By Staff

            GOESSEL – On Saturday in Goessel it was the battle of the county Eagles for the Bluebird championship as the Elyria Christian Eagle boys and Canton/Galva Eagle boys tangled with Elyria winning the trophy with a 60-39 victory.

            The loss was the first of the young season for Canton/Galva as they drop to 3-1 and now prep for a busy week beginning with a game Monday hosting Marion followed by another home game on Tuesday against Lyons before finishing out the week with a road trip to Centre.

            “Tough night as we ran into a very good shooting team,” noted Canton/Galva head coach Larry O’Connor. “Being short-handed due to injuries we just ran out of gas. Very proud of the guys playing extremely hard, now we just need to get back in the gym and get some practices under our belt and then get to work.”

For Elyria, the win raises their season mark to 3-1. The Elyria boys will be back on the competitive hardwood twice this upcoming week, on the road at Sedgwick on Tuesday before getting back to their home court Friday to tangle with Solomon.

            “We were expecting another physical battle tonight and we got one,” explained Zach Goodrich, Elyria Christian head coach. “Canton/Galva is another tough, physical team and playing Little River last night kind of prepped us for tonight’s game.”

            Elyria held a slim two-point, 15-13 advantage over Canton/Galva at the end of the first quarter before Canton/Galva went cold in the second quarter allowing Elyria to push out to an eight-point, 26-18 halftime lead.

            After Elyria upped their lead to 16 at 41-25 by the end of the third quarter, both teams found offense in the fourth quarter as they combined to put 33 points on the scoreboard with Elyria still holding the advantage and getting the final 21-point win.

            Stat sheets showed the game somewhat even with the exception of Canton/Galva only hitting 9-of-16 on free throws while Elyria went to the charity strip 27 times and made nine. Elyria also connected on five more three-pointers than Canton/Galva as well.

            For Canton/Galva, Jett Vincent hit three three-pointers on his way to scoring a team high 16 points while Garrett Maltbie also hit for double digits with 11.

            Both Alex Robertson and Johnny Unruh scored 18 points to lead Elyria with Robertson making six three-pointers and Unruh hitting for three. Landon Schneider and Unruh led the work under the basket as they both hauled in seven rebounds while Ty Romero grabbed five to go with his 13 points. James Schott directed the offense by dishing out five assists.

            Elyria coach Goodrich finished his reflecting on the game by adding, “We saw the ball go through the net tonight, especially on our three-point balls. It seems like each game so far; we have had at least one of our shooters hitting and tonight was no different as both Alex (Robertson) and Johnny (Unruh) both shot the ball extremely well. As a team, we rebounded the ball well which I was pleased with and I thought our shot selection was great overall, plus we went to the line 27 times which is a huge improvement for us. I like our growth this week and look forward to stringing some more solid games together.”

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES vs. CANTON/GALVA EAGLES at Bluebird Classic

SCORING: ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES 15-11-15-19=60; CANTON/GALVA EAGLES 13-5-7-14=39.

TEAM STATS:

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES: 2-FGs – 7/10; 3-PTs – 9/25; FTs – 19/27; AST – 12; REBs – 27; TO – 12; STLs – 11; BLKs – 3; FLs – 18.

CANTON/GALVA EAGLES: 2-FGs – 8/22; 3-PTs – 4/18; FTs – 9/16; AST – 6; REBs – 30; TO – 16; STLs – 4; BLKs – 0; FLs – 22.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring: Alex Robertson – 18; Johnny Unruh – 18; Ty Romero – 13; James Schott – 5; Caleb Laney – 4; Landon Schneider – 2.

3-Pointers Made: Robertson – 6; Unruh – 3.

Assists: Schott – 5; Romero – 3; Unruh – 2.

Rebounds: Unruh, Schneider – 7; Romero – 5; Schott, Laney – 2.

Steals: Unruh – 4; Romero – 3; Schott, Laney – 2.

Blocked Shots: Unruh, Romero, Schott – 1.

CANTON/GALVA EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS:

Scoring: Jett Vincent – 16; Garrett Maltbie – 11; Wyatt Collins – 4; Cason Mastre – 3; Jase Beltz – 2; Jory Ratzlaff – 2.

3-Pointers Made: Vincent – 3; Mastre – 1.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)