New Albany 58, Pickerington North 48
A strong first half paced the Eagles as they remained undefeated in the OCC-Ohio
Written by 270 Hoops Staff Writer Greg Glasser
PICKERINGTON, OH - League play picked back up for the first time since the holiday break and the visiting New Albany Eagles looked to make amends against a Pickerington North team that won the OCC-Ohio last year.
Playing in the same gym where the Panthers defeated the Eagles 58-23 last season, on Friday it was New Albany who never trailed, took a double-digit lead past the halfway mark in the first quarter and held on to that double-digit advantage the entire game as the Eagles defeated the Panthers 58-48 as they remain undefeated and first place in the OCC-Ohio.
What’s not to like about a sizable victory against the defending league champions, right?
Yes, New Albany’s lead was never in doubt, but they were outscored 33-26 in the second half and gave up nine turnovers in the final two periods compared to just one in the first two.
For a team that has legitimate aspirations to reach the Division II state tournament, a win is always the goal, but valuable lessons to learn upon were the main takeaways for an Eagles team that didn’t seem fully satisfied afterwards.
“Overall, our effort was pretty good, but sometimes we don’t play very smart,” New Albany head coach Tim Casey said after the game. “I think I hurt a couple of our guys’ feelings, but that’s ok. Anything I say, you should be saying to yourself and then some. Good players should have a coach inside their head and they should beat themselves up when they aren’t doing what they should be doing.”
In addition to the second half turnovers, Casey pointed out how his team would shoot a three versus running more offensive execution, which allowed a Panthers team to trim a deficit that reached as high as 18 in the third quarter, down to ten late in the fourth.
“That tells me we mentally relaxed,” Casey said. “As much as work on ball security and toughness with the ball, that’s a little disappointing.”
Despite the hard-nosed criticism, the Eagles still won comfortably for a reason. They out-rebounded the Panthers roughly 22-13, dished out nine more assists and had much more balanced scoring as New Albany had their starting five score six or more points, whereas North only had two players score more than four.
To pace the Eagles was junior Kelby Martin, a 6’4 guard and transfer from Zanesville. Martin was especially impressive in the first half, where he scored 13 of his team-high 17 and has developed into a valuable scoring option for New Albany.
