone defense against his Indian Creek Redskins in Friday’s Buckeye 8 contest. He was a little worried that his club might struggle with its shooting touch.

Turns out the veteran coach had no need to fret.

Knocking down eight of its first 14 tries, Creek jumped on the Jets early and cruised to a 58-32 victory. With the win, the Redskins improve to 8-2 and stay unbeaten in league play. Union Local falls to 3-5.

“Last season, we played zone against them here,” U.L.’s Vaughn Butler said. “We played it well and they didn’t shoot it well. I don’t like playing zone away from home but it was something we thought we might have success with tonight. They shot it well and we had to get out of it.”

Things were looking pretty good for the Jets early after Jacob Bailey buried a triple to put the visitors up. In a blink of an eye, however, Creek scored 17 straight and the rout was on. Four straight points by Matt Furda finished the run and the Redskins held an 18-5 advantage after the opening stanza.

Furda (6), Frank Kamarec (5) and Alex Young (5) combined for 16 of the 18 Creek points. Kamarec, Young and Shane Winland all scored off offensive rebounds. Dunlevy’s crew shot 50 percent from the floor (eight of 16) and limited Union Local to just two makes on eight tries and forced six turnovers.

“We came out with a lot of energy and effort, which is what we need to do in order to put four quarters together,” Dunlevy observed. “Hopefully we can do it again Tuesday when we go to Dover.”

Once Union Local abandoned the zone to start the second frame, Creek put on a “how to” clinic in the area of driving to the basket. Young recorded eight markers and increased the Redskin lead to 20 (34-14) when he went baseline, took a feed from Winland and slammed one home with two hands.

Creel buried 16 of 26 field goal attempts and held a 36-19 halftime advantage. The hosts increased their lead to 47-28 after three. For the night, Dunlevy’s cagers were a red-hot 26 of 46 from the floor.

“Sometimes the mistake I make is working too much at the defensive end as we prepare for a game,” Dunlevy admitted. “Sometimes, we don’t shoot the ball enough. We’ve been trying to shoot more lately

“I think we have a really good shooting team. It’s like anything else-if you do your homework, you have a chance to do well on your test. We came in today and shot, shot and shot. We work at it and hopefully we’ll keep getting better. We’ll find out as the season moves forward.”

Four Redskins finished in double figures, Young leading the way with 17. Winland contributed 12 to go along with four assists. Kamarec had 11 and Furda 10. The winners collected 25 rebounds, Young and Winland grabbing five each.

“It’s like I said after the Weir High game, our kids are very unselfish, they pass the ball and play together real well,” Dunlevy noted. “One of my buddies in coaching told me the whole is greater than the sum of its parts with this team and I think he is right.”

Bailey had a terrific night for the Jets, scoring 22. Union Local shot it 35 times, knocking down just 12, five coming from behind the arc. Four of Butler’s team was guilty of 21 turnovers.

“Their defensive pressure took us out of our offense and anything we tried to do,” Butler said. “They were better than us tonight. I don’t know if we will be better than them next time. We kind of wilted when they put on the pressure.”

Dunlevy took the time to praise Bailey’s effort.

“He’s a good player,” the Creek mentor said. “He had 22 and that’s probably as much as anyone has had against us this year. When a kid gets hot like that he can hurt you.

Union Local returns to action Tuesday, hosting Martins Ferry.

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