HOBSON, STUCKY, ANDERSON LEAD ELYRIA

By William

GREAT BEND – If you take away the sluggish offense in the first quarter, the Elyria Christian boys basketball team played Hanover dead even for the final three quarters but still lost 52-40 in the Class 1A Division II State Championship game last Saturday.

A slow start by the Eagles combined with a 13-0 run by Hanover in the first quarter gave the eventual state champions a commanding 16-4 lead by the end of the first eight minutes of play. Over the final three quarters, the Eagles scored 36 points and Hanover scored 36 points, so that 13-0 run was pretty much the difference in the game.

“We knew the championship game would be tough,” explained Elyria head coach Zach Goodrich. “Hanover was athletic and had strength shooting outside as well as inside. We had a slow start and I felt we came out not believing we could compete with them. We found ourselves down 12 by the end of the first quarter which made it really difficult to recover. I thought after the first quarter, we believed we could compete with them and we did. It would have been nice to have that first quarter of play back to redo.”

Hanover could shoot as they connected on 50% of their shots from the field and on the charity stripe, they overwhelmed Elyria by going to the free throw line 27 times to just 13 for the Eagles and making 16 of them to the Eagles making just 10.

Josef Hobson concluded his career as an Eagle by leading the team in scoring with 13 while Zach Stucky chipped in with 10 and Bret Anderson scored nine.

Anderson had a solid overall game by topping the team in the paint with seven rebounds and blocking a shot to go with a pair of assists and one steal.

Coach Goodrich concluded his championship game reflections by adding, “Our seniors really provided leadership and battled hard which gave us an opportunity to keep the game within striking distance. They all had their ups and downs throughout the season, but I thought they all stepped up in big ways in our state tournament games. I could not be prouder of the four of them and we will miss them tremendously next season.”

With the victory, Hanover concluded the season 24-1 while the Elyria Eagles finished 2020-21 with a 16-10 record.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES vs. Hanover

SCORING:     Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINAL

EAGLES          4          7          13       16       40

Hanover        16       8          13       15       52

Hanover Team Stats: FG 16-32; 3PT 4-10; FT 16-27; AST 7; RBS 26; TO 14; STL 8; BLK 1; FLS 16.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES TEAM STATS: FG 13-38; 3PT 4-15; FT 10-13; AST 8; RBS 21; TO 14; STL 6; BLK 1; FLS 23.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (40): Josef Hobson – 13; Zach Stucky – 10; Bret Anderson – 9; Ben Unruh – 3; Dominick Lundberg – 3; Keyan Wiggers – 2.

3-Pointers Made (4): Hobson – 3; Unruh – 1.

Assists (8): Unruh – 3; Hobson, Anderson – 2; Stucky – 1.

Rebounds (21): Anderson – 7; Unruh – 4; Hobson – 3; Stucky, Lundberg – 2; Wiggers, Josh Allen, Kaden Aroum – 1.

Steals (6): Hobson – 2; Stucky, Anderson, Lundberg, Wiggers – 1.

Blocked Shots (1): Anderson – 1.

{Elyria Christian Eagle Postings are SPONSORED by CrossDove Creations}