Medomak Valley boys’ basketball team roared to a 61-47 win over Lincoln Academy in Newcastle Dec. 22. With the win, Medomak improves to 4-1. The loss is Lincoln’s fourth straight (1-4).
Panther 6’7″ junior starter John Murray was unable to play. He is expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee injury. Medomak stepped up in his absence, with the Greenrose twins providing 32 points, and the bench chipping in a healthy portion as well. The Panther’s defense held Lincoln’s leading scorer Ryley Leavitt to just two points.
The 1st half featured an exciting match-up between the two county rivals. The Panthers jumped out to a 6-1 lead, before the Eagles soared back to take a 15-11 lead with a minute to play. Jon Hendrickson-Belloguet stole the ball and hit a shot at the buzzer to pull the Panthers within one, 15-14 at the break.
Lincoln’s Leavitt twins picked up their third foul each in the second period. Medomak rattled off the first seven points of the 2nd frame to build a six-point lead. Jalen Lincoln cut it to four with 4:45 to go in the half, but that was as close as the Eagles would come, as the Panthers went on a tear, to take a 31-24 lead at the half.
Medomak scored the first six points of the 2nd half to boost their lead to 13. They went on to outscore the Eagles 18-6 in the frame to put the game away early, 49-30 at the end of three.
Frustrated with his starters, coach Chris McKenney went deep to his bench in the 4th quarter, and Lincoln out scored Medomak 17-12 to cut the lead to 14.
Scoring for Medomak were Isaac Greenrose 21 (4R,5S,4A), Alex Greenrose 11, Shane Osier 8 (5R,2S,2A), Tyler Isidro 6, H-Belloguet 6 (2R,2S), Ryan Ripley 6 (3R), Zach Judkins 2 (3R,2S), and Russell Wood 1. Robbie Griffin had five rebounds.
Freshman Travis Creamer led the Eagles in scoring with 9, sophomore AJ Oliver added 6, Jalen Lincoln 6 (3R,3A), Dylan Leavitt 5 (3R), Merrit Wotton 5 (6R), Caleb Farrin 4 (3R), Seward Matel 3 (5R), Devin Scherer 3, Tom Masters 2, Ryley Leavitt 2 (4R) and Nic Phinney 2 (6R).
