Paint Valley Creates SVC Logjam With Impressive Win Over Unioto

Presented By Chillicothe VAMC

After the dust settled Friday, the SVC boys basketball standings showed a virtual three-way tie for first place in the loss column after the Paint Valley Bearcats rolled past Unioto 58-47 and Westfall edged Zane Trace in overtime, 60-58. Unioto, Zane Trace and Paint Valley all have two SVC losses, although the Shermans have 7 wins, ZT 6 and PV 5.

Unioto started out with a 7-0 lead when Paint Valley had to take a timeout to get settled down. Bearcats Coach Jason Smith told Litter Media’s Mike Smith after the game, that he told his players in his timeout after the 7-0 start- “We are not doing this again. We are not going to have these moments of not being confident”, said Coach Smith.

“We made a quick adjustment, we didn’t change any of the game plan and just played with emotion.”

Paint Valley cut the deficit to 13-11 at the end of the first quarter, then took off to a 6-2 start in the second quarter for their own 16-13 lead, which they never relinquished the rest of the game.

Trailing 23-18, Unioto pulled to within 23-21 with 1:36 in the first half, only to see PV finish on a 6-2 run for a 29-23 halftime advantage.

The Bearcats saw their first double-digit lead at 36-25 with 3:52 in the third quarter and after getting their biggest lead of the night at 42-26, saw the Shermans cut that deficit to 42-31 at the end of three periods.

Every time Unioto tried to make a move to get back into the game, Paint Valley answered each challenge, only allowing the Shermans to get within 9 points twice at 48-39 and 56-47 with 1:00 left in the contest, then settled for the 58-47 victory.

PV Scoring:
Dax Estep 20 points “McDonald’s Player of the Game”
Connor Free 12
Blaine Parker and Cordell Grubb 9 each
Cavan Cooper 4
Trent Mettler and Cole Miller 2 each

Unioto Scoring:
DeSean Branson 17 points
Blake Hoops 12
Evan Park 6
Jordan Perkins and Braxton Platt 3 each
Gabe Corcoran, Newton Hoops, and Ben Spetnagel 2 each

Paint Valley improved to (5-2) in the SVC, while Unioto is (7-2) and Zane Trace at (6-2) following their loss to Westfall. Unioto travels to Zane Trace, Saturday.

Here is a rundown of all the area games from Friday January 21, 2022: Paint Valley 58, Unioto 47 … Westfall 60, Zane Trace 58 (OT) … Piketon 51, Southeastern 40 … Adena 38, Huntington 36 … Miami Trace 60, Chillicothe 58 (OT) … McClain 73, Jackson 53 … Washington CH 69, Hillsboro 53 … Bloom Carroll 61, Liberty Union 29 … Logan Elm 62, Hamilton Township 34 … Fairfield Union 34, Circleville 32 … Amanda Clearcreek 46, Teays Valley 36 … Waverly 48, Minford 44 … Western 69, New Boston 29 … Vinton County 70, Nelsonville York 65 … Alexander 64, Wellston 58 … Logan 47, Athens 34 …