VIKINGS GET VENGEANCE ON LOWELLVILLE
By Ty Bartell
ATWATER OH- The beautiful thing about conference basketball is the fact that you have to play conference opponents twice, meaning one loss is not always the endgame for conference championship hopes. In the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conferences (MVAC) Scarlet Division, a log jam is starting to build of teams competing for the top conference spot this year. The Springfield Tigers currently lead with just one look inside the MVAC this season; however, The Lowellville Rockets sat only a half game back of Springfield after Lowellville managed the tough road win against The McDonald Blue Devils. Also in the hunt for the top spot was The Waterloo Vikings who sat a full game back of Springfield, needing this win, entering Tuesday night against Lowellville!
With The Rockets and The Vikings squaring-off to clear up some conference chaos. Both teams managed early buckets and early leads, as momentum hung in the balance between the conference foes. Michael Ballone would end the first quarter putting Lowellville up off an impressive step-back three to take a 15-13 lead after a quarter for The Rockets. However, the second quarter belonged to The Vikings! As Jackson Eichler propelled the Waterloo offense with 10 points of his own in the second, The Viking defense was shut down, complementing the offense, outsourcing Lowellville 18-4 in the second to take an emphatic 31-19 halftime lead! “We made shots!” Viking Head Coach Jason Wise said as Waterloo put up more points in the first half on Tuesday than they did the entire game in the loss at Lowellville on December 15th.
From the point of grabbing a big lead in the second quarter, The Vikings would not look back and would not allow Lowellville to score double-digits in another quarter in the ballgame. Besting The Rockets 13-8 in the third allowed enough separation for Waterloo that the 9-7 Rocket favoring fourth quarter could not top The Vikings! The 51-36 win for Waterloo gets them revenge against The Rockets for the slip up earlier this campaign and puts them right in the thick of the conference race!
The Player of the Game was Jackson Eichler, who was raining three-point bombs on The Rockets all night long! Finishing with 24 points and six shots from distance, The Vikings senior was able to space the floor to create a plethora of offensive opportunities for his teammates! Following Eichler was Gage Hawley who finished with 11 points and both Kaii Warren and Kyle Werbeck who each had 6 points. For Lowellville, they were led by Michael Ballone who had 10 points followed by Matt Lucido with 8 points.
Waterloo (10-4, 7-2) continues to control their own destiny in conference play, as they will now look to host another MVAC opponent in The Mineral Ridge Rams (5-10, 2-7) on Friday, January 26th with a 7 p.m. tip-off. As for Lowellville (7-6, 6-2) The Rockets have a big test, traveling to conference-leading Springfield (11-3, 8-1) also on Friday! Keep updated with all MVAC basketball this season with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!
