KNIGHTS PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF

By Ty Bartell

BARBERTON OH- Coming off the magical 2022-2023 season that was for The Archbishop Hoban Knights basketball team, the time for celebration was now over as the season tipped-off on Saturday for Hoban. In a schedule filled with plenty of fun and competitive matchups. The opener occurred at Barberton High School as a part of The Greynolds Classic where they battled an old Akron rival in The Firestone Falcons!
The Knights armor was up for the task, as the defense led the way early on for Hoban with the 14-5 lead after the first quarter. Continuing that string of dominance in the second, The Knights would outscore The Falcons 22-8 in the second, effectively taking a commanding 36-13 advantage into the halftime locker room.

Firestone would show some fight coming out of the half with The Falcons being a bucket better than Hoban, 13-10 in the quarter; however, The Knights still managed to hold the 46-26 lead after three quarters. By the fourth, Hoban had their sights set on victory and nothing was derailing them! Winning their opener 60-36 over Firestone, The Knights start the season off on the right foot with a win!

Hoban was led by Jonas Nichols who finished with 17 points, followed by Joey Hardman who had 15 points and The Greer’s both getting involved as Josh had 9 points and Sam had 6 points in the game. Firestone had a big performance out of Lamar Dampier who scored 18 points to provide half of the offense for The Falcons. Jonathan White also contributed to Firestone with 6 points.

Hoban (1-0) will now travel to Warren JFK (3-0) to battle The Eagles on Tuesday, December 12th with a 7 p.m. tip-off. Meanwhile, Firestone (0-5) will try to right the ship in their next contest hosting The Akron East Dragons (1-2) also on Tuesday. Keep updated with all Archbishop Hoban winter athletics with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!