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“Yes, this was a major learning experience,” CCS coach Carl Woods said. “What you saw was the ups and downs of a young, inexperienced squad matched up with a really good team. We had mental lapses and our inexperience showed. They struck and we didn’t respond to the bell.”
The Cougars started strong, jumping out 10-2 but NCH coach Shannon Minor took a timeout, told his team to calm down and the Trojans let their experience lead the way the rest of the game.
The Trojans stormed back to gain a 17-16 first quarter lead, extended it to 33-31 on a three by Lorenzo Sparks at the halftime buzzer and blew the game open in the third quarter.
“We have some seniors and I think we showed some composure tonight.” Minor said. ” We are fast and quick and we played to our strengths. This was a good team win on the road against a good team.”
Sparks was held scoreless until the big three pointer before half. The senior guard added 14 second half points to pace all scorers with a game-high 17. Sparks passed the 1,000 point total for his career at NCH.
Kaden Warner hit three 3-pointers while adding 11 points while Tyree Robinson chipped in 12 points. DeAirius Barker had 10 and Charles Swain notched nine as the Trojans improved to 9-2 with their eighth straight win. NCH also improved to 4-2 in the MVC Scarlet Division.
NCH led 52-42 after three quarters and used a half court motion offense in the fourth quarter to keep the Cougars at bay.
“We slowed the game down,” Minor said. “We didn’t need to score more points, we needed the ball and didn’t want to turn it into a free throw shooting competition. We are learning how to finish games off like that.”
The Cougars turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 19 points in transition for NCH. Woods also mentioned the Trojans 14 second chance points as a key factor.
“I thought we did a great job defensively in the first half, especially on Sparks,” Woods said. “But guys got winded and we didn’t respond to them.We gave up 14 second chance points and 19 transition points. If you cut those in half this is a different game.”
Miguel Ringer led Cincinnati Christian with 12 points. Jalon Percy and Cameron Rogers each added 10 for the Cougars, which fell to 7-4, 5-2 in the MVC Grey Division.
North College Hill hosts Cincinnati Country Day Friday while the Cougars are off for a week, returning to action next Tuesday hosting Clark Montessori.
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