Ohio Valley men upended by Yellow Jackets
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VIENNA -- An 11-2 spurt midway through the second half here Thursday night inside the Snyder Activity Center helped visiting Cedarville to a season split against Ohio Valley following an 81-65 Great Midwest Athletic Conference victory.
The Yellow Jackets (6-2, 6-2) of head man Pat Estepp used their size to post a 25-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Conner TenHove's double-double featuring game-highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds led the way for CU. Point guard Branden Maughmer also double-doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds while dishing out a game-high five assists. Quinton Green scored a baker's dozen and Jayvon Maughmer came off the bench to hit 3 of 5 triples for part of his 18-point effort.
"We're just so much smaller than everybody we play," noted Fighting Scot head coach Mike Snell, who received double figures in scoring from starters Cameron Shaw (19), Keon Clairborne (15), Parker Black (14) and Christian Alley (14).
"They started a 6-3 point guard and then what did they go, 6-6, 6-7, 6-7 and 6-7. It's tough. We just can't seem to put the ball in the basket here as of late. I don't understand why, but we did have some balanced scoring. That's a positive."
Little was good about the start of the game for OVU (1-8, 1-8), which returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday when Tiffin invades.
Cedarville scored the first nine points of the game as Isaiah Speelman's putback was followed by a Jacob Drees trifecta for a 5-0 start. Following a 3 by Green and consecutive baskets by Grant Whisman and TenHove, the visitors were up 16-3 at the 13:54 mark.
"I mean it's tough, but it's tough for Cedarville, too, playing these games where there are no fans at all," added Snell, whose squad won the first tilt 102-95 back in early December. "It's basically like a practice or a scrimmage. We could kind of tell in the locker room, pregame, it just didn't seem like a lot of energy and it showed the way we started the game.
"I was proud of the way we battled back, but in the second half it was pretty close throughout the second half and there was a two, three, four minute period there where they went on a run and that was the game. They don't miss their free throws (16 of 19) either."
Alley's three-point play via a Vukasin Garic assist made it 16-6 and ignited a 21-8 run for the Fighting Scots, who tied it at 24-all at the 5:47 mark when Jamison Hunt was fouled and converted all three of his charity stripe tosses.
OVU finished 14 of 16 at the line.
Branden Maughmer's lay-in was answered by a driving layup from Clairborne, who had a game-high four steals, to tie it for the last time at 26 apiece.
CU was able to hold a 36-30 halftime advantage thanks in part to eight straight points following Clairborne's basket. TenHove scored from the block and then Jayson Maughmer drained consecutive bombs.
"They are just a solid team," Snell continued. "Preseason we thought they might have the most talent in the conference to be honest. They've gone through some issues with COVID. When we played them earlier in the year we beat them at their place, which was a really good win for us.
"They were short-handed, but we are short-handed, too. We got two of our starters from last year haven't played a minute this year -- Ognjen Vasiljevic and Dylan Harrison. Bobby Foggins is out, too. They are a pretty good team. I really respect that program and I think they do things the right way. I've always thought Pat's done a really nice job over there."
Clairborne had a steal after falling down at midcourt, but managed to heave it ahead to Alley for a layup, which made it 40-38 with 17:11 to go.
A Garic steal later led to a three-point play by Shaw as the hosts still trailed by just two, 48-46, with 12:12 remaining.
However, the 11-2 run was too much to overcome for Ohio Valley. TenHove had a three-point play and Branden Maughmer scored on a take to the hole for the final five tallies of the spurt.
"I was proud of the effort," Snell said. "We just have those lapses here and there."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com