Home in 86-40 thrashing

By KEVIN PEARCEY

Sports Writer

The Goshen Eagles certainly played like the No.8 team in the state Monday night.

The Eagles went on a 12-0 run in the first quarter and exploded offensively in the first half to totally dominate Highland Home in an 86-40 victory.

With both junior forward Jamar Tucker and freshman shooting guard Kendaris Pelton standing a lean 6-foot-4, and senior center Tony Merritt providing 235-pounds of muscle inside, the Flying Squadron were just physically manhandled in the paint.

"Size wise we knew they couldn’t match up with us inside," Goshen head coach Major Lane said. "That was the deciding factor of the game."

Also contributing was the fact that Highland Home dressed only eight players, whereas Goshen dressed a total of eleven. All eleven players saw action Tuesday night.

"They weren’t very deep coming off of the bench." Lane said.

Jamar Tucker led Goshen with 18 points, two of which came on a rim-shattering one handed dunk in the first quarter. Kendaris Pelton was one point behind Tucker with 17 and senior Willie Darby followed with 15.

"It was just one of those nights where we shot the ball really well," Lane said. "We did a good job of looking for one another, getting the ball inside and making shots in our perimeter game. The guy’s have basically just decided to pull together, work hard in every game and forget the score. Fortunately tonight we shot well and got a lot of points on the board."

Darby ran the point guard slot almost to perfection, minimizing turnovers and getting the ball inside to his big men. Reggie Ginyard and Cornelius Mahone did and excellent job relieving Darby at the point during the game.

"Cornelius will probably see more playing time as we go along," Lane said. "He’s an excellent outside shooter and once he learns what we’re doing I think he’ll fit into our plans pretty good."

One Goshen player notched his first official basket as an Eagle and as an organized basketball player. Keno Schultz, a transfer student from Germany, got into the game early in the fourth quarter and scored two points on a layup, bringing the Eagles’ bench and fans to their feet.

"He’s just a super kid," Lane said. "We just wanted to make him a part of it, get him involved and get him a little experience."

Although it was a great night for the boy’s squad, the Goshen Lady Eagles didn’t fare as well, losing their second straight to the Lady Squadron, 60-39.

Highland Home jumped out to an early 10-1 lead, before the Lady Eagles put together a 7-0 run to close within two early in the first.

After that it was all Lady Squadron.

Robin Winn made a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter to push the lead to 17-8 and the Lady Squadron out scored the Lady Eagles 15-5 in the second to essentially blow the game wide open.

Kayla Ellis was once again the work horse for Goshen, leading the Lady Eagles with 16 points in a losing effort.

Highland Home was paced by Teresa Herring, who had 18, and Winn, who finished with 15 points.