Physical Johnstown wears out West M
FALLS TOWNSHIP — An early timeout stirred Johnstown to life on Friday night.
The Johnnies overcame a slow start and leaned on its tough-nosed defense in earning a hard-fought 48-33 victory over host West Muskingum.
Johnstown coach Max Shawver noted his team had been sluggish out of the gate in recent games so the stoppage was a wake-up call to his squad.
“We’ve started slow, but we were able to flip the switch to get going tonight,” Shawver noted. “They’re a disciplined team with their Princeton offense. (Jack Porter) is a good player, and his quickness can be challenging, but we made our adjustments and limited their offense.”
Back-to-back 3s by Brady Barb and Drew Brett out of the timeout provided the spark for the Johnnies (5-4), who led 10-9 after one quarter.
Porter gave the Tornadoes the early lead in the second with a layup and a 3 for a 14-10 edge, but the Johnnies’ Caleb Schneider found his shooting touch, scoring 12 of his team-high 19 points during that stanza.
He had seven straight in a 9-0 run that was capped by a Clayton Gearhart hoop to make it 19-14 Johnstown.
After West (7-2) closed to 19-18 on hoops by Gage Newsom and Noah Ray, Schneider answered with a bucket and a 3, which came off a Cody Siegfried steal, in the final 15 seconds of the first half to put Johnstown up 24-18 at the break.
Seeing the 6-1 senior find a rhythm was a positive sign for Shawver.
“He has struggled and he would tell you the same thing, but we were able to get out in transition and drive and kick,” he said. “Caleb was able to set his feet then catch and shoot. He was back to himself tonight.”
Schneider’s play carried over to the third. He scored down low after a five-shot possession for the Johnnies to open the quarter then followed with his third triple to make it 29-20.
The Tornadoes scored on their next two possessions behind Ray and Porter to close to 29-24, but a six-point possession allowed the Johnnies to take control. A West M technical was called after a foul that led to two free throws by Gearhart, while Barb split the technical free throws then hit a 3 to close out the possession, making it 35-24.
Johnstown took an 11-point lead, 39-28, into the fourth quarter and never led by less than nine in the final stanza.
The Johnnies held the Tornadoes to 7-of-16 shooting, forced six turnovers and owned a 15-6 advantage on the boards in the second half.
The inability to limit Johnstown’s offensive rebounding and deal with its physicality is what disappointed West M coach Jeff Rinkes. It was the second straight loss for the Tornadoes, who won their first seven games of the season.
Porter finished with 15 points and Ray added 10 for West M, which returns to the court next Friday, hosting undefeated Maysville.
“It comes down to toughness,” Rinkes said. “We’ve faced two teams like Maysville, and they’ve exposed a weakness. We’re not mentally or physically tough right now.”
Gearhart collected nine points, Cody Siegfried added eight and Barb scored seven for the Johnnies, who return to action on Wednesday, hosting Zanesville in Licking County League play.
“We’ve played some Division I schools, and we face a lot of tough competition in our league,” Shawver noted. “Our focus is to continue to work and get better. We need to keep working on those little things.”
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