West Liberty-Salem’s Owen Johnson and Madison Plains’ Dalton Cunningham dive after a loose ball during the second half of their game Tuesday at WL-Salem. (EXAMINER PHOTO | AARON LABATT)
West Liberty-Salem’s boys basketball team fought tooth-and-nail in the second half to edge visiting Greenon 45-44 Tuesday in an Ohio Heritage Conference thriller.
The Tigers improve their record to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the OHC standings. The Eagles even their mark to 3-3, 3-3.
WL-Salem jumped ahead after the first quarter 13-4. Madison Plains made a comeback in the second quarter with a 17-9 run, but that still left the Tigers holding a 22-21 halftime lead.
The Eagles were one point better (11-10) in the third quarter, which tied the game at 32-32. WL-Salem was able to pull out the win in the fourth quarter with a dramatic 13-12 effort.
Nick Burden paced the Tiger offense with 16 points, Logan Saylor had 11 points, Owen Johnson posted nine points and Tanner LeVan added eight points.
In junior varsity action, WL-Salem handled Greenon 62-30.
Andrew Kimball powered the Tigers with 23 points, Matt Jones tallied 18 points, Hayden King had eight points and Miles Hostetler added seven points.
WL-Salem hosts Triad on Saturday in a local OHC game.
WL-SALEM 45
MADISON PLAINS 44
MADISON PLAINS (3-3, 3-3)
Bearden 1 1-3 3; Ernst 3 0-0 6; Sellers 1 3-4 5; Gammell 6 2-2 18; Hunt 1 0-0 2; Garrison 1 1-2 3; Cunningham 2 0-0 5; Bryant 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 7-11 44.
WL-SALEM (5-1, 4-0)
Burden 5 4-8 16; Johnson 3 1-1 9; Brown 0 1-2 1; LeVan 3 0-0 8; Saylor 4 2-3 11. Totals: 15 8-14 45.
EAGLES 4 17 11 12 — 44
TIGERS 13 9 10 13 — 45
Three points: Madison Plains 5 (Gammell 4, Cunningham); WL-Salem 7 (Burden 2, Johnson 2, LeVan 2, Saylor). Team fouls: Madison Plains 16; WL-Salem 15.