Middies blast Highlanders from start

Solid first quarter silences rowdy Oak Hills crowd in GMC win.

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Staff Writer 1:39 AM Saturday, January 28, 2012

By John Bombatch

CINCINNATI — The Oak Hills student section laid into the Middletown Middies from the moment they took to the floor.

During warm-ups, the students razzed every guy in purple who attempted a shot from the left corner, where the Highlanders were camped.

They’d laugh every time a Middie missed a jump shot.

But when Friday’s Greater Miami Conference game got under way, Oak Hills fans had very little to laugh about.

Middletown raced out to a 23-13 first-quarter lead and never trailed for a convincing 61-43 win.

“They were really on us,” Middletown’s Geovonie McKnight said. “We just had to focus on our task, and that was to win the game. We had a great week of practice, and a great win on Tuesday. We just battled and fought, and we won.”

McKnight scored 14 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. Jalin Marshall also got into double figures for the Middies (11-4, 8-1 GMC), scoring 17 points.

But Middie coach Josh Andrews, and assistant Larry Allen, both said the team’s defensive play — especially that of center Chance Sorrell — also played a big part in the win.

“I was just helping out as much as I could, staying on help-side defense and hitting guys off screens,” Sorrell said. “I was just trying to help everyone else out, and I think that helped the whole team out, a lot.

Sorrell said there wasn’t anybody congratulating each other during halftime. The focus was to fix some miscommunication issues and to keep up the pressure on the Highlanders (7-7, 5-4).

Oak Hills coach Mike Price said the Middies’ first-quarter effort set the tone for a long night for his Oak Hills squad.

“When we gave up 23 points, that was the difference,” Price said. “Jalin Marshall came right at us. He hurt us a lot in that first quarter.

“You don’t win or lose in that quarter — we had some chances to get it under 10 several times — but I never thought that we were going to ever really guard them like we needed to. And I’m not sure that we can.”

Andrews liked the scoring, but really liked his Middies’ defensive effort.

“Our defensive energy was great,” Andrews said. “We got into some foul trouble, but we played some zone defense and were able to recognize guys who could hurt us and shut them down.

“Chance Sorrell did a great job, just with his defensive assignments. Plugging the paint, shutting down some looks. Defense is the name of the game.

“The great part is, we’ve still got better basketball ahead of us. If you get a win on the road in this league, that’s always a good thing.”

Both teams are back for GMC play on Tuesday. Middletown hosts Hamilton, while Oak Hills hosts Lakota West.

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