GALION — On Friday evening, the Galion Tigers boys basketball team welcomed the visiting Bucyrus Redmen to town to begin their 2017-2018 campaign.
Much like a year ago, the Tigers would open their season with a victory over the Redmen, this time to the tune of 67-50.
Jack McElligott was the first Galion player to score points for the season and would finish the night as the leading scorer for the home team with 15 points. McElligott was 3/6 shooting from the interior and shot a 3/3 clip from beyond the arc to go along with five rebounds, a steal and a block.
The Galion squad began their season with an impressive first quarter, outscoring their visiting opponent 16-6. Bucyrus would adjust and attempt to fight back but the Tigers used a 14-13 second quarter advantage to head into the locker room at halftime with a 30-19 lead.
Throughout the second half, the Galion boys played strong, despite the red-hot shooting of Bucyrus’ Ryan Evans. Evans poured it on from three-point range and finished the evening with 25 of the Redmen’s 50 points.
After a 15-13 third quarter, the Tigers remained ahead heading into the final eight minutes of play up by a score of 45-32. The fourth quarter was a true back and forth affair but it would be the home team outscoring the visitors 22-18 to end the contest.
Isaiah Alsip and Gage Lackey would also finish in double figures for the hometown Tigers. Alsip finished the contest with 14 points to go with nine rebounds, an assist and three steals. Lackey chimed in with 13 points in the victory in addition to five rebounds, an assist and two steals.
Colten Skaggs had seven points and 11 rebounds for the Galion squad and fellow big man Tristan Williams added six points and five boards in the middle. Nate Eckert chipped in five points for the Tigers while Zhamir Anderson and Colton Powell rounded out the scoring with four and three points, respectively.
Other statistics for Galion were: Team- 21/46 (46%) from the interior, 8/20 (40%) from the perimeter, 29/66 (44%) total field goals, 1/2 (50%) from the free-throw stripe, 42 total rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals, 5 blocks and 13 turnovers; Anderson- 2 assists, 1 rebound, 2 blocks, 1 steal, fouled out; Eckert- 2 rebounds, 1 assist; Carter Keinath- 1 rebound, 1 assist; Powell- 3 rebounds, 2 steals; Williams- 2 assists and Skaggs- 2 blocks, 1 assist.
Team stats for the visiting Redmen were: 9/20 (45%) from the interior, 9/25 (36%) from the perimeter, 18/45 (40%) total field goals, 5/16 (31%) from the free-throw stripe, 21 total rebounds and 18 turnovers; Kyle Hamm and Gram Dick- 6 points apiece; Ben Seibert- 5 points; Kade Slagle and Jaylen Zehner- 3 points apiece and Dylan Goff- 2 points.
Galion will now have a few days to prepare for a tough, early season test as they will travel to Upper Sandusky to face the hosting Rams on Thursday, December 7. On the following evening, the Tigers will open Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference play on the road against the Spartans from Pleasant.
