×

Oak Glen boys get back on track

Oak Glen's Sean Smith (10) dribbles around a pick set by Ethan Travis as East Liverpool's Logan Torma defends on Friday. (Photo by Dan Santarelli)

EAST LIVERPOOL — It was important for the Oak Glen boys basketball team to rebound after Steubenville Central Catholic snapped its 12-game win streak a week ago. The Golden Bears came out of the Potter Fieldhouse with a 61-57 win over East Liverpool on Friday to get back on track.

Oak Glen improves to 14-4 on the season.

East Liverpool is now 8-12 and has lost four games in a row.

“We played great tonight,” Oak Glen senior Chris Kokoski said. “I feel that the streak ending got some pressure off our chest and we are rebuilding from that. We are ready to keep going. It’s always good to beat East Liverpool at their place.”

Kokoski finished with 17 points for the Golden Bears.

“This year we have been playing more as a team,” Kokoski said. “We have been moving the ball more and we just click. We have been there for each other.”

Late in the fourth the Potters were down three and had a chance to tie the game but failed to convert on a three-point attempt.

Oak Glen knocked a rebound out of bounds giving the Potters another possesion but on the inbound play the Potters was called out of bounds turning the ball over to the Golden Bears.

Oak Glen’s Marcus Poling knocked down 1 of his 2 free throws to ice the game at 61-57.

“It’s tough coming over here,” Oak Glen coach Jerry Everly said. “You know when you come to East Liverpool you are in for a dogfight. Our guys stepped up in the second half.”

The Potters had a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 30-29 lead going into the locker room.

The second half featured a big performance from Oak Glen’s Ethan Travis who scored 14 of his games 18 in the second half.

“The first half we were falling in love with the threes,” Everly said. “We were making some of them to hang around but we knew in the second half we needed to get the ball inside because we had a mismatch.

Travis is 6 foot, 5 inches and made himself a prominent force inside in the second half against a smaller Potter team.

“We had a two man game with Sean Smith and Travis that really worked for us,” Everly said.

Oak Glen also saw solid contributions from Smith who had 11 points.

“This is a great group of kids and its one of the best basketball teams from Oak Glen,” Everly said. “I’m so glad for the support we have got all season.”

The Potters were within striking distance late once again but failed to take the lead in the final frame.

“We have to learn how to win,” East Liverpool coach Nate Conley said. “We have been in so many close games over the last few weeks and we can’t get over the hump. We’ve played hard but we need to execute better down the stretch.”

East Liverpool was led in scoring by Gabe Roach with 13 points and eight rebounds.

“The end of the game is where a point guard would step up,” Conley said. “We’ve been struggling for that court leader all season but they are good at running the plays. They defended us well at the end of the game.”

The Potters allowed the Golden Bears to make eight three-pointers in the first half.

“They shot it well and we need to get better at defending the perimeter but when they have that size its either protect the paint or protect the perimeter,” Conley said. “We switched it up in the third quarter and Travis took advantage of our lack of size.”

Oak Glen outrebounded the Potters 30-20 including 11-4 on the offensive boards.

“Travis crashes the boards for us every night,” Everly said.

Also for East Liverpool, Brennan O’Hara had 11 points. Logan Torma and Tre Jackson each had nine points.

Game notes

¯Next up for Oak Glen is OVAC tournament action where the Golden Bears received the third seed in Class 4A tournament. Oak Glen will travel to second-seed Meadowbrook on Tuesday.

“It’ll be a challenge and we accept it,” Everly said. “We are going to go down there and play our best basketball. Were going to have fun with it and see where our chips fall.”

East Liverpool hosts Wellsville on Tuesday in OVAC consolation pool play.

“We are going to play our butts off and hopefully we beat them,” Kokoski said of Meadowbrook.

¯Oak Glen beat East Liverpool earlier in the season 58-50.

¯The Potters have allowed 45 three-pointers over the last four games.

¯Senior athletes, choir and band members were honored prior to the game. The Potters basketball team features two seniors in Travis Kidder and Logan Torma.

¯The homecoming king and queen were crowned at halftime. Isaac Long and Emily Brereton took the crowns.

¯In jayvee action, Oak Glen won 53-38.

Zach Taylor had 16 for Oak Glen and Sabaan Razi had 14 for East Liverpool.

OAK GLEN: 9-20-20-12-61

EAST LIVERPOOL: 14-16-16-11-57

OAK GLEN SCORING: Wyatt Wiley 0-0-0, Sean Smith 4-1-11, Jarrett Gittings 2-0-6, Chris Kokowski 6-1-17, Marcus Poling 3-1-9, Ethan Travis 8-2-18, Alex Staub 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 23, 5-10:61.

EAST LIVERPOOL SCORING: Brennan O’Hara 4-3-11, Gabe Roach 6-1-13, Tre Jackson 3-2-9, Logan Torma 3-2-9, Peyton Reed 1-0-3, Izaiha Browing 2-2-6, Jalen Moman 0-0-0, Nick Woodyard 0-0-0, Travis Kidder 0-0-0, Gannon Irvine 3-0-6. TEAM TOTALS: 22, 10-13:57

Three-point goals: Oak Glen 8 (Kokoski 4, Poling 2, Smith 2, Gittings 2), East Liverpool 3 (Torma, Jackson, Reed)

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today