Olentangy Berlin holds off River Valley rally in boys basketball

DELAWARE ― Bookended between the first quarter and the final two minutes of the game, River Valley accounted for itself nicely.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, the less-than-good 10 minutes outweighed the better 22 minutes at Olentangy Berlin Tuesday night in a boys basketball season opener for both squads. The Bears held on to beat RV 69-59.

"I just told them that if we played with the same grit that we played with toward the end in that run at the beginning of the game, we’re not in that situation. The situation is different," RV coach Rodney Brown said.

Tied at 5-5, Berlin went on a 7-0 run and then made it 16-9 to force a River Valley timeout with 3:24 left in the first quarter as four turnovers led to easier opportunities for the Bears. RV's Carson Smith managed to get a dunk out of the timeout, but Berlin finished with a 10-4 run to take a 26-15 lead into the second period.

"It was our first game. It was their first game, too," Brown said. "They’re a good team. We knew it. We play them every year. It was like this last year. It was close and then they pulled away from us."

A Carson Myers drive cut the lead to 28-22 early in the second period when RV pulled out a zone defense to get the Bears out of rhythm, but within a 90-second stretch midway through the period, Berlin rebuilt the lead to 37-22.

Nevertheless, RV refused to go quietly. A Brock Mosher 3-pointer at the buzzer made it a more manageable deficit at halftime, trailing Berlin 39-28.

The Vikings cut it to six points in the third period. Another Mosher 3-pointer then sliced it to five points early in the fourth period, and moments later Smith netted a 3-ball to cut it to 54-52 with under six minutes left. Mosher tied it with a steal of an inbound pass and transition layup with 5:03 left.

Berlin answered to take a 58-54 lead with three minutes left, and Myers gave the Vikes one last gasp with a 3-pointer from out top to cut it to one point, but the Bears pulled away in the final two minutes.

"They fought and never quit and that’s what I ask for them every night," Brown said. "They did do that. I was proud of their fight and how hard they played. We just dug a hole. We got out of the hole and then we dug another one."

In the final two minutes, a turnover led to an intentional foul on the ensuing fastbreak and the free throws and score on the possession put the Bears up 63-57. Another turnover and two more free throws from Berlin essentially put it away at 65-57 with 1:45 left.

"There were a lot of empty possessions," Brown said. "Even in the third quarter when we’re making the run, we get a stop and empty and get a stop and empty and then they hit a 3 and then you’re fighting again. We were fighting the entire time from behind. When we finally caught up, maybe we were out of gas."

While RV had eight players see extensive minutes in its rotation, only four scored. Myers led with 25 points, while Smith added 18 and Mosher 12.

"We’ve got good shooters, but we had four guys score — four," Brown said.

The coach knows teams are going to key on Smith, an All-Ohio wing, and Myers, who plays inside and out. He also knows they are up for the challenge.

"They’re going to have to be (good) and everybody’s going to see that," he said. "It was Brock (scoring) tonight. Chase Ebert is going to have to chip in there a little bit. We need Blake (Mosher) and Sawyer (Weston) and X (Hensel) and (Ayden) Kenney to do the same. They had good minutes tonight. All those guys I thought gave us good minutes, but we just didn’t get any buckets out of them."

Despite the disappointment of losing, Brown liked what he saw in those solid 20 minutes that were bookended by less than stellar play at the start and finish of the game.

"I was super proud of their effort, and they never gave up and never quit," he said.

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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