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MINFORD — Coming into the season, it was anticipated that South Webster and Minford would play in two matchups for superiority in not only the SOC III, but also in Southern Ohio.
With the Jeeps entering Friday evening ranked third in the state in Division VII, and the Falcons ranked second in the state in Division V, the first battle between the two heavyweights drew a turn away crowd to Minford High School.
In a game holding so much weight, Minford’s Myles Montgomery and Bennett Kayser weren’t going to let their home crowd leave disappointed.
The senior duo combined for 48 of the team’s 57 points and, along with fellow senior Jackson Shoemaker, sparked a 10-0 run to help Minford knock South Webster off the ranks of the unbeaten in a 57-49 victory — giving the Falcons sole possession of first place in the league standings.
“We told the kids that this is what it’s all about. You look in the stands and see that we’re at capacity. You hear that they shut the gym down about 30 minutes before the game. They wouldn’t let anyone else in. That’s what it’s all about,” Minford head coach Josh Shoemaker said. “Both teams played a great game. We’ll see [South Webster] again, but we’ll enjoy this one tonight. We won with defense tonight. Myles and Bennett scored a lot of points tonight, but we told our guys before the game that it would come down to who gets more stops. We just managed to get a couple extra ones in the fourth quarter.”
With both teams entering the game with a combined 26-1 record, the game began as a battle of “anything you can do, I can do better.”
South Webster broke the ice first as Christian White buried a triple at the 6:23 mark, one that was quickly answered by a Myles Montgomery 3-pointer with 5:56 left.
Minford (15-1, 5-0 SOC III) then built the lead to 9-4, but the Jeeps would outscore Minford 8-4 the rest of the way, capped by a banked triple from Eli Roberts to cut the deficit to 13-12 after the first eight minutes.
The Jeeps (14-1, 4-1 SOC III) kept that momentum in the early stages of the second quarter. After Minford came down with a rebound, Beau Stephens stripped it from the ball-handler and cashed in with two points, giving SW a one-point lead.
Minford wasn’t deterred, however.
The Falcons kept working their offense through Montgomery and Kayser and built a 30-23 lead with 1:35 remaining in the half. But South Webster was still very well alive as Stephens and Roberts scored inside on consecutive possessions … with Roberts ending the half with a two-handed slam, cutting Minford’s lead to 30-27 heading into intermission.
Staring at a stalemate, one team needed to come out swinging after the break.
In Minford’s case, they needed someone other than Montgomery or Kayser to step up, and that’s where Jackson Shoemaker came into play.
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
20 seconds in, Montgomery surveyed the floor and fired a cross-court pass to Shoemaker. The senior then spotted up and fired from the left wing and watched it sail in for three points. Those would be Shoemaker’s only points of the night, but his contribution sparked the turning point in the game for his team.
On the following possession, Montgomery connected from downtown to give the Falcons a 36-27 lead, forcing the Jeeps into a timeout. That didn’t halt Minford’s momentum, though.
Shoemaker would then showcase his arm strength and throw a baseball-style pass to Kayser from beyond half court, and Kayser would finish with a reverse layup to push the lead into double digits.
Then, Montgomery scooped up a loose ball and fired it down the floor to Kayser, who flashed down the paint and finished for two more points, capping off a 10-0 run to give the Falcons a 40-27 lead with 6:22 left.
“Those were Jack’s only three points of the game, but that was huge because Myles came down and hit another 3 and they called a timeout. Then they came out and went back to man and gave us a different look,” Josh Shoemaker said. “When team’s come out of the locker room, those first two minutes or so are important to get the energy going. We were up by three and we had the momentum, but we just needed to fine tune the little things. We got three stops in a row and went on a 10-0 run, and those things are what wins ball games.”
The game was far from over, but Minford gave itself some breathing room and took a 46-35 lead into the final quarter.
But, the job was not finished by any means.
Any of the offensive magic Minford had in the third seemed to vanish when the fourth started. The Falcons were unsuccessful on their first six attempts from the field.
South Webster saw that opportunity and took full advantage of it, chipping the deficit down to 46-40 at the 3:35 mark.
However, when South Webster had just a little bit of hope, Minford’s dynamic duo was there to slam the door shut.
With a little over three minutes left to play, Kayser drove to the basket and made a running layup to bump the lead back up to eight. Then, a steal from senior Kade Glockner gave possession back to the Falcons, and Montgomery would return the favor with a step-back 3 to push the lead back to 11 with 2:27 left.
South Webster again went on a 6-0 run, and with 1:19 remaining, saw Minford’s lead brought down to 51-46. But again, Minford had an answer in the form of Montgomery and Kayser.
The two star players knocked down a combined six free throws in the final minute of the game, and Kayser sealed the deal by blocking a SW layup with 14 seconds left — putting the cap on a 57-49 win to put Minford by itself in first place in the SOC III.
“If these two teams were to play ten times, it might be 5-5. [South Webster] made a game of it. They made a run at us and went 1-3-1 in the second half. They stalled us for a couple possessions, we missed some free throws and had some turnovers,” Shoemaker said. “That’s what great teams do. Webster’s a great team and we give credit to them. But I’m proud of my guys. They showed a lot of grit tonight and I felt they really got after it on the defensive end.”
Montgomery finished the night with 26 points while dishing out four assists. Meanwhile, Kayser added another 22 points and 10 boards while blocking three shots.
For the Jeeps, Roberts led the way with 16 points and nine rebounds. Stephens followed with 13 points, White finished with 10 points and Hunter Barnard also chipped in with eight points.
After suffering its first loss of the season, South Webster rebounded with a win over Notre Dame on Saturday. The Jeeps now look towards a date with Waverly on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, after a win over West on Saturday, the Falcons will meet with the Senators again on Tuesday, this time on the West Side.
“We need to have intense focus and take things one day at a time. Tonight was a great win, but we can’t get too high because everyone wants to beat us,” Shoemaker said. “We knocked off an undefeated team, but we were that undefeated team at one point, and Warren knocked us off. We’ll get focused, go play and get ready to go for the rest of the season.”
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