SOUTH DAYTON - Pine Valley (9-5, 6-3) caught a big break as three Maple Grove Red Dragon (14-2) players were not in the lineup Friday night, helping the Panthers to a 71-64 victory in CCAA Division 3 boys' high school basketball action.
"It was a huge win," Pine Valley coach Chris Buczek said of handing the Red Dragons their second loss of the season.
The Panthers used momentum from a big 23-point first quarter to outscore the Red Dragons 17-9 in the second quarter to take a 40-28 halftime lead.
"Going into halftime up by 12, I think we were surprised we were up by that much but excited," Buczek said. "The third quarter was slow for us."
Jason Howard gave Pine Valley a spark at the end of the third quarter with two big 3-pointers to give the home team momentum heading into the fourth quarter. There, the host team was able to hold off Maple Grove from cutting into the lead.
Brendan Bentham had his finest game of the season as he poured in 25 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Ed Barnes had 17 points and 14 rebounds to spark the Panthers to victory.
"Patiently, we have been waiting for games like this from Brendan," Buczek said. "It was the biggest game of his career. I know they are missing three stars but that is a great team," Buczek said of Maple Grove. "Its' exciting to see them play like that."
Jason Pembridge led Maple Grove with 22 points while Cage Milliman had 18 and Skyler Lidell had 14 in a losing effort. Lidell also had 10 rebounds while Alex Grace had eight assists and five steals.
North Collins 45, Franklinville 28
NORTH COLLINS - The Sherman brothers, Kyle and Vinny, helped the North Collins Eagles (7-7, 4-6) to a 45-28 win over CCAA Division 3 boys' basketball foe Franklinville (2-12, 1-8) Friday night, at North Collins.
"The Sherman brothers are really starting to jell in the backcourt," North Collins' coach Bill Weidner said. "And they are starting to take the game over offensively and defensively."
Vinny Sherman had nine points, nine rebounds and five assists while Kyle added 11 points and five assists in the win for the Eagles, which built a 22-14 halftime lead and held Franklinville to two points in the third quarter to open a 33-16 lead.
Also for North Collins, Jarred Keppel had a team-high 14 points while Chris Zymowski added 11 points and eight rebounds.
For Franklinville, Jake Reynolds had a team-high 13 points.
