12/16/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - In an important Ohio Division battle Massac County took advantage of the Harrisburg mistakes on Friday night on the road.

Harrisburg committed seven first half turnovers, allowing the Patriots to get separation and a big third quarter by the visitors resulted in a 52-41 win for Coach Joe Hosman as his team evened its conference record to 1-1 and improved to 8-1 overall.

Six-foot junior guard Isaac Hosman led the way with 17 points, including 6-of-10 shooting from the floor while big guys 6-6 senior Ian Higgerson and 6-4 senior Brady Cissell added 10 points each as the two combined for 11 rebounds.

Senior guard Brody Smallman (seven points, six rebounds) and junior Will Harmon (seven points) added to the numbers.

Harrisburg was led by 6-3 junior guard Camron Ande with 17 points and four rebounds for Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's club who saw their mark slip to 1-1 in the Ohio, 3-5 overall.

Six-three senior forward Nate Lawrence ended up with 10 points and 6-3 senior forward Andrew Unthank only had two points but he led all players with 11 rebounds.

But the glaring statistics for both teams showed the real difference.

Massac County committed just six turnovers, with three of them coming late on a couple of mental errors.

Harrisburg was just 1-of-10 from the 3-point line, 17-of-46 overall, in the loss.

“They (Massac) are a well coached team with five starters back and they play within themselves,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “You can't have breakdowns against really good teams like that because they will expose you and that's what happened. A team like that doesn't need much and they get separation. Then you have to play catch up and that is awfully hard to do.”

The Bulldogs never led but stayed close in the first half.

Massac broke on top with Hosman burying a 3-pointer from the right wing which he followed up with a nice drive in the lane for a score.

A fast break basket by Smallman pushed the lead to 7-2 with 3:36 left.

Myles Crank, a 5-11 senior guard, ended up with eight points on the night and his four points in the first quarter helped the cause.

His rebound of his own miss ended the quarter with the Bulldogs down just a point at 9-8.

Massac made the plays they needed to keep the lead all the way to intermission.

Cissell proved to be tough to stop in the lane, converting a three-point play to begin the second.

A cut to the basket by Hosman and a 3-point bomb from Smallman increased the advantage.

Lawrence scored a couple of late second quarter baskets but Hosman added another trey and Smallman connected from the outside as the Patriots went to the break up 22-18.

“We're handling the ball pretty well and making good decisions but we're not shooting the ball very consistent right now,” said Coach Hosman. “We're not taking bad shots, we're just not putting the ball in the hole. We will look at the film, take the 'W' and try to learn from it.”