ONTARIO — It wasn’t the 3-point barrage Ontario unleashed in the first meeting, but it was more than enough.
The Warriors connected on seven treys and withstood a second-half Clear Fork charge for a 64-48 win in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference action Saturday at the O-Rena.
When the Richland County rivals played for the first time this season on Dec. 6, Ontario sank 15 triples in a 71-52 win at Clear Fork.
“They didn’t make as many as they did the first time, thank goodness,” Clear Fork coach Steven Bechtel said. “They just do their things really well. They are well-coached and they have players who can knock it in.
“If we just have one little slip-up and we’re not where we need to be, they’re open and they have the capability of knocking them in.”
The Warriors (11-4, 7-2) hit their first three 3-pointers in the opening 4:30 of the first quarter, one each from Shaquan Coburn, Amil Upchurch and Griffin Shaver.
Shaver connected on his second 3 of the period as the first-quarter horn sounded, giving Ontario a 22-11 lead.
“We have some lethal kids behind the 3-point line. We know we can shoot the 3 and we know it’s a strength of ours,” said Shaver, who scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter. “We always look for that 3-point shot to just get it going.”
The Warriors extended their lead to 36-17 at the half thanks to Coburn. The senior guard scored seven of Ontario’s 14 second-quarter points.
“We didn’t come out with the defensive intensity that we really needed,” Bechtel said. “They got a few open looks in transition. We gave up some easy baskets.”
The Colts (8-9, 4-5) made things interesting in the second half. Clear Fork scored the first eight points of the third quarter to cut Ontario’s advantage to 36-25 on a Brennan South 3-pointer with 5:57 to play in the period.
“We start the second half by taking a tough shot and it gets blocked. Then we turn it over twice,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “Now instead of the (lead) going from 19 to plus-20, it’s back to a point where they’re like, ‘We can get it to single-digits and it’s going to be a game.’ ”
Trailing 51-38 going to the fourth, the Colts opened the final period on a 9-3 run and cut Ontario’s lead to 54-47 on South’s steal and layup with 3:55 to play. That’s as close as Clear Fork would get, however, as Ontario closed on a 10-1 run. The Colts were forced to gamble on defense and Shaver made them pay, finding Kolton Kurtz for three consecutive uncontested layups in the final three minutes.
“We made some plays against their pressure that really put the game away for us,” Balogh said. “Grif was really good tonight. Down the stretch, he made some winning plays for us by finding guys open against their pressure.”
Coburn backed Shaver with 17 points. Kurtz added 13, while Upchurch had 10.
South lead Clear Fork with 17 points. Brady Tedrow added 11.
