Six weeks ago, Hartville and Conway battled in the Blue & Gold Tournament to the tune of a 39-38 slugfest. The Eagles eked out that win in the neutral-site game. On Tuesday, they traveled to Conway’s gym knowing exactly what was in store.
“A grind, a definite grind,” said Hartville junior guard Deric Jones. “Every time we play Conway it’s a tough game, it’s a physical game, so we have to adapt to that and we know it’s going to be a low-scoring game every time.”
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Tuesday night’s game was similar to the previous matchup in several ways; the game was hard-fought, competitive, low-scoring, and Hartville was victorious in the end. The Eagles won 54-46 and now stand alone atop the Summit Conference.
After three quarters, oddly enough, the score was 39-38, but this time Conway was in the lead. The Bears outscored Hartville 18-10 in the third period after falling into a seven-point hole at the half.
“When they [Conway] came and took the lead and we called timeout as we went into the fourth quarter, we talked about it, we didn’t shoot the ball that well tonight and that’s all credit to Conway,” said Eagles head coach Brett Reed. “They guard really well and contest shots, but we hadn’t shot it that well… And so we just talked about that, we need one big play and that will push us into another big play. So just going out and making that big play on defense, getting a stop and maybe getting an easy basket that gets us back on track.”
Hartville scored eight straight points to begin the final frame and reclaimed the lead. Deric Jones caught a lob and finished to score two, followed by two consecutive three’s by Ryan Ward. Jones led all scorers in the game with 20 points and Ward added 12. Jones ran out and finished on a fast break in the final moments to secure the road win.
“It doesn’t really feel like twenty,” Jones said after the game. “I just do whatever the team needs me to do to win. They drew up a couple lob plays because we knew that would be open. And if that’s what the team needs to get the ‘W’, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Despite the heated contest, Coach Reed and Conway’s coach Jeffery Cope embraced and shared a few words after the game.
“Coach Cope and I are friends,” said Reed, “and I respect Coach Cope and what he’s done with the Conway program and just what he’s done throughout his career. I think he does a great job and we just have a friendship. We talk and we help each other through our careers and he congratulated me. And he could have been upset, like all coaches are after a loss. I’m sure he is upset. He came over and congratulated me and that’s just the man he is, he’s just a great person.”
Hartville moves to 18-4 (4-0 in conference) and Conway drops to 13-8 (3-2). Both of the Bears’ Summit losses have come at the hands of Hartville. Their next conference opponents will be Gainesville on Thursday, Feb. 11 and then Norwood to close out the regular season on Friday, Feb. 19.
As for the Eagles, they’ll look to stay undefeated in the Summit Conference in the coming days with three-straight conference games looming.
“We play Mansfield on Thursday, which is a big one,” said Reed, “and then we play Seymour on Friday and Gainesville on Tuesday, so we’ve still got some work to do to finish it up.”
Hartville will find out where they’ll be seeded at the C2D9 district meeting on Wednesday.
In Hartville’s eighteen wins, they’ve won by double digits sixteen times. The other two single-digit victories came against their “friendly rival” Conway.
“This is a really good win,” said Jones. “And it shows us a lot, that we can grind those wins out, that we can get those wins that are just tough when we have to buckle down, play some good defense and just get those hard-earned baskets.”
Hartville – 12 – 16 – 10 – 16 – 54
Conway – 7 – 14 – 18 – 7 – 46
Hartville – Deric Jones 20, Ryan Ward 12, Grant Dedmon 10, Jace Keith 6, Dune Piper 3, Tyler Coday 3
Conway – Austin Chastain 13, Chris Vavruska 12, Andrew Huckaby 12, Cody Delcour 5, Tayler Simpson 4
