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Jets soar over Panthers, 76-52

MORRISTOWN — Union Local’s 24-point margin of victory Tuesday against Buckeye Local is deceiving.

There was no switching to cruise control. The Panthers came to play, and the third-seeded Jets were in a dog fight for the first two and a half quarters.

UL was able to pull away late, securing the 76-52 win and advancing to Friday’s Division III sectional showdown with Morgan, a 55-45 winner against Harrison Central.

The Jets will host the Raiders — the same school the UL girls’ team just beat to advance to the district semifinal round — at 7 p.m.

Buckeye got down early, but a defensive alignment caught the hosts off guard.

“For whatever reason, we went through a stretch where we acted like we’ve never seen a 3-2 zone before,” UL coach Zach Delman said. “We’ve faced it multiple times, but it disrupted our flow a little bit. We were uncharacteristically out of sync.”

The change was necessary. The start of the game couldn’t get any worse for Buckeye.

The Panthers’ first seven possessions consisted of four straight turnovers, a blocked shot and a charge call that nullified a made layup followed by another turnover.

UL built an early 10-0 lead, and the game was poised to get ugly in a hurry.

The Panthers made that switch, and after a Ethan McHugh bucket stopped the drought at 10-2 with 4:39 left in the first, Buckeye started battling back.

Down 12-2, Buckeye went on a, 8-0 run, capped by a Jacob Moffo putback, the first of 10 second-chance buckets.

“We talked pregame about rebounding as they have some size and guys that can leap really well,” Delman said. “We were able to get better position and close out and limit those in the second half, but I think they had 20 second-change points. You’re not going to win many games giving up 20 points on putbacks.”

Buckeye continued to battle and led by five at one point in the second quarter after on a putback from Hayden Taylor.

“For them to open up a 12-2 lead and our kids to fight back and lead 25-20 at one point shows the type of grit that our kids have” Buckeye Local coach Chris Heaton said. “I think four of our six wins this year we came from behind. But, we started to get a little sluggish and lost our legs. We shortened the bench up tonight and didn’t go that deep and that’s totally on me.”

Jets junior Luke Merritt was held in check most of the first half. But, as Buckeye tired keep up a feverish pace defending the perimeter and the block with its zone, holes started to appear.

That’s all Merritt needed. He drained two successive 3-pointers, then stole the inbound and was fouled attempting a triple. He made all three free throws to cap a 9-0 run that put UL back ahead for good at 29-25.

The halftime tally stood at 35-30. Buckeye never got any closer.

“We started out well, but I’m not sure if we thought it would be easy after that. But, those kids played hard and got us out of sync,” Delman said. “It took a bit of redirecting. Shots started opening on the high post and the block, and we were able to collapse the zone and get the 3-ball going a little bit.”

Merritt finished with five 3-pointers, while teammate Zach Bateman added two.

It was Bateman who drove the final dagger through any hopes of another Buckeye comeback in the third quarter, scoring 11 of his 21 points in the frame.

Merritt led the Jets with 22 points, while Nathan Meyer had 11 and Andrew Martin tallied 10 off the bench, including six key points in the paint early in the second that helped to open up the zone.

“We had four guys in double figures, and that’s important for us to have success,” Delman said. “We have to share the wealth and move the ball.

“Credit Buckeye for not giving in. They made a tough run in the second and took the lead and we had to soul search for a minute.”

Cameron Grabits played a major role in getting Buckeye to that second-quarter lead, as he scored 11 of his team-leading 13 points in the first half. Moffo added 10, including a dunk he caught in mid-air off a miss and hammered it home two-handed. Moffo drew a technical on the play, as he hung on the room in effort to avoid the traffic under foot.

“Our kids played hard the whole game,” Heaton said. “We’re still a work in progress as a program. But, we have a lot of kids coming back, and I want to thank our five seniors for all the work and effort they put into this season.”

Union Local 76, Buckeye Local 52

Buckeye Local 15-15-11-11 — 52

Union Local 16-19-22-19 — 76

BUCKEYE LOCAL: Taylor 2-8 1-2 5; McHugh 3-4 1-1 7; Moffo 4-5 2-4 10; Mayle 3-10 0-1 8; Grabits 5-11 2-4 13; H.Darrah 0-0 0-0 0; Watt 1-2 0-0 3; L.Darrah 1-1 0-0 2; Pielech 2-2 0-0 4; Best 0-1 0-0 0; Kinyo 0-2 0-0 0; Novak 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21, 6-12: 52.

UNION LOCAL: McCort 2-2 2-4 6; Meyer 3-9 7-8 13; Merritt 7-10 3-5 22; N.Bateman 1-4 0-0 2; Z.Bateman 9-14 1-1 21; Martin 5-5 0-0 10; Hess 0-0 0-0 0; Loase 0-0 0-0 0; Latham 0-1 0-0 0; McDiffitt 1-1 0-0 2; Reitter 0-1 0-0 0; Vinskovich 0-0 0-0 0; Miller 0-0 0-0 0 Porter 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28, 13-17: 76.

3-POINT GOALS: Buckeye Local 4 (Mayle 2, Grabits, Watt); Union Local 7 (Merritt 5, Z.Bateman 2).

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