Boys basketball season officially tipped off in the county on Wednesday, November 23 with a cross-league matchup between the Fayetteville-Perry Rockets and the Felicity-Franklin Cardinals.
The host Rockets rode big performances in the first and third quarters to a 12-point win at home, taking down Felicity 72-60 to tip off the regular season.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Fayetteville head coach D.J. McCommons said. “First couple games of the year, you don’t know what you’re going to get. We’ve got some younger guards so we have to learn on the fly but we did a lot of good things.”
The Rockets led 17-7 after one period and 35-22 at halftime. Felicity trailed 60-41 entering the fourth quarter but mounted a bit of a comeback, outscoring Fayetteville 19-12 over the final eight minutes.
“I think we got outplayed,” Felicity head coach Conner Stickelman said. “We got outshot. We got outcoached. But I’m really proud of my guys. They could have easily laid down there in the third and fourth quarters but they kept going. I’m very happy about that. I know I have some guys that have that dog in them.”
Turnovers were a bit of an issue for the Cardinals. With a young backcourt Stickleman expects those types of things to happen.
“It’s been an ongoing thing,” Stickelman said. “With a sophomore point guard, some younger guys, it’s growing pains. They never quit. Those same guys that did have those turnovers kept going no matter what.”
Defenisvely, Felicity held their own against the Rockets early on but once Fayetteville started making some baskets the Cardinals were put on their heels.
“We started off pretty strong,” Stickelman said. “As momentum began to build, we started to feel it and we got rushed and panicked a little bit. We got gapped and didn’t box out. The mistakes compounded from there.”
Zander Marlow led Felicity with 20 points. Jacob Arthur tallied 15 and Caleb Ninichuck totaled 11. Ian Hiler scored nine, Austin Hutson finished with three and Jace Blackburn tallied two for the Cardinals.
Fayetteville’s defense could use a bit of tweaking as well, according to McCommons.
“It needs a lot of work,” McCommons said. “We did a good job overall. They scored 60 but if we just took care of the ball toward the end of the fourth they were about where we wanted them.’
A.J. Attinger led the Rockets with 23 points. Caleb Tipis tallied 17 and Cayden Jones added 12. Alex Bradshaw finished with 10 points and four rebounds off the bench. Austin Snider scored six points and secured a team-high seven rebounds. Jonas Jakeway had four points and five boards for Fayetteville.
“AJ stepped up, he did great,” McCommons said. “Caleb backed him up and Cayden finished them off too. We need some senior leadership, the best teams have senior leaders.”
The Rockets picked up another win later in the week, taking down East Clinton 77-40 on November 26. Tipis led the team with 17 points. Snider recorded a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Attinger tallied 15 and Jones scored 13.
Chase Hendrix finished with seven points for Fayetteville. Brody Feldhaus scored six and Bradshaw finished with three.
Fayetteville is scheduled to return to action at home on Friday, December 2 with a game against Manchester. Felicity is home that same night against Blanchester.