Gallipolis downs Rock Hill 50-34 in new gym opener

[jottings]

Gallipolis downed visiting Rock Hill 50-34 in the first game ever played in the new Gallia Academy gym Saturday evening to open its 2009-10 basketball campaign on a winning note.

The Blue Devils fell behind 3-0 on a trey by Rock Hill’s Trey Wilds with 7:35 left in the initial period. It was the first basket scored in the new gym in Centenary. Gallipolis’ first bucket was a three-pointer by John Troester with 7:07 left in the first quarter. After Gallia’s Jared Golden tipped in a rebound at the 6:13 mark for a 5-3 lead, Wilds hit another three-pointer with 5:50 to go and Will McCollister”s tap-in (3:49) gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game, 8-5.

Gallia’s Ethan Moore tied it up with a trey at the 3:22 mark and Nick Mitchell’s short jumper (2:51) put the Blue Devils ahead to stay. Gallipolis led 18-10 after one period.

GAHS outscored Rock Hill 10-4 in the second period for a 28-14 halftime advantage. The Gallians outscored RHHS 17-6 in the third period to take a 45-20 advantage in the final quarter. Coach Jim Osborne played 13 of 15 Blue Devils dressed in the triumph. Two injured Blue Devils were dressed, but did not play.

Senior guard Nick Mitchell came off the bench to pace GAHS scorers with 15 points. Junior guard/forward Ethan Moore and senior center John Troester added nine points apiece for the Gallians while Corey Eberfeld, Nate Allison and Jared Golden tossed in four points apiece. Jordan Cornwell had three points and Chuck Calvert and Cody Billings each added one point.

Will McCollister, son of former GAHS assistant grid Coach Bob McCollister, a sophomore, and junior Devin Darby led the Redmen with 12 points apiece. Big 6-9 senior center Sam Cooke was held to two points by GAHS defenders.

The Redmen sank 12 of 40 field goal attempts for 33.3 percent. Rock Hill was a cool eight of 20 at the foul line for 25 percent. Rock Hill had 19 personal fouls, 23 costly turnovers, eight in the second period and seven in the third, and picked off 32 rebounds, nine in the final period against the Gallians second unit. Cooke led the Redmen with eight rebounds.

Gallipolis sank 18 of 56 field goal attempts for 31.1 percent.

Behind the arc, GAHS was six of 20 for 33.3 percent and from the two-point range, 12 of 36 for 30 percent. GAHS was also off at the foul line, sinking eight of 23 for 28.7 percent. The Blue Devils had also had 19 personal fouls, 40 rebounds,(including 11 team snags) six by Calvert and five each by Billings and Troester. GAHS had seven turnovers.

GAHS was credited with nine assists, four by Moore, 12 steals, four by Moore, and totaled 26 deflectiions. Troester had a blocked shot and Eberfeld took a charge.

GAHS will play two games next week, both triple-headers. Tuesday, the Devils will host to River Valley beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday, GAHS will travel to Athens. Both are non-league games.

In Saturday’s reserve game, Gallipolis defeated the Rock Hill JVs, 32-14. It was the season opener for both teams.

Gallipolis led 12-5, 22-5 and 28-12 at the quartermarks.

Joel Johnston and Drew Young paced the Blue Imps with 12 points each. Ben Rocinson and Nick Saunders chipped in with four points each. Andy Schwab paced the Little Redmen with seven points.

GAHS-Rock Hill varsity box score:

ROCK HILL (34) – Jon Schwab, 0-0-0-0; Jeremy Blagg, 0-0-0-0; Will McCollister, 4-1-2-9; Shane Russell, 1-0-0-2; Ryan Albright, 0-0-1-0; Devin Darby, 3-3-8-9; Trey Wilds, 0-(2)-0-0-6; Mitchell Patterson, 1-0-0-2; Chris LeMaster, 0-3-4-3; Andy Knipp, 0-1-2-1; Sam Cook, 1-0-3-2. TOTALS 10-(2)-8-20-34.

GALLIPOLIS (50) – Corey Elberfeld, 2-0-1-4; Jordan Cornwell, 0-(1)-0-0-3; Ben Robinson, 0-0-2-0; Ethan Moore, 0-(2)-3-4-9; Nate Allison, 2-0-0-4; Nick Mitchell, 5-(1)-2-2 15; Chuck Calvart, 0-1-3-1; Tyler Eastman, 0-0-2-0; Jared Golden, 2-0-6-4; Cody Billings, 0-1-2-1; John Troester, 1-(2)-1-1-9; Joe Jenkins, 0-0-0-0; Nate Gordon, 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 12-(6)-8-23-50.

Score by quarters:
Rock Hill………10 4 6 14 – 34
Gallipolis………18 10 17 5 – 50
Reserve score—Gallipolis 32 Rock Hill 14.
Next GAHS game—River Valley, at home, triple-header, 5 p.m.

[GAHS7462]

Didn't feel like a BB game in the new gym. Felt strange to me....not playing in the old gym.......

Was it me or was the PA system hard to understand........

[DevilMommaGahs]

congrats boys on the start of a great season for the blue devils... just a quick correction to the post... Corey Eberhard...( name misspelled in the posting =( ) I look forward to watching them on tuesday against river valley. though i agree was a strange atmosphere in the new gym.......... the dirty devils student section showed up to prove devil pride is stronger than ever.....also i thought the video shown before the game was a great touch the players definately seemed to enjoy watching themselves on the big screen

[vballplayer13]

Great Job Boys...you guys did great in the new gym! be ready for tuesday against river valley!! the dirty devil student section was GREAT! you guys need to keep the spirit up! GO BIG BLUE AND GOOD LUCK ON TUESDAY!

[GAHS7462]

It was you!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Ive never been more nervous on the book as I was tonight. It seemed like everything was a first, and we had our new scoreboard which included stats on players in the game which took some getting used to.

In a way I dread the start of every new season because there are so many things that have to be gotten out of the way like making sure all the players with the right #s are entered in the scorebook along with contacts and inhalers.

I wondered out loud to the refs if perhaps the first night of a new season was like shaking the rust off for them as well.

But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the new facilities are something our community has every right to be proud of.

I can tell you the ref's were nervous also.

The new gym I will get used too. I sat by the student section(won't do that again,No offense to them). I think I'll be like Jeep Holley and Mr. Brown an sit on the visitor's side next game. Again no offense to the student section,But I had a headache by the time the 4th qtr started........But, they were funny to listen too...

[Daniel Larusso]

I am glad Gallia got the new facilities because they were greatly needed. However, I don't know yet how fond I am of the sports taking place in Centenary. I guess it will work out alright, but I wonder if it will affect attendance. I know a lot of people in town use to just walk over to the basketball and football games. I am one of those people who use to do this. I know Centenary isn't that far from town, but it just might affect some people's decision on whether or not they take in the game. I might just cry when the day comes that the blue devils don't play football down at memorial field anymore. Oh well I guess I am just old school or crazy.

Although I don't live in the area anymore I still try to follow the devils as much as possible. I know that several radio stations in southeastern Ohio are available on the web. Even WXBW 101.5 the bob is on the net. It just so happens that the one that carries blue devil games is not. That would be my luck. I am out of the listening area, and would really like to hear some devil games. So I am asking if anyone knows if WBYG big country 99.5 is ever going to get a webcast, or how to go about asking them to get one?

[GAHS7462]

I was shocked that 99.5 or really no radio station broadcast the game Saturday night.

Me too!!!!!!!

[superblue]

Not much talk about the game.... The Blue came out firing, or did I mean mis-firing... Shooting % must improve... Oz will let them play for a few games before making changes.. Mitchel looked good coming off the bench, I look for him to be the 6th man for the time being...... I was hoping more fans would show up... I sat on the visitors side, had a great seat..... Agree with 74, could barley hear or understand the PA system.. never heard any noise from the student section.. Student section needs to be closer to center court, IMO.... Looks like the seating was set up more for the Reserve seat people than the students... Should be the opposite.... If the visiting team brings a big student section they could run us out of the building... And where were the cheerleaders, they didn't show up until midway through the second period.... And the Jumbo screen needs to be more jumbo... & playing advertisements doing the game.. How tacky is that....

[jottings]

Someone said the cheerleaders were in a contest somewhere and got back home after the game started.

There were a lot of Christmas parties going on after the annual Christmas parade and lots of people were shopping after the parade.

Holiday attendance is usually down until after the first of the year. However, should be a nice crowd at Tuesday's GAHS-River Valley game.