FRANKLIN FURNACE - It's working.

Green coach Kevin Lewis has been putting an extra emphasis on defense recently, and the Bobcats have been listening.

The Bobcats turned in a strong defensive effort Friday night as they knocked off the New Boston Tigers 66-58 in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

"We've been trying to stress defense, and we held a team to 58 points that two weeks ago scored 86 against us," Lewis said. "It's nice to see some results from our hard work. I feel like the last few weeks we've started to become a better basketball team."

Sophomore guard Derek Lewis had a stellar all-around game as he hit four 3-pointers en route to a 19-point scoring effort, handed out five assists, and grabbed five rebounds.

The senior duo of Aaron Patten and Timmy Yarnell scored 15 points each for Green (6-9, 5-5) while Brian Ramey added 11 points and seven rebounds. Yarnell had six rebounds and Patten five.

But coach Lewis looked beyond his starters for help on offense and defense.

"We got good contributions from our kids off the bench. The numbers don't show it, but Jason Bester, John Dawson, and Adam Sparks all gave us something off the bench," coach Lewis said.

Zach Messer led New Boston (7-8, 5-6) with 17 points. Matt Marshall had 12 points, Michael Day 11, and leading scorer Greg Mauk

had just 10.

"To hold Mauk to 10 points was big," coach Lewis said.

Patten and Yarnell scored four each in the first quarter to offset nine by Messer as the Bobcats took a 16-15 lead.

In the second quarter, Derek Lewis drained three shots from behind the arc as Green took a 32-26 halftime lead.

Each team scored 15 points in the third quarter as Messer hit a pair of 3-pointers and Ramey got six points for Green to make it 47-41.

Green scored all its points in the fourth quarter from the foul line. The Bobcats converted 19 of 26 from the foul line as they went into their four-corner offense with four minutes to play and forced New Boston to foul.

Patten was 6 of 8 while Lewis and Yarnell each went 5 of 6 at the line.

New Boston15111517-58

Green16161519-66

NEW BOSTON (7-8, 5-6):

Aaron Spriggs 1 1 0-0 5, Marty Mohr 0 1 0-0 3, Matt Marshall 4 0 4-4 12, Greg Mauk 2 2 0-0 10, Michael Day 5 0 1-2 11, Zach Messer 4 3 0-0 17. Totals: 16

7

5-6

58. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Marshall.

GREEN (6-9, 5-5):

Aaron Patten 3 1 6-8 15, Timmy Yarnell 4 0 7-10 15, Jason Bester 1 0 1-2 3, Derek Lewis 0 4 7-8 19, Adam Sparks 1 0 0-0 2, Brian Ramey 2 1 4-6 11, Kenny Elrod 0 0 1-2 1, John Dawson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-53

(6)

26-36

66. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 11. Assists: 9 (Lewis 5). Rebounds: 33 (Ramey 7, Yarnell 6, Patten 5, Lewis 5).