Pirates blow by Eagles

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WHEELERSBURG — What Wheelersburg boys basketball coach Alex Prater called the Pirates’, “Most intense, physical practice” of their season seemingly helped set the tone for Tuesday night’s 79-48 victory over Eastern in Southern Ohio Conference Division II play.

Not only did the Pirates avenge a 62-59 loss to the Eagles from their fourth game of the season back on Dec. 16, they did so in impressive fashion.

Their 79 points scored were a season-high as nine different Pirates found the scoring column, including nine in double-figures.

“We were very disappointed in our performance on Saturday (55-48 loss at Ironton). We felt like we came back and had a great practice on Monday, credit to our kids for doing that,” Prater said, following the win. “The most intense, physical practice we had was yesterday (Monday) and I felt like that translated over to tonight’s game. We had a lot of guys step up and play big minutes for us. We played 10 guys tonight and each of those 10 contributed.”

Wheelersburg jumped out to a fast start, taking a 7-0 lead in the early stages after a Caleb Arthur layup.

The Pirates led by as many 16 in the first quarter and continued extending their lead over the course of the contest — thanks to defense, rebounding on both ends, and offensive execution.

“We talked about getting back to our identity as Wheelersburg basketball and it’s those things. Defending, rebounding, and moving the ball in transition,” Prater said. “I thought we did all three of those things well and obviously it paid off for us on the scoreboard.”

Senior Jackson Schwamburger led the Pirates with a team-high 20 points coming on seven-made field goals, including a team-best four three pointers, and a pair of free throws.

Sophomore Xander Mowery added 13 points in a reserve role, junior Connor Estep scored 11 on four field goals and a pair of free throws, while freshman Braylon Rucker and senior Caleb Arthur each had 10 points.

“Really proud of Jackson. He’s been fighting through a hip injury, thought tonight he was moving better. Did a good job of controlling the game,” Prater said. “Also really proud of Xander Mowery. He’s not played a ton of minutes for us, but he always does his role. He has a team-first attitude that’s positive, great to see him get in the scoring column in double-digits tonight.”

Eastern senior Neil Leist led all scorers with a game-high 23 points.

Wheelersburg earned their 10th win in 15 games with Tuesday’s 31-point victory over the Eagles, improving to 7-3 in SOC II play.

They’ll travel to Portsmouth West (7-10, 4-8 SOC II) on Friday before hosting Jackson on Saturday in the second night of a back-to-back.

“Another tough SOC game at West — we know we have to come ready to play for that,” Prater said. “Told the kids we have to have two great days of practice to get ready for that, then a quick turnaround with a tough Division II opponent in Jackson who’s playing really well right now.”

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BOX SCORE

Eastern 10 13 12 13 — 48

Wheelersburg 23 20 20 16 — 79

Eastern (9-8, 4-7 SOC II): Tucker Leist 0 0-0 0, Teagan Werner 0 0-0 0, T.J. Richards 4 2-2 10, Jace White 2 0-0 4, Aiden Werner 0 0-1 0, Neil Leist 9 0-0 23, Sherman Salisbury 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Richardson 0 0-0 0, Dylan Morton 1 1-1 3, Brewer Tomlison 3 2-4 8, K.J. Reinsmith 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 19 5-8 48; Three-point field goals: 5 (Neil Leist 5)

Wheelersburg (10-5, 7-3 SOC II): Braylon Rucker 4 0-0 10, Connor Estep 4 2-2 11, Xander Mowery 6 1-2 13, Nolan Wright 0 0-0 0, Jacob Shaw 0 0-2 0, Luke Swords 1 0-0 2, Kenyon Evans 1 1-2 3, Jackson Schwamburger 7 2-2 20, Sommy Doerr 0 0-0 0, Hunter Bivens 0 0-0 0, Landon McGraw 0 0-0 0, Caleb Arthur 4 2-3 10, Logan Adkins 1 0-0 3, Kaden Johnson 1 3-4 5, Zavier Stanley 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 30 11-17 79; Three-point field goals: 8 (Jackson Schwamburger 4, Braylon Rucker 2, Connor Estep and Logan Adkins 1 apiece)

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved

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