Lancers down Green in sectional final
Mar. 3—STEWART — For the Green Bobcats, Saturday night's Division IV sectional championship tilt at Federal Hocking was a microcosm of their entire season.
That's because the Bobcats, under first-year head coach Scott Blankenship, could score points at will —but simply struggled to stop upper-echelon teams.
Case in point again on Saturday night —as the third-seeded and host Lancers lit up the Bobcats for 94 points, and defeated Green 94-70 inside Federal Hocking High School's McInturf Gymnasium.
For the 14th-seeded and underdog Bobcats, which ended their season at 10-11, they fell short once again in the sectional championship game.
It was also the third time this season that a squad scored at least 94 points against Green, as New Boston (102 and 94 points) did it twice.
But this time, the Bobcats saw their season conclude.
The Lancers lit up the scoreboard for 31-first period points, followed by quarters of 25 and 22.
Green trailed 31-15 at the first stop, 56-34 at halftime, and 78-53 following three frames.
Nine Bobcat names appeared in the scorebook and four scored, but only one truly stood out.
That was sophomore scoring machine Levi Sampson, who erupted for 39 of Green's 70 points.
Sampson poured in 14 total field goals including a fourth-quarter three-pointer, and meshed 10 of his dozen free-throw attempts.
Sampson scored only one basket in the opening quarter, which partially aided in the Bobcats falling behind 31-15.
Ethan Huffman had 15 points on five baskets and 5-of-6 freebies, as Levi Blevins and Wiley Sanders scored eight points apiece —featuring four deuces from Sanders and two treys by Blevins.
The Lancers landed 11 three-point goals in the win, including four players with a pair apiece.
Elijah Lucas led the winners with a team-high 20 points, as Wes Carpenter pitched in another 18.
Both Lucas and Carpenter collected eight field goals apiece, including each with two trifectas.
Lane Smith sank two triples as well —en route to 10 points.
Despite Green going to the charity stripe 19 times and making 15, Federal Hocking held a sizable 39-26 total field goals advantage.
Green graduates four seniors — Huffman, Sanders, Levi Singleton and Dawson Damron.
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