Blue Devils’ season ends in loss
DUBLIN — Despite a strong effort, the Danville High School boys basketball team saw its season come to an end on Thursday night. The Blue Devils were defeated by Harvest Preparatory, 77-48, at Dublin Scioto High School. The Blue Devils managed to push the Warriors at times, but lacked the depth and fire power that was needed to make the big push.
“(Harvest Prep) is certainly a great team with a lot of depth,” said Danville head coach Jason Crawford. “They were able to bring in a lot of players off of the bench that were extremely athletic and just wore us down.”
The Warriors (20-0) showed off their skills early with an alley oop that brought much of the crowd to its feet. Harvest Prep also added a pair of 3-pointers to grab a 12-4 lead less than three minutes into the game. The Blue Devils (8-13) would keep pace the rest of the way, but still found themselves down, 19-11, at the end of the opening quarter.
Tyler Mowery helped to lead Danville back into the game in the second quarter, as his six points cut a 13-point deficit down to nine. Then the Warriors made their run as they scored the next 13 points of the game, taking a 39-17 lead with points from four different players. That run helped Harvest Prep take a 42-24 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, the Blue Devils chose to slow things down a bit. With help from a pair of treys from B.T. Staats, and another from Devon Balcom, Danville was able to close the gap to 11 with just minutes to play in the final quarter. Once again, however, Harvest Prep made a run. They would score the last nine points of the quarter to take a 61-41 lead.
The run continued into the final period, as Harvest Prep tallied 10 of the 12 points of the half on its way out to a 71-43 lead. Michael Hutchins had 10 points for the Warriors during that span. The Blue Devils were held to three baskets over the final 10 minutes of the game.
“We did manage to slow them down for a bit, but with all of the athleticism they have, you can’t slow them down for long,” said Crawford. “They had some spurts where they really took it to us right after we had pulled within 10 or so. The momentum swung extremely quickly.”
Mowery led the effort for Danville with 11 points and five rebounds. Staats added 13 points on the night. Morton also tossed in nine points, despite missing part of the contest with an ankle injury.
“The seniors all played well tonight. They certainly gave it everything they had,” said Crawford. We had a couple of players make plays at different times. We just got caught playing their game.”
Harvest Prep had two players finish with a double-double. Robert McClure finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on the night. Marquis Mathis added 18 points, 11 rebounds and three steals on the night. Remon Nelson added 21 points and three steals.
The Warriors move on to face the Ridgedale Rockets on Wednesday.
