John Glenn coasts past Cambridge with impressive 3-point shooting display

CAMBRIDGE −Earlier in the season, John Glenn head coach Eric Sheck was a little concerned with his Muskies' struggles in the shooting department.

But based on the Muskies' impressive long-range display during Saturday's annual Catfish Challenge with neighboring Cambridge High, Sheck can put the concerns to rest for the time being.

John Glenn connected on a sizzling 14-of-21 shot attempts from beyond the 3-point line, with a total of six different Muskies knocking down triples during a 77-60 victory inside Gene Ford gymnasium.

"We really have not shot the ball great this season," JG head coach Erick Sheck said. "I think a lot of that is just early season stuff and I have a lot of young kids just getting their feet wet at the varsity level. Tonight we really knocked down the shots, and got great shooting efforts from several players."

A full day of Catfish Challenge action

The annual Catfish Challenge showcases both the Cambridge and John Glenn boys basketball programs. And was first established in 2013 through a collaboration between Cambridge graduate John Valentine along with the late Josh Adams of John Glenn. 

"This is our third straight win in the Catfish Challenge, and I think it's a good event," Sheck said. "With our schools being so close all the players know each other and it's good to get together for a day of basketball. I think our kids look forward to playing in this event."

With the event format featuring a day of basketball competition that included youth teams as well as John Glenn and Cambridge basketball teams in grades 7th-12th.

Local sponsors fund the event which also raises money for the teams and their athletic departments.  The winning team will have the right to display the traveling trophy at their respective school. 

A player from each varsity team receives a $250 scholarship to continue with academics beyond high school, with this year's recipients being John Glenn senior Nelson Cameron and senior Regan Rogers of Cambridge.

Action kicked off with youth games at 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by the 7th grade and 8th grade games at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. respectively. The junior varsity and varsity games between John Glenn and Cambridge capped the full day of basketball action.

Muskies started early with long range shooting display

John Glenn wasted little time getting started with their long range shooting exhibition, connecting on an impressive 8-of-10 treys in the first half of action.

That shooting effort jumpstarted the Muskies out to a comfortable 41-20 lead at the halftime intermission.

"We shoot a lot of 3s in practice, and emphasis it a lot," Sheck added. "It's really nice as a coach when they start making shots like that, makes you look like a real smart coach. But we have had some night when we missed a bunch as well. So hopefully this effort tonight will give the guys a lot of confidence with their shooting moving forward."

A total of six different Muskies' connected from beyond the 3-point arc in that opening half, including Cameron, senior Noah Winland, junior Andrew Glaub and sophomores Stehl Bates, Cooper Briggs and Brayden Davis.

Davis paced the John Glenn (5-2) scoring with 15 points, with Bates adding 12 and Briggs and sophomore C.J. Dolan each just missing double figures with nine markers each. Junior Will Nicolozakes finished with seven points and Cameron chipped in with six.

Depleted Bobcats continue to grind to turn things around

A Cambridge team that has been hit hard with the injury bug in the early start to the season, with losing a pair of key returning starters Garrett Carpenter and Devin Ogle to season-ending injuries.

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But the Bobcats, who slipped to 1-7 with the loss, continue to battle to get things turned around, and CHS head coach Kyle Pertuset expressed confidence his squad will continue to put in the work necessary.

"Our kids are continuing to work hard and give great effort. But tonight is the second straight night someone shot the lights out against us, with Union Local doing it last night," Pertuset said. "We are the common denominator defensively, so we are going to have to look in the mirror and figure out how to fix the issue. I'm going to have to look at the tape to see what happened for sure in both games."

"Give them credit, they were knocking down the shots," Pertuset continued. "Seemed like everybody that got a look was throwing it in. I think they were like 8-for-10 in the first half, and that makes it tough to stay in the game against shooting like that. But we will just get back in the gym and get back to work."

Junior Jesiah Barnett tallied a game high 19 points to lead the Bobcats' scoring, while Rogers added 12 and senior Bradyn Gregg finished with seven.

Next Games

Both teams return to action on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., with John Glenn hosting New Philadelphia, while Cambridge will travel to Bellaire.

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