Bulldogs win GRC showdown at Milan, remain tied for 1st place

The Trenton boys, behind 25 points from senior Spencer Harris, pulled away from the Milan Wildcats with a 51 point second half outburst, part of an 82-67 Friday night victory that moves the Bulldogs to 12-4 overall and 5-0 in the Grand River Conference’s Eastern Division (tied with the Putnam County Midgets).

After one quarter of play, the Wildcats held a slight lead (12-11) with a furious pace developing between two up-tempo offenses.  With starting center Connor Cotton on the bench with two fouls, Lathan Croy and Dylan Harris led a second-quarter Trenton surge, coming for 13 points as the Bulldogs took a 31-26 lead to the break.

Croy, in addition to a pair of second-quarter 3 pointers, added two more in the third quarter, and finished with 16 points for the Bulldogs.  Cotton added 15 points (11 in the fourth quarter) for Trenton, while Corbyn Guile had 13.

Milan, dropping to 10-5 overall, and 3-1 in the GRC East, had 19 points from Wyatt Bohle, and 11 points each from freshmen Hunter Shaw and Ryan Dabney.  The Wildcats will host the GRC East co-leading Putnam County Midgets on Tuesday night, in the back-end of a Midget/Wildcat doubleheader on KTTN FM 92.3.

In Friday night’s opener, the Lady Bulldogs rolled to a 15-0 lead after one quarter, and cruised to a 55-23 win at Milan, improving the eighth-ranked (MBCA Class 3) Lady Bulldogs to 14-2 overall, and 5-0 in the GRC East.  Mykah Hurley had 11 points from THS (all in the first half), with Whitley Richman adding 10, and Ainsley Tolson and Ashten Whitaker nine points each.  

Milan, now 7-9 overall, and 1-3 in the GRC East, had 11 points from senior Samantha DeRyke.

The Wildcats have three regular season GRC East doubleheaders remaining before the ‘cross-over’ games against the GRC West on Friday, February 3rd.  Milan will host Putnam County on Tuesday (January 24th), travel to Gallatin on Tuesday, January 31st, and Maysville on Wednesday, February 1st.

Trenton, after participating in the Hamilton Tournament this week, will play at Putnam County on Tuesday, January 31st, and host South Harrison on Wednesday, February 1st.

The Trenton girls received assistance from Gallatin in THS’s drive for an eastern division title, as Gallatin’s girls beat South Harrison 48-43.  That result leaves South Harrison TWO games behind Trenton in the conference standings, taking away the possibility, for the time being, of South Harrison taking the title away from Trenton with a road win on February 1st.  Gallatin remains only one game behind Trenton, but THS beat GHS head-to-head in December for a “tie-break” advantage.

The Gallatin boys, on a 33-foot game-winning three-pointer by Jett Simmons, beat South Harrison 55-53.  The win leaves both Bulldog squads at 2-3 in GRC play.

The Princeton girls, behind 14 points each from Jaelyn Thomas and Payton Goodin, in addition to 10 from Vivian Allen, won at Polo 51-39, moving to 3-2 in conference play, while Polo’s James Fleener set a new school single-game record with 46 points, helping the Panthers to a 64-49 win over the Tigers.

Putnam County’s boys kept pace with Trenton courtesy of a 59-51 victory at Maysville.  The Lady Midgets won the opener over the Lady Wolverines 65-29.

In the GRC West, North Andrew’s boys won a top-10 battle at Braymer, 68-67, with the Lady Cardinals claiming a 45-41 win.  The Stanberry girls and boys swept King City, 47-27 in the girls game and 46-31 for the boys.  The Worth County girls won against Pattonsburg 61-40 with the Tiger boys beating the Panthers, 58-27.  St. Joseph Christian took a doubleheader sweep over Albany, 58-24 for the Lady Lions and 64-34 for the Lions.

The Stanberry girls (5-0) took a half-game lead over King City in the race for the West title.  The North Andrew boys (5-1) hold a half-game lead over second-place Stanberry, although the Bulldogs now own the tie-break, and control their own destiny for the divisional title with three conference games remaining until a potential championship game on February 3rd.

Here are the rest of the area scores from Friday, January 20, 2017:

GIRLS:

Mercer 75, Grundy R-5 30

Mid-Buchanan 66, East Buchanan 63

Hamilton 48, North Platte 28

Plattsburg 60, Lawson 33

East Harrison 48, Tri-County 36

North Harrison 54, Gilman City 45

Osborn 35, Stewartsville 33

BOYS:

Mercer 82, Grundy R-5 35

Mid-Buchanan 56, East Buchanan 46 (OT)

Hamilton 69, North Platte 20

Lawson 67, Plattsburg 51

East Harrison 70, Tri-County 55

North Harrison 51, Gilman City 38

Brashear 46, Newtown-Harris 25

Stewartsville 60, Osborn 37

Cameron 47, LeBlond 43

Maryville 54, Savannah 39

Benton 60, Platte County 53