LIONS OFFENSE CONTINUES ITS ROLL

HANOVERTON OH- Fresh off a successful opening weekend, the Heartland Christian Lions basketball team visited United on Tuesday night looking keep their early momentum.  The visiting Lions took that momentum and ran with it early and often en route to a 80-58 victory.

The home standing Eagles gave the Lions all they could handle behind in a very entertaining first period with the Lions holding a 23-21 lead.  Limiting United to only 9 second quarter points the Lions were able to extend their lead to 39-30 at the break. The halftime break was the wakeup call Hearland’s offense needed.  Enter standout guard Jonathan Bertovich.  Fresh off a career weekend, Bertovich backed up his opening weekend performance tallying 28 points, 6 assists, & 9 steals.

Head coach Josh Scott knows a lot of attention is paid to Bertovich but really likes what he has around him “Our team around Jonathan is very good and deserves a lot of attention.”  It is that team around him that showed up as well.  Stephen Barnes added 16 points & 6 rebs in a supporting role for the Lions. Off the bench Jake Walker tallied 9 for the victors.  Heartland as a team tallied 11 three point field goals on the night.

That performance was is one Coach Scott appreciates “Our kids work extremely hard on offense in practice.  I’m happy to see it pay off for them on game night.”   United tried to hang with the talented Lions squad in the second half but were limited to just 4 fourth quarter points.

The Eagles were led by Steffen Jarrett who poured in 23 points in defeat.  Grant Knight and Ward Kiko added 12 and 11 respectively for United.  Both teams will be back in action on Friday.

Up next for Heartland (3-0) is a home date with Leetonia.  United (0-1) will welcome Wellsville to town.

*Contributed By YSN’s Chris Sigler