Dec 21, 2024
East Liverpool’s Quintin Conrad shoots past Union Local’s Brody Gregor and Brody Kerns on Friday at Potter Fieldhouse. (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage)
EAST LIVERPOOL — Coming off its first loss of the season to St. Clairsville on Tuesday, the talented East Liverpool boys basketball team came out on fire Friday night and rolled to an impressive 76-47 win over a one-loss Union Local team at the Potter Fieldhouse.
“Obviously we wanted to bounce back after a tough loss to St. Clairsville where I thought we had a chance to win, up five with four minutes to go,” said East Liverpool coach Kade Reynolds. “But these kids hate to lose, and it was right back to business the next day to get better because we knew Union Local is a great team and they’re really well coached, so we knew we had to be prepared tonight.”
East Liverpool improves to 7-1 on the season, while Union Local is now 5-2.
The veteran Potters, who have nine seniors on their roster, were impressive at both ends of the court against the Jets.
Offensively, East Liverpool had four players in double figures, led by senior sharpshooter guard Nate Birch, who took game-scoring honors with 18 points including four of East Liverpool’s 12 three-pointers on the night. Teammate Quintin Conrad added 14 points with a trio of treys, while Cohen Pease finished with 13 points with three triples and Owen Fredritz had one of his best overall games as a Potter with 12 points including a three-ball.
“We were not trying to catch another ‘L’ back-to-back, so we knew what we had to do best to win,” said Birch. “We did a lot of shooting in practice yesterday, trying to get our flow.”
“Balance is great, when we have balance like that, we’re going to be really, really tough to beat,” said Reynolds. “Any one of our guys can spark that, and tonight it was Nate Birch and tomorrow it could be Cohen (Pease) or Q (Quintin Conrad) or D’Shawn (Kirby).”
Defensively, the Potters’ quick, aggressive pressure forced 18 turnovers out of the Jets.
“That (quick, aggressive defense) is the name of our game, that’s our identity,” said Reynolds. “There’s no way to hide it, we want to try to shut people down on defense. I think that’s contradictory to what a lot of people thought we were going to be but this team is gritty and they just love to play defense. Defense is going to get a banner in the end and that’s what we need to do.”
“We like to get out and run in transition, so we have to create turnovers and see what happens,” stated Birch.
The Potters also featured an outstanding nine-rebound performance by physical senior forward D’Shawn Kirby.
Union Local placed one player in double figures as Brandon Mehl had 13 points and Billy Schumacher and Colby Carpenter finished with nine markers apiece.
With Birch hitting a trio of three-pointers in the first period, the Potters jumped out to a 16-13 lead after one.
The East Liverpool barrage from long range continued in the second quarter. The Potters hit seven treys in the first half and took as much as a 16-point (32-16) second-quarter advantage, following a traditional three-point play by Conrad with 3:23 showing before halftime. Union Local trimmed the deficit to as little as eight points (35-27) before Birch, who led the Potters in the first half with 11 points, converted a layup just before intermission to give East Liverpool a 10-point (37-27) lead at the break. Fredritz had eight points at half.
The Potters outscored the Jets 20-14 in the third quarter to take a 57-41 lead entering the final stanza.
East Liverpool then blitzed the Jets 19-6 in the final frame to close things out while taking its largest lead of the evening at 29 points (76-47) at game’s end.
Game notes
¯ East Liverpool rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to clip the Jets, 45-43, in the junior varsity contest.
East Liverpool will host a triple header on Saturday with the Potter varsity girls team playing Wellsville at 11 a.m., with East Liverpool and Salem’s JV boys playing at 1:30. The Potter and Quaker varsity boys teams will then tip off at approximately 3 p.m.
“They flexed it because of the Ohio State (playoff game) which is good because it hopefully gets the crowd up,” said Reynolds. “It will be a good county matchup for the girls team and then a good county matchup for us.”
¯ Union Local will host the Barnesville Shamrocks in their next game Monday evening.
U: 13-14-14- 6–47
E: 16-21-20-19–76
UNION LOCAL SCORING: Brandon Mehl 5-0-13, Jacob Stroud 0-0-0, Levi Lucas 0-0-0, Colby Carpenter 3-0-9, Dylan Verbeck 0-0-0, Logan Hess 0-0-0, Brody Gregor 3-0-7, Billy Schumacher 3-2-9, Peyton Cousby 3-0-6, Brody Kerns 1-1-3, Bobby Boone 0-0-0, Bam Porter 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 18, 3-13: 47.
EAST LIVERPOOL SCORING: Gavin Wright 1-0-2, Blake Adkins 3-0-6, Nate Birch 7-0-18, Quintin Conrad 5-1-14, Owen Fredritz 4-3-12, Julius Jones 3-0-6, Dre’Keim Abercrombie 1-0-2, D’Shawn Kirby 1-1-3, Maddox Roach 0-0-0, D. Brown 0-0-0, Cohen Pease 5-0-13, E. Fitch 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 30, 5-9: 76.
Three-point goals: Union Local 8 (Brandon Mehl 3, Colby Carpenter 3, Brody Gregor 1, Billy Schumacher 1). East Liverpool 11 (Nate Birch 4, Cohen Pease 3, Quintin Conrad 3, Owen Fredritz 1).
Total fouls: Union Local 10, East Liverpool 12. Fouled out: none.
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