Big first half carries Oak Hill to victory over Eastbrook

In a battle of Grant County teams on Friday evening, the Oak Hill Golden Eagles, coming off a tough loss to Southwood, bounced back in a big way, scoring early and often in a 69-24 rout of the Eastbrook Panthers.

Behind an aggressive pressure defense, the Golden Eagles quickly took control of the contest, forcing a multitude of turnovers that helped to jumpstart their offense.

“We got off to a good start and set our press rather effectively tonight,” Oak Hill Head Coach Kevin Renbarger said. “We were able to turn some defense into offense and get a lot of east baskets around the rim.”

Oak Hill jumped out to a 25-3 lead after the first quarter of play and increased that advantage to 41-6 at the halftime break.

“They pressed us to start the game, and we turned it over too much,” Eastbrook Head Coach Greg Allison said. “They were able to get some easy baskets just converting off of their press. We stood too much. There wasn’t enough ball movement or player movement.”

While the Panthers were much improved in the second half, they were unable to recover from their large first half deficit. Oak Hill outscored Eastbrook 28-18 in the final two quarters to secure the 45-point triumph.

“Eastbrook really struggled from the field,” Renbarger said. “It was also the press but we have focused very heavily on defensive intensity, focus and want to since the debacle on that end of the floor Tuesday night. The kids responded very well.”

Tahj Johnson was tremendous for the Golden Eagles, finishing with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, while Landon Biegel and Tristan Hayes each scored 10.

Brody Brodkorb, who came off the bench for Eastbrook, led the Panthers in scoring, collecting nine points on three triples.

“He’s had two real solid weeks of practice,” Allison said. “He has shot the ball pretty well. He saw the fruit of his labor tonight. When you have [someone] who can come in and hit some shots, that helps us out a lot.”

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