Mississinawa Valley Boys Basketball falls in season opener to Fairlawn

369
Jeff Vaughn returned to coach the Mississinawa Valley Boys Basketball team, the young Hawks cold shooting and inexperience played a factor late in the game falling to Fairlawn 51-37.  (Dale Barger photo)

UNION CITY, OH – The Mississinawa Valley Boys Basketball team opened their 2024-25 season at home with a familiar face returning to the bench to lead the charges.  For three quarters the home team battled strong … but youth and inexperience played a factor in the Hawks 51-37 loss as Fairlawn pulled away in the 4th quarter.

Returning to coach after 15 seasons at Fort Recovery, is Jeff Vaughn, who led the Hawks from 2005-2009 and was coach of the year in 2006-07.

Coach Vaughn knows that with a young team patience is required and lots of teaching and hard work is ahead of them.

Mississinawa Valley youth will be on full display this year as they have just two seniors Ethan Grow and Nick Ward, zero juniors, seven sophomores and two freshmen.

Starting for the Hawks were Sophomores Caden Hanes, Ashton Amspaugh, Cing Scott, Connor Hardy and freshman Ben Hamilton.

Caden Hanes was able to score on a reverse lay-up, he had 6 points in the game. (Dale Barger photo)

It would be a low scoring first half with both teams  struggling to score early.  Mississinawa got on the board first on a fielder from Caden Hanes followed by a fielder and free throw from Ben Hamilton for a 5-0 lead at the 4-minute mark.

Fairlawn answered by being a bit more aggressive attacking the man-to-man defense and kicking the ball. They connected on three triples and held the Hawks scoreless the rest of the quarter to lead 13-5 at the end of the frame.

The Hawks however stepped it up on defense and held Fairlawn scoreless in the 2nd quarter and was a positive area to build on for the young team.

Hanes scored two more buckets and Cing Scott the only returning lettermen scored on a short jumper and a free throw.  Ben Hamilton got to the charity stripe to add 4 free throws and by way of an 11-0 quarter the Hawks led at the break 16-13

Fairlawn was able to tie the game early 3rd quarter at 19 … but over the course of the frame the Jets regained the lead and expanded it to 26-19 before a Ben Hamilton lay-up at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Freshman Ben Hamilton scores inside and had 13 in the game. (Dale Barger photo)

“Our first two possessions in the third quarter, we come out and turn it over on unforced errors and It’s what you can’t do when you’re young  and battling,” coach Vaughn stated.

“I really thought that was kind of the turning point of the game, and set the tone for the second half, to be honest, it did, and unfortunately, we couldn’t make a shot,” Vaughn added.

Sophomore Jaxin Beanblossom takes a shot to end the first half from deep. (Dale Barger photo)

Fairlawn outscored the Hawks 15-5 for a 26-21 lead heading into the final frame.

Fairlawn would expand the lead 35-25 and Mississinawa was forced to go full court pressure to try and generate turnovers and easy buckets.

The pressure worked but the Hawks were cold shooting from the outside with shots not falling.  Scott tried to put the team on his back forcing action by going to the basket.

Cing Scott had 13 points for the Blackhawks and tried to generate scoring opportunities when the team went cold in the 3rd quarter. (Dale Barger photo)

He scored 8 of his game high 13 points in the period and got help from Ben Hamilton (also 13 points in game) and freshman Cole McGlothlin with 4 points each for their most productive scoring frame of 16 points.

But they couldn’t keep pace with the Jets 23 points mostly from the free throw line as MV was forced to foul.  Fairlawn was 13-for-16 from the stripe in the period and would win the game 51-37.

“I thought we played hard, we couldn’t make a shot we had a lot of underclassmen errors at times.. And young team mistakes and just going to have to have some patience,” Vaughn said after the game.

Coach Vaughn tries to plead his case as the action heated up in the 2nd half. (Dale Barger photo)

“It feels good to be back and I thought the crowd was good … but I really wanted to get that “W” for these kids for that first game out, but it never happened. And, you know, we just got to keep working each day,” Vaughn shared.

Mississinawa won’t have much time to rebound as they will host their ST RT 47 rival Ansonia on Tuesday.

The Tigers are in a similar situation as the Blackhawks very young and lost their first time out 39-35 at Covington.

“I told our guys I can’t fault their effort … but we got to rebound for Tuesday because Ansonia is a very young, a hungry squad, just like us, and it’s going to be a battle,” Vaughn concluded.

Freshman Cole McGlothin scored 4 points in the 4th quarter for the Hawks. (Dale Barger photo)

Box Scores

Team Scoring

Mississinawa 05 … 11 … 05 … 16 – 37

Fairlawn              13 … 00 … 15 … 23 – 51

Individual Scoring

MV: Caden Hanes 0-3-0/0 – 6, Ashton Amspaugh 0-0-1/4 – 1, Scott Cing 0-4-5/6 – 13,
Ben Hamilton 0-3-8/10 – 13, Caden Hanes 0-2-0/0 – 4, Totals 0-12-14/20 – 37

Fairlawn: Elliot 5, Withrow 10, Meddy 20, Clayton 2, Davis 7, Hershberger 2, Ennis 5:
Totals 5-10-16/21 – 51

Sophomore Connor Hardy take a deep corner three late in the game.  The Hawks battled but came up short in the end. (Dale Barger photo)