The Chillicothe Hornets boys basketball team hosted Bishop Leblond on Thursday night in their first Midland Empire Conference game of the year. The Hornets entered with 7 wins and 3 losses while the Golden Eagles were 13-1 and 1-0 in the MEC.
Chillicothe and Bishop Leblond went blow for blow in the first half, with numerous lead changes and neither team scoring more than 5 consecutive points. Neither team turned the ball over in the first quarter and the offenses were humming with contrasting styles. Leblond found success from deep, hitting 6 first half three pointers while Chillicothe made Jaishon White a priority, the Hornets leading scorer on the season had 18 points for Chillicothe. All in all, the teams played to a draw going into halftime at 28-28.
The game flipped in the third quarter when White picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench with three total fouls. Chillicothe was leading at the time, but an 11-1 scoring run for Bishop Leblond enabled the Golden Eagles to go from down 5 to up 5 entering the 4th quarter. Chillicothe was never able to reestablish an offensive rhythm, with Coach Cool crediting the physicality and toughness of Leblond. The Golden Eagles pulled away to win 57-46.
Chilicothe drops to 7-4 on the season and 0-1 in the MEC while Leblond improves to 14-1 and 2-0 in conference play.
Chillicothe 15 28 35 46
Leblond 16 28 40 57
Individual scoring:
Chillicothe – White 21, Sol’jier Allen 13, Kenyen Gannan 6, Langston Johnson 2, Howie Donoho 2, Cooper Robinson 2
Leblond – Chris Miljavic 18, Trey Icke 13, Gannon Sowell 12, Cooper Waterman 9, Jackson Crews 3, Jacob Winkelbauer 2
