Green had struggled recently with losses to Lucasville Valley and Eastern Pike.

Sunday, January 30, 2000

Green had struggled recently with losses to Lucasville Valley and Eastern Pike. It appeared, for a while that the Bobcats were going to carry the negative momentum through their Homecoming matchup against Portsmouth East Friday night.

At one point late in the first half the Tartans had attempted only 12 field goals and had 13 turnovers but trailed the Bobcats by just seven points.

Green buckled down the second half forcing a number of turnovers by pressing and a 17-5 run at the end of quarter settled the issue as the Bobcats won the Southern Ohio Conference matchup 80-56.

"We just couldn’t find a happy medium," said Green coach Kevin Lewis. "We were either too conservative or too aggressive. I told them to try and focus on the situation, be patient but don’t lose the aggression."

Chris Williams led the Bobcats with 20 points, Kyle Dyer had 15, Michael Riffe had 14 and Jeff Dixon had 10. It was a Tartan, however that led all scorers as Dustin Walker had 30 points on the strength of five 3-pointers. Walker fell into early foul trouble and missed a good deal of the first half.

"We are through all the injuries, hopefully, and now we are trying to find ourselves. Everyone is looking for their niche," Lewis said.

East, 3-10 2-8, kept close by hitting 60 percent from the floor in the first half and were still hitting 58 percent from the field after three quarters. The Tartans hit 19 of 41 for the game.

Green, 10-2 8-1, hit 28 of 60 from the field for 47 percent and Kyle Dyer led in rebounds with 11.

"It was pretty physical inside but we did a pretty good job on the boards," Kyle Dyer said. "We played good as a team tonight. We really stepped it up on defense in the second half."

Walker got the Tartans off and running by hitting a 16-footer and a pair of 3-pointers making it 8-6.

Kyle Dyer tied the game with a short jumper and Williams gave the Bobcats a 12-8 lead with his first of four 3-pointers.

Williams hit another 3-pointer and Alex Poe made a layup giving the Bobcats a 21-13 lead at the end of the first.

A pair of 3-pointers from Dixon gave the Bobcats their biggest lead of the half at 32-17.

Green went cold and hit just a single field goal over the last five and a half minutes of the half. In that time, the Tartans cut the lead to 37-28 at the half largely due to the long range shooting of Walker.

Another three from Walker and one from Aaron White cut the Green lead to 39-34 with 6:58 left in the third.

Ben Dyer put an end to the Green slump an nailed a 3-pointer making it 42-34. The Bobcat press took over and the lead was quickly stretched back to double figures at 50-38. A seven-point run to end the quarter gave the Bobcats a 59-41 lead. Riffe made a pair of jumpers during the stretch.

East never made a run as the Bobcats press continued to force turnovers into easy baskets.

EAST – 13 15 13 15 – 56: Andy Walker 0 0 1-2 1, Joe Gregory 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron White 0 1 0-2 3, Randy Cooper 1 0 0-0 2, Dustin Walker 5 5 5-5 30, Bill Hafer 0 0 0-0 0, Jim Walburn 2 0 2-6 6, Bryan Payne 0 0 0-0 0, Derrick Morrison 0 1 0-0 3, Matt Oster 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Shaffer 3 0 1-1 7, Justin Manley 1 0 2-3 4. Totals: 19-41 (7) 11-19 56. Rebounds: 24 (Jim Walburn 7). Blocks: 2. Steals: 1. Turnovers: 28. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.

GREEN – 21 16 22 21 – 80: Joe Salyers 0 1 1-2 4, Ben Dyer 1 1 0-0 5, Jeff Dixon 0 3 1-2 10, Michael Riffe 5 0 4-6 14, Chris Williams 2 4 4-4 20, Kyle Dyer 7 0 1-1 15, Alex Poe 3 0 2-2 8, Kyle Darnell 1 0 2-2 4, Josh Gustin 0 0 0-0 0, Jesse Ferrell 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Yarnell 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-60 (9) 15-19 80. Rebounds: 27 (Kyle Dyer 11). Blocks: 1 (Alex Poe 1). Steals: 9 (Chris Williams 5). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.