Gremlins fend off gritty Falcons, 36-33
Karns City managed only 11 points in the entire second half.
Luckily for the Gremlins, that was all they’d need to squeak by visiting A-C Valley Friday in a 36-33 win on Friday night.
A steady start in the first 16 minutes helped KC, of course. The hosts surrendered a single bucket in the opening frame before things heated up in the next quarter.
While Jay Clover and Alex Preston tried getting things going for the Falcons (6-8), the Gremlins connected on five of their first nine field goals in the second. After a pair of hard fouls by the visitors’ Landon Chalmers and Alex Preston, KC’s Taite Beighley sent the crowd into a frenzy.
With seconds to go in the half, he rounded a screen to the edge of the arc, got a Falcon defender to leap by with a pump-fake, and proceeded to sink a buzzer-beating trey.
“The crowd energy is always good,” KC coach Zach Kepple said. “They say a good home crowd is a five-point swing. If that’s the case, then they helped us win the game tonight.”
The make gave the Gremlins (11-2) a 16-point edge heading into the intermission.
“There was some tension built up to that and I just let it all out after that shot,” Beighley said. “I think it was a big momentum booster for our team.”
KC hit a wall, however. They widened their lead to 31-13 with 4:11 to go in the third, but wouldn’t score over the following eight minutes, in large part because of A-C Valley’s switch to a man defense.
“He (Beighley) is one heck of a point guard and we didn’t want him to get slashing to the hoop,” Falcons coach Tony McGarvey said. “The mindset we thought about (defensively) was to pack in a little bit and they started hitting the outside shot.”
“I think us being a little passive-aggressive transposed over on the offensive side, so we kind of had to make the switch and start up our engines.”
The trio of Preston and Clover awoke on the offensive end, heading a charge that brought the Falcons back within six points with 31-25 left to go.
“They’re young and they’ve been thrust into a starting position,” McGarvey said of Clover, a sophomore, and Preston, a junior. “They’ve kind of been the two reliable guys all season. Jay is the guy that works down low, works his butt off, and Alex has got that nice 15-foot jump shot for a big guy.
“That’s a nice combination, we just need a little bit more.”
Those two, along with Chalmers, were the only Falcons to post points in the game. Meanwhile, sophomore Hobie Bartoe came off the bench to nail a trend-altering three-pointer with under four and a half minutes remaining.
“That’s more than a quarter of our points there in one shot,” Karns City coach Zach Kepple said. “That was a big bucket for us, kind of sparked us a bit ... It was a huge shot for Hobey to come off the bench and do that.”
Chalmers got the Falcons within five points with ten ticks left and Clover notched a layup as time expired to bring the game within a possession for the first time since the initial quarter. It was too little, too late.
The Gremlins were playing their third straight game without sophomore Luke Cramer, a usual starter who sprained his ankle at Clarion. He’s projected to miss 2-3 weeks with the injury.
“I think we can keep grinding, but we’ve got to be better,” said Beighley, who added three assists and a pair of steals. “We’ve got to play through four quarters of tough basketball and keep playing with that same energy (from) the first half.”
A-C VALLEY 33
Jay Clover 6 3-7 15, Alex Preston 5 1-2 11, Landon Chalmers 3 1-6 7. Totals: 14 5-15 33.
KARNS CITY 36
Taite Beighley 5 3-5 16, Micah Rupp 3 0-0 6, Braden Grossman 2 0-0 5, Hobie Bartoe 1 0-0 3, Cole Sherwin 1 0-0 2, Luke Garing 1 0-3 2, Jacob Callihan 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 3-8 36.
A-C Valley 2 7 13 11 — 33
Karns City 8 17 6 5 — 36
3-point goals: Karns City 4 (Beighley 2, Grossman, Bartoe)
