GALION — The Galion Tigers boys basketball team played host to the Jonathan Alder Pioneers in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Red Division action on a cold and snowy Thursday evening. The Tigers never could get it going on many aspects of the game and Alder came away with the 48-36 victory.
Galion now sits at 2-7 overall and 1-3 in MOAC Red play while the Pioneers improve to 6-4 on the season and 2-2 in conference matchups.
After a slow first quarter, Galion found themselves down 9-6 entering the second period. Alder would outscore the Tigers in the second and would take a 20-15 lead into halftime. Much the same in the second half, Galion came out playing somewhat deflated and scored just 11 points in the third and 10 points in the fourth. Alder added 16 points to their total in the third period and tacked on 12 more in the final quarter on their way to the win.
Galion’s scoring was lead by senior Chase Cooke. Cooke had 16 points in the loss to go with seven rebounds and two assists. Fellow senior Bobby Gilbert contributed nine points in the Tigers’ efforts. Gage Lackey would add five points, Zhamir Anderson tallied four points and Isaiah Alsip had an off-night with just two points.
The Tigers had trouble stopping Alder’s Andrew Koenig who dropped 31 points on the Galion arsenal that included different zone packages and man-to-man defense. The next highest scorer for the Pioneers was Cameron Androw with nine points. Another Koenig, Jacob this time, added five points, Matt Seimer added two and Colton Swick hit a free-throw for his lone point on the evening.
Overall, the game was a pretty clean game with both teams taking care of the basketball. According to my stat keeping, Galion turned the ball over just seven times and Alder only five. Neither team shot the ball incredibly well throughout the contest. Galion was 14/47 from the field (3/17 from three-point range) or 30% and Alder shot 12/42 (6/22 from three-point range) or 29% overall.
The game-changer in the matchup was rebounding and free-throw shooting. The Pioneers outrebounded the Tigers 39-26 on the night with 18 of Alder’s rebounds being offensive rebounds leading to second-chance points. Galion shot just six free-throws for the entire contest and were able to hit on five. Alder got to the charity stripe 30 times, proceeding to go 18/30 or 60%. The percentage is not great but leads to 13 points more than Galion. The Tigers losing by 12 can be attributed to the high number of fouls and, adversely, the low number of fouls drawn.
Galion will be back on the road on Saturday Jan. 7 when they travel to Marion to meet up with the Pleasant Spartans in MOAC Red Division battle. The Tigers will again be on the road on Tuesday Jan. 10 when they head over to Mount Gilead to play the Indians in a non-league contest.
