Whippets romp in MOAC opener 67-37

Daily Globe Sports Editor

As first-year coach Greg Gallaway put it “we did a good job of taking care of business,” referring to Shelby’s 67-37 clobbering of Marion Pleasant Friday night in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference boys basketball opener in the Dawg House.

But, the Whippets are far from a polished product, although they improved to 2-0 on the young season.

“There’s definitely a lot of things we need to improve. At times we were careless with the basketball and did some uncharacteristic things — both offensively and defensively — that we need to fix,” said the SHS coach.

Especially, with athletic Marion Harding up next for Shelby.

“They’re going to have guys that fly around, press full court and they’ll be long. Some of the mistakes we got away with tonight, we won’t get away with against them,” said Gallaway of the Presidents.

The Whippets trailed briefly at the start and then rattled off 12 unanswered points during a span of 3 1/2 minutes and pretty much led by double digits the rest of the way against the 0-3 Spartans.

Two free throws by Alex Bruskotter put SHS ahead for good at 4-2 with 6:16 showing on the first quarter clock.

Shelby stormed to a 21-7 lead at the close of the opening stanza, led by Bruskotter with eight and Andre Hill with five.

The Whippets led by as many as 23 on three different occasions during the second frame and were in front 38-15 at the intermission. Bruskotter tallied 12 of his team-high 14 by the break and Hill was next with seven.

Issaiah Ramsey, who dropped in 13 for SHS, hit back-to-back hoops to make it 43-18 midway through the third quarter

Shelby tallied 13 of the last 17 markers of quarter No. 3 to build a 51-22 advantage.

Hill’s final bucket of the encounter made it 61-27 with 4:53 remaining.

Max Hess and Hill each finished with nine in the win.

Jeremy Holloway topped the Whippets with six rebounds. Hill added five boards and five assists. Hess also cleared away five missed shots.

Nick Blubaugh notched 12 for Pleasant and Trey Booker added seven.

“I was happy with the way we played hard for four quarters. Tonight was a big game for us because it was our first MOAC game,” said Gallaway.

Thursday the SHS basketballers play at Marion Harding.

MARION PLEASANT (37)

Simpkins 1 0 2, Smith 0 4 4, Kantzer 3 0 6, Gostell 1 0 2, Blubaugh 5 0 12, Booker 1 5 7, Williams 2 0 4, Totals 13 9-10 37.

SHELBY (67)

Hill 3 2 9, Brubaker 1 2 4, Shepherd 3 0 6, Bruskotter 5 3 14, Ramsey 6 0 13, Lantz 1 1 3, Baker 1 2 4, Hess 3 2 9, Holloway 1 0 2, Roub 1 0 2, Bishop 0 1 1, Totals 25 13-17 67.

Pleasant .......... 7 8 7 15—37 Shelby ........... 21 17 13 16—67

Three-point field goals — Blubaugh (P) 2, Hill (S), Bruskotter (S), Ramsey (S), Hess (S).

Hess fires a pass to an open temmate during MOAC

Crestview 50, Plymouth 7

South Central 47, New London 38

Mapleton 42, Lucas 32

Norwalk St. Paul 52, Tiffin Calvert 44

Norwalk 38, Western Reserve 27

Saturday’s Game

New London at Smithville

Crestview 58, Plymouth 43 Western Reserve 68, Mapleton 43

Monroeville 78, Norwalk St. Paul 56

South Central 66, New London 47

Saturday’s Games

Mapleton at Loudonville Monroeville at Danbury

Norwalk St. Paul at Fremont St. Joseph

Western Reserve at Lagrange Keystone