ANSONIA — The Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks went on the road Tuesday night and earned a hard-fought 44-34 conference boys varsity basketball win over Ansonia.
“We’ll take it,” said Mississinawa Valley coach Jeff Vaughn. “We know when we play Ansonia it’s always going to be a game. Throw the records out the door — it’s always competitive. It’s nice to go on the road and get a conference victory.”
Ansonia coach Josh Moore echoed that sentiment following another physical conference matchup.
“We have a lot of athletic guys,” Moore said. “We played hard defense and we locked up on Cing — that was our goal all night, to keep him within range.”
The opening quarter was a defensive battle, with Mississinawa Valley holding a slim 8-7 lead after one period. Caden Hanes paced the Blackhawks early with a 3-pointer and a free throw for four points.
Ansonia briefly grabbed a 9-8 lead at the 4:44 mark of the second quarter before the teams traded baskets. A Jaxin Beanblossom layup put MV back in front, 10-9, but Karsen Weiss answered to give the Tigers an 11-10 edge. The Blackhawks then put together a key run, getting back-to-back baskets from Cing Scott and a layup from Cole McGlothlin to take a 16-11 lead with 2:29 remaining, prompting an Ansonia timeout.
“Cole McGlothlin stepped up and gave us some great minutes, and Jaxin Beanblossom helped us,” Vaughn said. “Jaxin had a couple rough weekends and I told him his time would be coming — and he and Cole stepped up.”
Beanblossom knocked down a jumper to make it 18-11 late in the half, but Ansonia closed strong with a Carson Tobe basket and two Graham Coppess free throws, sending the teams to the locker room with Mississinawa Valley holding an 18-15 halftime lead.
The Tigers edged the Blackhawks 8-7 in the third quarter behind balanced scoring, getting two points each from Tobe, Jacob MacNutt, Graham Coppess, and Jacob Schmitmeyer. Mississinawa Valley countered with an Elliott Seubert 3-pointer, two free throws from Ashton Amspaugh, and a basket from Kyle Wehrkamp, maintaining a narrow 25-23 advantage heading to the final frame.
“Karsen Weiss played a big defensive role for us tonight,” Moore said. “He did a tremendous job.”
Ansonia scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, connecting on four field goals and going 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, but Mississinawa Valley sealed the win at the charity stripe. The Blackhawks went an impressive 13-of-15 from the line in the final period while adding three two-point field goals to pull away for the 10-point conference win. Hanes and Beanblossom were each perfect 4-for-4 at the line in the fourth quarter.
“They got on the offensive glass,” Vaughn said. “They play hard. Coach Moore has them playing really hard, and his kids can play. They’re going to keep getting better as the year goes on.”
Tobe led Ansonia — and all scorers — with 10 points. Mississinawa Valley received balanced production, placing two players in double figures with nine points apiece and two others scoring eight points.
Both teams will take several days off for the Christmas holiday before returning to action.
“We’re going to take tomorrow off,” said Coach Moore. “Christmas is very important for us – to spend some time with family. We know the reason for the season, and that’s the LORD. We’ll come back Friday morning ready to go.”
“We have a 10-day break, which I’m not a huge fan of,” Vaughn added, “but with sickness and guys playing a lot of minutes, we probably need it. We’ll enjoy Christmas with our families and get back to work on Friday.”
BOX SCORE:
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 44, ANSONIA 34
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – C. McGlothlin 9, C. Scott 9, C. Hanes 8, J. Beanblossom 8, K. Wehrkamp 5, E. Seubert 3, A. Amspaugh 2 – TOTALS 11 16-19 2 44
ANSONIA – C. Tobe 10, G. Coppess 9, J. MacNutt 4, K. Weiss 4, J. Schmitmeyer 3, C. Riffle 2 – TOTALS
3-POINTERS
Mississinawa Valley 2 (C. Hanes 1, E. Seubert 1)
Ansonia 0
SCORE by QUARTERS
08-10-07-19 44 Mississinawa Valley
07-08-08-11 34 Ansonia
