Hartville Eagles pull away in second half battle with Panthers

Only one point separated the Hartville Eagles and Mountain Grove Panthers at halftime when the two boys basketball teams squared off last Tuesday night.
Coming out of the break though, the Eagles had an 11-2 run and never looked back in the 52-36 victory.
Hartville’s defense held Mountain Grove to just 14 total points in the second half.
Both teams exchanged runs early in the first quarter when Kale Gardner hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 7-6 edge.
Hartville answered with an 8-0 run as the Eagles led 14-7 with the help of Gus Sinning’s six points in the opening frame. After hitting two 3-pointers in the opening quarter, Gardner hit two more in the second quarter and Cooper Hoerning converted a 3-point play to seal a 9-0 run to end the first half with the Panthers trailing 23-22. Hoerning finished the first quarter with five points.
In the third quarter, Boone Garrison hit a big 3-pointer to push Hartville’s lead back up to eight.
He scored seven points in the Eagles’ 21-point quarter while both Mason Cogdill and Payton Cogdill added six points a piece during the stretch.
Harmon Johns and Garrison each made a 3-pointer in the final quarter to hold off Gardner’s five points and the Panthers as they cruised late to a 16-point win.
Hartville made 21-for-48 shots from the field and were led by Garrison’s 12 points, two rebounds and one assist. Jackson Ward scored eight points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds; Mason Cogdill added eight points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal; Gus Sinning had seven points, five rebounds, three steals and one assist; Payton Cogdill had six points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks; Johns scored six points, three assists and one steal.
Mountain Grove’s offense made 12-of-29 shots from the field in the loss.
Gardner paced the Panthers with five 3-pointers and 18 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block; Hoerning added five points, two rebounds and one block; Sam Peterson tallied four points and three rebounds; Aden Estep had four points, one rebound, one steal and one assist; Destin Unger scored two points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal; JP Dickey scored two points and had one rebound; and Eli Golden had one point, three rebounds and one assist.
Three days later, Hartville opened Summit Conference play in Fordland’s new gym and left with a dominating 64-26 victory. Hartville’s defense held Fordland to 10 points or less in all four quarters. They jumped out to a 25-7 first quarter lead behind Johns’ two 3-pointers and 10 total points. Payton Cogdill scored six in the first and added five more in the second to help the road Eagles to a 40-12 halftime lead. In the big win, both Payton Cogdill and Ward scored 13 points; Johns added 11; Truett Coryell had nine points; Sinning scored eight; and both Mason Cogdill and Garrison scored five points.