You couldn’t ask for more from the Scotties in the first official two weeks of the year than to go undefeated in the Muskingum Valley League against neighboring rivals John Glenn and Philo.
For the first matchup of the new year, the Dawgs stood toe to toe with the John Glenn Lil Muskies on Rich Longaberger Court as they battled for more than just bragging rights as the Scotties were looking to hold onto their top place in the MVL in a game that is always a nail-biter to the finish. John Glenn took the lead early on as the Dawgs fought to keep up with the charge but by the end of the first period the Lil Muskies had a five-point lead and they were not looking to give it up soon.
Tri-Valley stepped up in the second quarter to go almost shot for shot with John Glenn and only dropped one point to them for the period but the damage was done and the Dawgs headed into the locker room down 28 – 22 for halftime.
As would be expected from Coach McLoughlin, his halftime talk rallied the troops and a completely different team took to the court after the break. The Lil Muskies were left reeling after the barrage of shots that came from the Scottie Hoopsters taking back the lead in just the third quarter and leaving John Glenn in a four-point hole going into the fourth.
Tri-Valley didn’t drop the pace in the final quarter of play as they led John Glenn through the period leaving them on their heels trying to balance out the score. In the end, the Dawgs drew upon the strength they needed to outscore the Muskies by a final tally of TV 59 – JG 49.
On the road against Philo, the Scotties showed their strength as they overpowered the Electrics in every quarter of the game. Starting off with a strong push back by the Philo team the Dawgs had a small lead of 17 – 12 heading into the second quarter.
If the electrics had a glimpse of hope in the first period that quickly faded away as the Tri-Valley boys crushed the second quarter with shot after shot running their lead up to a substantial 31 – 19 before the halftime break.
Philo tried to man a comeback in the third quarter but the Dawgs were still on the attack and kept the electrics at bay answering with double the shot score of their opponent rounding out the third quarter at 48 – 28.
The final period of the game led to more domination by the visiting Scotties, although the Electrics were able to add 12 points in the quarter it couldn’t undo the damage that had been done especially when the Scotties put up 16 points of their own for the stand landing them at a commanding win of 64 – 40 for the game.
The boys took a tough loss to non-conference Columbus DeSales but carry on to play Upper Arlington on Saturday, January 15th in another non-conference challenge.
