GALION — After a week off, the Galion Tigers boys basketball team returned to their home floor on Saturday evening to do battle with the visiting Cardington Pirates.
The Tigers got off to a quick start and would never look back as they handed the Pirates a non-conference loss; 67-43. Galion improves to 3-5 overall on the season with the victory and remain at 1-3 in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference play. For Cardington, they fall to 2-8 on the season and are 1-4 within the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference.
Galion held tight on defense against Cardington’s first possession and came down on the offense end with pace-setting results. After the Pirates controlled the ball for much of the first minute of the game, junior Isaiah Alsip came down and hit a three-ball and was fouled in the process. After converting the free-throw, the Tigers scored five more points before Cardington got on the scoreboard thanks to a bucket by Danny Vaught. That would not be the end of the full-throttle offense for the home team as they opened their lead to 16-2, forcing the Pirates to call a quick, 30 second timeout. When the buzzer sounded to end the first eight minutes of play, the Tigers held a 22-7 lead. The visitors would compose themselves in the second frame, adding 13 points to their score but the Tigers’ offense would remain untamed, racking up an additional 19 points to give themselves a halftime advantage of 41-20.
In the third, Cardington would manage to outscore their hosts, albeit by just two points at 17-15 to send the game into the fourth with Galion still up by a large margin; 56-37. With the contest well out of reach, the Pirates scored just six points in the final eight minutes while the Tigers tacked on an additional 11 points en route to the lopsided, 24-point victory.
Alsip finished as the leading scorer for the home team, scoring 20 points to go along with seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Gage Lackey and Hanif Donaldson joined Alsip in double figures on the night, scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Caymen Spires was the only Cardington player to achieve double-digit scoring in the game, recording a dozen.
As a team, the Tigers shot the ball well from both the interior and the perimeter, going 19/33 from inside and 7/13 from outside, led by 5/6 from three-point range by Alsip. The Pirates finished the game at 10/32 from the interior and 5/16 from the perimeter. At the free-throw line, Cardington held the advantage, wrapping the contest at an 8/10 clip while Galion posted 8/13 conversions.
The rebounding advantage also went to the size of Galion as they out-rebounded their guests; 33-21. The Tigers would commit 18 turnovers on Saturday while the Pirates finished with 17 miscues of their own in the loss.
Other statistics for the home team in the victory were: Team- 19 assists, 13 steals, 4 blocked shots; Kalib Griffin- 1 rebound, 1 block; Carter Keinath- 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Rece Payne- 1 assist; Lackey- 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block; Jack McElligott- 7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block; Carter Valentine- 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal; Troy Manring- 1 assist; Donaldson- 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and Tristan Williams- 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block.
Stats for the Pirates were: Team- 7 assists, 7 steals; Dylan Goodman- 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal; Logan Doubikin- 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; Vaught- 4 points, 6 rebounds; Branden Steckel- 2 points, 1 rebound; Garrett Linkous- 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals; Trey Brininger- 3 points; Josh Shook- 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist; Zach Lester- 2 points; Spires- 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal; Mason White- 2 points, 1 rebound; Avery Harper- 5 points, 1 rebound and Sam McKee- 1 steal.
Galion will be back on their home floor on Thursday, January 3 when they play hosts to the newest member of the MOAC, the Shelby Whippets. On Saturday, January 5, the Tigers will head to the “O-rena” for a conference clash with the Ontario Warriors. For Cardington, they have just one game this upcoming calender week as they will host KMAC foes, the Fredericktown Freddies, on Friday, January 4.
