Physical Lakers sink Pirates
By Aaron LaBatt
Bellefontaine Examiner Staff Writer

There was no ring, bell or ropes in Tuesday’s meeting between Indian Lake and host Riverside, but it was every bit of a heavyweight boxing match.

The Lakers earned a physical 68-54 win over the Pirates in a non-league contest. The two teams combined for 39 fouls.

Indian Lake (10-6) gained a sizable lead on Riverside (8-10) in the first half, but the host squad was able to battle back to trail by four points (37- 33) at halftime.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” said Indian Lake head coach Chad Mossing. “We got up (in the first half) and then didn’t have the mental edge after that. We had some unforced errors on our part, but we were able to get those fixed.”

With high emotions and physical defense played by both teams, Mossing was left very pleased with how his squad battled for four quarters.

“We were able to stop them without our hands and that’s how you play defense,” said Mossing. “We also won the battle of the boards and that was a key to victory for us.”

“They were just the better team,” said Riverside head coach Nathan Millice. “They just handled the pressure better than we did. I like Chad and he is a good coach. We know we need to play bigger and harder.”

The Lakers led 22-14 after the opening stanza and held an 11-point lead at one point. Riverside managed to dig itself out by outscoring Indian Lake 19-15 in the second period. But that still left the Lakers ahead 37-33 at halftime.

Indian Lake did not let Riverside’s rally continue in the second half. The Lakers gradually pulled away over the final two quarters.

“We got into some foul trouble in the second half,” said Millice. “It felt like they rebounded better than we did.”

Jared Troyer had a big night for Indian Lake with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Stacy Jones and Keith Money each had 14 points to aid the Indian Lake victory.

“Those guys are good leaders and are getting better handling the ball,” said Mossing. “They were able to break down their defense on dribble penetration. They made the right passes and took good shots.”

Millice was happy to see senior Aaron Moffitt go out with a strong performance on senior night. He scored 16 points and tallied seven rebounds. Ethan Snapp had 12 points along with four assists and three steals.

“Moffitt stepped up for us,” said Millice. “It was nice to see him have a big night like this as a senior. Ethan played well again, too. He does a good job of leading the team.”

The Lakers’ junior varsity team won 67-58 with Russ Hogue scoring 18 points. Kyle Herron and Drew McFarlin led the Pirates with 13 points each.

The Lakers won the freshman game 48-32. Cory Arbogast led Indian Lake with 12 points, while Bryce Hodge had 10 for Riverside.

Both squads are in league action Friday. Indian Lake hosts Urbana in a Central Buckeye Conference matchup. Riverside travels to Waynesfield- Goshen for a Northwest Central Conference meeting.