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BOYS HOOPS: Stains, Shalom use strong 3rd to win


WILLOW HILL - After a seesaw affair to start the game, Shalom Christian used an extremely strong third quarter to take down Fannett-Metal in the first round of the 43rd annual F-M Christmas Tournament.

The Flames led by just three points heading into the halftime of Monday's boys basketball game. But they started the third on an 8-point run, and after trading baskets with the Tigers, they had another 7-point run to basically secure the victory. By the end of the third frame, Shalom led by 18 and went on to claim a 64-48 victory.

"We came out really flat to start the game, and the guys just weren't communicating," Shalom coach Danley Shank said. "With the defense that we play where you have to communicate, if you don't, you can give up some easy baskets. I think they really felt that sense of urgency to come out and play better."

Monday's other first-round game was a different story. McConnellsburg started to pull away in the third quarter, building up as much as a nine-point lead. But unlike Shalom, the Spartans let Maryland School for the Deaf climb right back in it, and the Orioles captured a 57-54 victory.

"We made a couple shots and stretched our lead out a little bit, and I think we kind of relaxed," Spartan coach Dane Pollock said. "We know better than that. Well, now we do anyway. If we didn't before, we learned tonight."

Fannett-Metal (2-5) and Shalom Christian (7-3) both started the game a bit lackadaisical, and the Flames led just 24-21 at halftime. Leading scorer Jonah Stains, who was averaging 23 points per game, managed only five points in the first half.

"Coming into the game, we were concentrating on Stains and Cameron Roseman," F-M coach Greg Best said. "We held them both in check early, but they made some adjustments. They had Stains moving more in the middle, and he scored some hoops."

Stains was the biggest boost for Shalom in the third quarter. He scored 14 of his 24 points in the third period.

"I felt like I needed to contribute to the team more, so I just came out with more energy," Stains said. "We played more as a team in the second half, and we took better shots. We screened away and got some wide-open shots. In the first half, I don't think we did that well at all."

Fannett-Metal made a bit of a game out of it, as Mikell McGee, who was hunting down his 1,000th career point, hit his stride in the fourth quarter. McGee had 18 points in the final quarter to earn the milestone.

"I saw it in the paper that he had 16 to go," Stains said. "One of our goals is always to hold (the other team's) top player to 15 points, but he got some good looks. I congratulated him on his milestone, though, because that's pretty impressive, especially to do it in his junior year."

The opening game came down to the wire. MSD (8-1) got a big spark in the form of Stefan Anderson. He didn't play in the first half, but scored 16 points after going 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from the line.

It was turnovers that really hurt McConnellsburg, though. The Spartans had 28 turnovers. After having nine turnovers in the third quarter, McConnellsburg seemed to get its miscues in check. It had only two in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter but had seven in the last three minutes.

"We didn't move to the ball," Pollock said. "We were standing, waiting for the pass. We're always worried about playing on this small court, but we know when we play here, we gotta move to the ball, and we didn't. They're a good team, and I knew they were going to be a good team, but we gave one away tonight."

Shalom Christian 64, Fannett-Metal 48

Shalom Christian (64)

Chase Martin 3 0-0 6, Cameron Roseman 5 3-3 13, Barrett Eshbaugh 4 0-0 8, Jonah Stains 9 4-5 24, Micah Lehman 4 1-2 9, Josh Coldsmith 1 0-0 2, Coby Roseman 0 0-0 0, Jacob Nicholas 0 0-0 0, Connor Tiedemann 0 0-0 0, Jerry Min 1 0-1 2, Logan Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals — 27 8-11 64.

Fannett-Metal (48)

Sawyer Rosenberry 1 0-0 2, Layton Hoffmann 4 4-6 12, Mikell McGee 10 7-11 28, Lucas Wingert 2 0-0 4, Timber Brookens 1 0-0 2, Dylan Seibert 0 0-0, Frank Ryder 0 0-0 0, Austin Raymer 0 0-0 0, Colby Adams 0 0-0 0, Brandon Winegardner 0 0-0 0, Hunter Gibbons 0 0-0 0, Nevin Rosenberry 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 11-17 48.

Shalom _ 8 _ 16 _ 24 _ 16 _ — _ 64

Fannett-Metal _ 8 _ 13 _ 9 _ 18 _ — _ 48

3-point goals — Shalom 2 (Stains), FM 1 (McGee)

Md. School for the Deaf 57, McConnellsburg 54

MSD (57)

Esteban Kovacs 4 0-0 8, John Werner Jr. 1 1-2 3, Mauricio Orozco 0 2-2 2, Damon Biskupiak 8 3-5 20, Yave Sanchez 3 2-2 8, Austin Latin 0 0-0 0, Brady Perry 0 0-0 0, Rory Lewis 0 0-0 0, Stefan Anderson 5 3-3 16. Totals — 21 11-14 57.

McConnellsburg (54)

Jake Boehme 3 0-0 8, Quintin Miller 3 2-4 8, Ryan Koontz 1 0-0 2, Landon Richards 3 0-0 9, Chase Novak 4 0-0 11, Ian Cheatle 5 4-6 16, Nic Culler 0 0-0 0, Chance Hawbaker 0 0-0 0, Ethan Barclay 0 0-0 0. Totals — 19 6-10 54.

Md. School _ 9 _ 7 _ 21 _ 20 _ — _ 57

McConnellsburg _ 10 _ 15 _ 12 _ 17 _ — _ 54

3-point goals — MSD 4 (Anderson 3, Biskupiak), McC 10 (Novak 3, Richards 3, Cheatle 2, Boehme 2).