UNION CITY – The Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks earned a senior night upset victory over the visiting Preble Shawnee Arrows 41-35 in Friday night WOAC play.
“I told the guys in the locker room tonight, ‘let’s shock the world’ because nobody is giving us a chance but us coaches and us players,” said Mississinawa Valley Coach Jeff Vaughn. “Hats off to Preble Shawnee. They’re a good team, and we needed this quality win. Yes, we have eight on nine wins, but we never beat a team with a winning record, so this is huge for our kids and our program right now.”
“That’s one of my top five wins, and I’ve had the opportunity to go to a state final as an assistant,” added Vaughn. “I’m so proud of these kids. They battled, they were undersized, it was like sophomores in college against freshmen, and our kids didn’t back down.”
The Arrows brought an 8-1 WOAC record to town, but their hopes of winning back-to-back WOAC league titles were dashed by a disappointing loss to the young Hawks team.
The teams played to a 6-6 standoff after one-quarter of play, with Cing Scott, Ethan Grow, and Ben Hamilton each knocking down a Blackhawks basket.
“Ethan Grow did his job,” Coach Vaughn said of his senior. “Ethan is one of those kids; I said you rebound, you play defense, you’re going to play, and Ethan did that tonight. I am proud of him; it’s senior night … what a way to go out against a really good team.”
Preble Shawnee was two better in the second period, outscoring Mississinawa Valley 10-2. The teams went to the break with the visitors holding a 16-14 advantage. Scott scored six Hawks points, including a 3-pointer.
Mississinawa 5’7” freshman Cole McGlothin paced the Hawks with six third-quarter points with the home-standing Blackhawks winning period No. 3 by a 12-10 count, and the teams knotted at 26-26 with one period remaining.
With the Hawks holding a slim 37-35 lead with under a minute to play, 6’6” freshman Ben Hamilton stepped to the line to calmly knock down back-to-back free throws, and freshman Cole McGlothin followed, going 2-2 at the charity stripe to seal the six-point Mississinawa Valley upset win.
“Cing Scott stepped up, all of them stepped up; Cole McGlothlin, everybody, whoever got out there gave us minutes,” Coach Vaughn stated. “We went to a freshman, Colton Hiestand who hasn’t seen the floor yet when Ben Hamilton got his second foul … I didn’t think Ben was going to play, he’s been sick all day. They’re resilient; that’s all I can say.”
The game was played before a packed house following a 69-10 Lady Blackhawks varsity win over the Preble Shawnee Lady Arrows.
“A couple of my starters were like, we’re nervous; there’s not a seat empty in this place,” Vaughn noted. “I said, ‘guys that’s what we’re playing for, that’s why we do this, that’s why we want it to be this way.’ That was great, especially in front of a crowd like this.”
Coach Vaughn talked about his coaching staff following the conference win.
“They’re here every day busting their butt; these guys watch film,” he said. “We have a good staff. It’s not about me, it’s not about us, but you have to have a good staff. If you don’t have a good staff you can trust, you’re going nowhere. So proud of all these guys, staff, kids, everybody.”
“This is one of those wins that can propel your program to the next level, and the kids understand that too,” Coach Vaughn concluded. “The kids are resilient; they made plays when they needed to. Hats off to my kids. I did nothing but help guide them, and they made the plays.”
BOXSCORE:
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY 41, PREBLE SHAWNEE 35
MISSISSINAWA VALLEY – C. Scott 17, C. McGlothlin 8, B. Hamilton 8, C. Hanes 6, E. Grow 2 – TOTALS 16 6-8 1 41
PREBLE SHAWNEE – B. Morton 13, B. Robinette 10, B. Foxbower 8, B Dorrel 3, I. Blankenship 1 – TOTALS 9 8-11 3 35
3-POINTERS
Mississinawa Valley 1 (C. Scott 1)
Preble Shawnee 3 (B. Morton 2, B. Dorrel 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
06-08-12-15 41 Mississinawa Valley
06-10-10-09 35 Preble Shawnee
