Thurgood Marshall’s boys basketball coach listened to the noise level in the Wade E. Miller Gymnasium increase as Middletown made its run and turned and smiled to the players on the bench.

“I loved the environment,” Darnell Hoskins said after his Cougars rallied for a 72-54 win to move to 3-0. “I just smiled at them and told them it was time to dig in.”

The Cougars, who led by as many as 20 points in the second quarter, had watched Middletown close the gap to 39-26 at the half. Then Vincent Edwards took over.

Edwards connected on two straight 3-pointers to start a third-quarter run before burying another trey with 1:49 left in the third quarter for a 47-45 lead.

“We came out flat in the second half,” Thurgood’s Mark Alstork said after finishing with 32 points and 10 rebounds. “We thought they had given up, but they punched us in the mouth and we punched them right back.”

A 3 by Khylan Jackson gave the Middies a 50-48 lead less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Alstork led the Cougars back. The senior ran off nine of the next 11 points as Thurgood pushed the lead to 59-50. When the 18-2 run was over, the Cougars had regained their look as the top-ranked Division II team in the state.

“We were lethargic when we came out, I expected it,” Hoskins said of Middletown’s run. “When you are the top-ranked team, you are going to get everyone’s best shot; you can’t take the second half off. You can’t afford it.”

Thurgood jumped to a 18-12 lead after the first eight minutes and pushed the lead to 20, 34-14, on a 3 pointer by Tremayne Hawkins with four minutes left in the half, but Edwards slammed one home off an ally-oop from Jalin Marshall and followed it up with a 3 of his own to cut the 35-24 with 1:31 left in the half.

“We got good looks in the first half,” Middletown coach Josh Andrews said. “Credit their length and athleticism for causing us to miss some, but I thought we got a little gassed late in the game and that is part of their game plan.”

Edwards led the Middies with 23 points and 22 rebounds on another night when the youthful squad faced a top-level foe. Middletown has opened the season with Beavercreek, Lakota West and Thurgood and will entertain Trotwood this weekend.

“This team needs these opportunities,” Andrews said. “They need to play these games and learn from them, it will make us a tough unit soon.”