BELLVILLE – After knocking down four 3-pointers in the season opening win against Sandusky, sophomore Garrett Denbow continued his hot outside shooting with six more 3’s in Ashland’s Friday night win at Clear Fork.
Denbow totaled 20 points as the Arrows opened their Ohio Cardinal Conference slate with a 57-49 victory.
The Arrows led by as many as 9 early in the first half but only held a 28-22 advantage at intermission after Denbow hit one of his 3s to finish out the half.
“We talked at halftime about being more aggressive and looking to attack,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “They did a nice job going to their zone and we started getting a little complacent and standing. Instead of being basketball players and attacking the basket, we were standing with the ball above our heads and standing.
“So we tried to get them in an attack mentality instead of just standing.”
Attack they did, drawing eight team fouls against Clear Fork in the second half and making seven of nine free throws after only attempting five in the first half.
“The kids did a good job of competing and battling and coming out and playing as hard as they could, especially in the second half and getting some separation,” Hess said.
With about two minutes left in the fourth, Hess emptied his bench with a 57-41 lead but Clear Fork didn’t give up. Two late 3-pointers and another basket cut the lead to its final eight-point margin.
Senior Griffin Gerwig added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Ashland, junior Manny Langston chipped in with 8 points and junior Keagan Armitage scored 7 as Ashland moved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the OCC.
“There’s never any easy nights in the conference, and I told the guys it wasn’t pretty tonight at times but any time you come away with a win, it’s a lot easier and more enjoyable to learn from a win than it is to learn from a loss,” Hess said. “And in our conference, any team can beat you on any given night and you’ve got to show up to play.”
Brannon South led the way for the Colts with 12 points on four 3-pointers. Chance Barnett added 11 points and Jay Swainhart chipped in with seven points.
The Arrows travel to Lexington on Friday night to take on the Minutemen in their next game. Clear Fork hosts Madison that same night.
