Hartville battles adversity for victory over Seymour

It was an emotional night for the Hartville Eagles’ basketball team when they hosted Seymour in a key Summit Conference match-up with conference championship implications.
This was the team’s first game after learning that senior Mason Cogdill would miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury earlier in the week.
Things were going Hartville’s way in the game before the Tigers rallied to go up two with 5:46 left in the contest.
Fortunately, head coach Brett Reed’s squad ended the game on a 9-0 run to pull out a hard-fought 36-29 victory.
With the announcement made after the contest that this was also his 400th career coaching victory, he had his players return to the court to address the crowd.
“It’s cause of the great men who played for me, including these guys,” Reed said as he noted the accomplishment was one for the program. “It’s been a tough week because of Mason, but these guys showed resiliency and we won it for Mason and this win’s for you guys.”
In the first quarter, senior Jordan O’Quinn was simply on fire. He made four, 3-pointers and scored 12 total points. Boone Garrison hit his team’s fifth 3-pointer of the first quarter at the buzzer to give his squad a 19-9 lead.
With Gus Sinning in foul trouble, the Eagles’ offense slowed down the pace and rotated the ball away for two full minutes.
Hayden Johns assisted Garrison for the first score of the frame at the 4:54 mark and a 12-point lead.
Hartville took just four shots from the field in the quarter, but led 23-14 at halftime.
The Eagles missed their first five shots from the field as Seymour opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one.
Johns then scored a big basket to take away the momentum and that was a foreshadowing of what was to come from him in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles were down two after missing their first four shots from the field in the fourth quarter when Johns’ 3-pointer hit off the rim and backboard for a 30-29 lead at the 3:40 mark.
He then had a steal and scored a lay-up to go up three.
Garrison then added a steal before assisting Johns for a chance at a 3-point play and a five-point edge.
Gus Sinning’s steal with 37.3 seconds left was followed a few seconds later by his two free throws to seal the seven-point victory.
O’Quinn led the Eagles with 14 points, two rebounds and one steal; Johns added 11 points, three rebounds, two steals and one assist; Gus Sinning had six points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist; Garrison added two points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals; Brock Jones added two points, two rebounds, one steal and one assist; while Truett Coryell had two rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Earlier in the week, Hartville traveled to Fair Grove and left with a 58-42 victory.
They opened the game on a 14-4 run as Cogdill scored seven points and O’Quinn added five.
Up 10 at halftime, Gus Sinning had seven points in a 21-point third quarter to push the lead to 16 before Hartville held on to win the game.
Gus Sinning and Cogdill both scored 16; O’Quinn had 10; Coryell scored eight; Garrison had five; and Johns scored three points. The Summit Conference slate continues to be tough this week for Hartville as they travel to Mansfield on Jan. 13 for and host Norwood on Jan. 13.