Big Red boys down Minerva for 5-0 start
STRONG TO THE HOOP — Big Red’s Cole Bowers goes up for two of his 19 points during Tuesday’s victory over visiting Minerva. - Andrew Grimm
UP AND OVER — Big Red’s Santino Haney goes up to shoot over Minerva defenders on Tuesday. - Andrew Grimm
STRONG TO THE HOOP — Big Red’s Cole Bowers goes up for two of his 19 points during Tuesday’s victory over visiting Minerva. - Andrew Grimm
UP AND OVER — Big Red’s Santino Haney goes up to shoot over Minerva defenders on Tuesday. - Andrew Grimm
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STEUBENVILLE -- Through an undefeated early portion of the season, the Big Red boys basketball team has shown it can get hot shooting and win with defense.
Tuesday evening, Steubenville did both.
Big Red knocked down eight 3s and had 30 buckets while forcing visiting Minerva into 23 turnovers. Put that combination together and the end result was a 75-46 victory inside the Crimson Center and a 5-0 record headed into the Christmas break.
"It's good to be undefeated at Christmas, makes the holiday a little better," Big Red head coach Mike Haney said. "The guys played really well."
After leading 15-9 at the end of the first quarter, Big Red netted 27 points in the second quarter to push the lead to 18 points at the break. That lead swelled to as many as 32 in the second half on the way to the 29-point victory.
Big Red used the defense to get the offense going, its usual recipe for success, as they recorded 17 steals.
"The first quarter they went into a zone and slowed the game down into their pace," Haney said. "We want to play up-tempo ... we started creating some turnovers and that always gets us moving faster.
"We played good D and held a good team under 50, we're really happy with that."
Big Red got offensive contributions from eight different players in the win, led by 21 points, six rebounds, six steals and five assists from Santino Haney. Cole Bowers knocked down a team-high three triples and finished with 19 points, three steals and two boards. Jermaine Moore netted 16 points, seven-straight of which came to start the fourth quarter, while Tre Wiggins netted two triples for six points and dished a game-high seven assists while pulling down four rebounds and Landon Bowers netted seven points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Big Red had a 32-25 advantage off the glass, led by a game-high eight rebounds from JoJo Rea.
"All of the guys were shooting the ball well, it was a total team effort," coach Haney said.
While they forced 23 turnovers by the Lions (4-3), Big Red coughed it up just eight times.
UP NEXT
Big Red: After a couple days off, Big Red has a big weekend as it plays in the nightcap headliner both nights of Toronto's Todd Kalivoda Holiday Showcase -- Saturday against fellow unbeaten Wheeling Central and Sunday against 6-1 event host Toronto.
Steubenville 75, Minerva 46
M 9-15-14-8 -- 46
S 15-27-18-15 -- 75
MINERVA (4-3): Shick 2 0-0 5; Hoffee 5 3-4 14; Spall 1 0-0 2; Wood 5 2-3 12; Tarbet 1 0-0 3; Morales 0 0-0 0; Gonzales 2 0-0 5; Weldon 1 0-0 3; Felty 0 2-2 2; Herstine 0 0-0 0; Troyer 0 0-0 0; Morrell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17, 7-9; 46.
STEUBENVILLE (5-0): Wiggins 2 0-0 6; Haney 8 4-4 21; Moore 7 0-0 16; C. Bowers 8 0-0 19; L. Bowers 3 1-2 7; Adams 0 0-2 0; Rea 0 2-2 2; Edwards 2 0-0 4; Luke 0 0-0 0; Burkhart 0 0-0 0; Kokiko 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 30, 7-10; 75.
3-POINTERS: Minerva 5 (Shick, Hoffee, Target, Gonzales, Weldon); Steubenville 8 (C. Bowers 3, Wiggins 2, Moore 2, Haney). ASSISTS: Minerva 12 (Morales 3); Steubenville 18 (Wiggins 7). REBOUNDS: Minerva 25 (Wood 8); Steubenville 32 (Rea 8). STEALS: Minerva 5 (Weldon 2); Steubenville 17 (Haney 6). BLOCKS: Minerva 1 (Weldon); Steubenville 0. TURNOVERS: Minerva 23; Steubenville 8.