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MCS fends off CCS by 4 points

Leifheit

Middletown Christian's Zach Henderson (right) gets fouled by Cincinnati Christian's Walt Reames while attempting a reverse layup Tuesday during the Eagles 85-81 win over the Cougars. Contributed photo by Robert Leifheit

Leifheit Middletown Christian's Zach Henderson (right) gets fouled by Cincinnati Christian's Walt Reames while attempting a reverse layup Tuesday during the Eagles 85-81 win over the Cougars. Contributed photo by Robert Leifheit

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1:00 AM Wednesday, January 18, 2012

By John Bombatch

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown Christian School senior Zach Henderson expected a “game of runs” against Cincinnati Christian. And that’s exactly what he got Tuesday night.

The host Eagles roared out to a sizeable early lead, saw the Cougars claw their way back to grab a third-quarter lead, then rallied in the fourth for an 85-81 nonleague win.

“Basketball is a game of runs. We hit, they hit, we hit, they came back and we hit again,” said Henderson, who finished with a game-high 29 points and had 13 rebounds. “It was expected. They are a really good team, and we expected a game just like that.”

MCS (7-4) had a 27-14 lead after one quarter of play, but CCS (6-5) carved away at the deficit.

A 21-4 run to start the second half put CCS in the lead 52-46 with 3:35 left to play in the third, but thanks to a 6-0 mini-run from Middletown Christian in the quarter’s final minute, CCS clung to a 61-60 lead heading to the final period.

The Eagles used yet another run of their own to start the fourth — a 6-0 surge with Zach Wise, Henderson and Josh Hutson each scoring — and led the rest of the way.

“We talked about taking an 11-point lead and squeezing it to 15, but we didn’t quite do that tonight,” MCS coach Luke Gibson said. “But we did fight back for the win.”

Jordan Eiras hit a three with 54 seconds to go to pull within 80-78, but the Cougars could never regain the lead.

“Being slow out of the gate is what killed us,” CCS coach Danny Celenza said. “Playing from behind like we had to do tonight, you’re going to expend a lot of energy just from trying to fight back.

“But to their credit, they were able to fight back and take control of the game.”

Eiras led CCS with 27 points. Ryan Arington, who came in averaging 19.3 points per game, was hampered with four fouls and finished with 15 points.

Wise scored 25 points, had nine rebounds and dished out eight assists and Drew King finished with 14 points and six rebounds for MCS.

Middletown Christian will host Miami Valley in a Metro Buckeye Conference game on Friday night. Cincinnati Christian gets back into Miami Valley Conference play with a game at home Friday night against Cincinnati Country Day.

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