FREDERICKTOWN — The Fredericktown High School boys basketball team picked up its 10th Mid-Buckeye Conference win of the season on Friday night, while at the same time celebrating the present and getting a glance of the future.
The Freddies faithful honored their four senior players — Ryan Hathaway, Merrit Zollars, Taylor Hitzfield and Alex Douglas — before the game. After that, the Freddies went out and defeated the visiting East Knox Bulldogs, 60-41. The young Bulldogs, however, showed the Freddies that they are no longer pushovers.
Unlike the last time these two teams faced off in Howard earlier this season, the Freddies just could not put the Bulldogs away until the last few minutes of the game.
“East Knox did a great job tonight. It was physical,” Fredericktown coach Kirk Manns said. “I thought that they were quicker than us, especially in the first half. I thought that they were able to take a few things away from us. The biggest thing for them is that they had good energy tonight and they really went after the ball hard.”
The Freddies built up a 28-19 lead at the half, but it was a pair of sophomores leading the way. Thomas Hinkle (18 points, five rebounds, 10-of-10 free throws) had nine first-half points and C.J. Ruhl (five points) hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to carry the Freddies early on. Meanwhile, Hathaway (nine points), Zollars (10 points) and Hitzfield (four points) combined to only hit a pair of field goals in the first half.
“We stuck to what we wanted to do in the first half,” East Knox coach Christian Toombs said. “We wanted to pack in the zone defense, take away the paint area and take away Hitzfield.”
Fredericktown, for its part, keyed on East Knox forward Luke Branstool (10 points, five rebounds), who was held to a single bucket in the first half.
The Bulldogs got a boost from Will Lane (18 points), who hit three first half baskets and grabbed four rebounds.
“Our guards stepped up and played especially well tonight,” said Toombs. “When (Branstool) is held to 10 points and only a bucket in the first half, we are going to struggle a little bit. I thought that we stayed with it defensively and that is what kept us in the game.”
Early in the second, Branstool grabbed a missed free throw by teammate Devin Wears (three points) and hit the bucket to put the Bulldogs within six, 28-22. Lane hit a jumper and a three to cut the Freddies lead to 32-28 with less than three minutes to go in the third. Later, Branstool’s offensive rebound and bucket at the end of the third kept the Bulldogs close, 34-30.
“We did a nice job,” said Toombs, “I thought that the first three quarters that we did a nice job of boxing out, sharing the ball, and getting the ball down the floor.”
It was in the fourth that the Freddies began to find themselves and the Bulldogs began get tired. With 3:30 to go in the game, Ruhl hit a free throw, got a steal on the ensuing possession and missed a layup. Hinkle grabbed the rebound and hit the bucket to widen the Freddies lead to 11, 44-33. Douglas added 11 points on the night.
“Thomas Hinkle took up some scoring slack tonight and he had a big night scoring,” said Manns. “Alex Douglas got in double figures tonight, Merrit got some big foul shots down the stretch and Ryan and Taylor were on the floor getting the things done that we needed them to do. Night in and night out somebody picks up the slack.”
“Thomas has gotten better and beter from day one,” added Manns. “I don’t know if he will get to the point where he will peak this year. I don’t know if we will have enough time because he keeps getting better and better every day and every game.”
Earlier in the evening, the Fredericktown jayvee squad pulled out a double overtime win over East Knox, 44-43. Tony Lybarger scored 16 for the Freddies, while Quentin Cottrell led the Bulldogs with 27 points.
The Bulldogs will host Cardington on Tuesday at 6 p.m., while the Freddies will travel to Utica on Friday at 6 p.m. for their regular-season finale.