Joe Hannah
Derrick Webb

Derrick Webb

Derrick is SOSA's chief content coordinator and has worked for the Chillicothe Gazette, the Portsmouth Daily Times and Eleven Warriors. He's a 13-time award-winning journalist, a self-proclaimed baseball purist, a suffering Bengals fan and has never met a stranger.

Minford fights off Valley to take stranglehold of SOC II title race

The Falcons stay unbeaten in league play.

Derrick Webb, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

LUCASVILLE — Coming into Tuesday’s monumental league matchup at Valley, Minford’s game plan didn’t include Jackson Shoemaker shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

Minford’s Myles Montgomery attempts to score during Tuesday’s win over Valley.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA

But late in the game, with his Falcons needing a boost, Shoemaker decided to add that wrinkle in himself.

Minford’s 6-foot-4 sophomore center splashed three triples in the final five minutes of a 71-66 victory over the Indians — swinging momentum back to his own bench and helping the Falcons (12-1, 10-0 SOC II) pull away to take a stranglehold on the league title race.

Needless to say, sometimes, things don’t go as planned.

“I was due for a big game tonight. I really haven’t played that well in the past few games and I just had to clear my head and keep saying to myself, ‘It’s your night. You got this,’” Shoemaker said. “After I hit the first one, I just knew I had to shoot it. Once I got in a rhythm, it was over.”

Senior Joe Hannah was in a rhythm all game long.

When he wasn’t scoring — and he did plenty of that as well — he was cleaning the glass and altering shots on the defensive end.

And, with 4:10 left in regulation, he produced the most noteworthy of the evening.

After Valley had cut the Falcons’ lead to 59-58, continuing to seize momentum, Minford’s Bennett Kayser put up a contested shot that hit the backboard and ricocheted off the front of the rim. 

Hannah was there to clean it up and promptly grabbed the rebound with one hand and slammed it through the net — with authority — to send the Falcon faithful into a frenzy.

“I thought Joe was our rock the whole game, whether that was defensively, or making the extra pass, or getting the rebound,” Minford coach Josh Shoemaker said. “Joe was an absolute stud tonight. He played great the entire game.”

Tale of the tape

Hannah got the night’s scoring started with a 3 before Valley’s Jace Copley and Colt Buckle answered with back-to-back buckets to put the Indians ahead, 4-3, just a minute into the action.

The two traded the lead before Buckle, Carter Nickel and Levi Stewart combined to put Valley (10-3, 7-3 SOC II) ahead 16-9 with 2:10 left. Minford managed to cut that deficit to 16-13, using two buckets from Shoemaker to do so, but Copley completed a three-point play to make it a 19-13 lead after one.

That’s, simply put, when everything changed.

Hannah hit one of two foul shots to begin the second before Shoemaker and Myles Montgomery each scored to force a 19-19 tie.

The Falcons then took a 22-19 lead with a 3 from Hannah at the 6:04 mark before Bennett Kayser, Adam Crank and Montgomery all scored to put the finishing touches on a 17-0 run that gave them a 30-19 advantage.


PHOTOS: Images from Minford’s win over Valley

WATCH: Minford’s Joe Hannah and Jackson Shoemaker discuss Tuesday’s win

WATCH: Joe Hannah’s putback slam dunk


The Indians, try as they might, never led again.

“We haven’t lost in the SOC yet and we knew that if we lost this game, it would be a dogfight through the rest of the year,” Hannah said. “This game helps us out a lot.”

After trading blows throughout the remainder of the first half, Minford took a comfortable 40-28 lead into halftime. But in the final two quarters, Valley was the aggressor, applying pressure and forcing the Falcons to cling to a once double-digit lead.

With 3:44 left in the third, Minford’s Adam Crank dialed long distance to extend the team’s edge to 52-37. 

That’s, however, when the tides turned.

Copley answered with a triple of his own before George Arnett and Stewart tacked on buckets, cutting the deficit to 52-44. Nickel then added a jumper, sending the game into the final eight minutes with Minford leading 52-46.

Buckle began the fourth with a lay-in that capped an 11-0 run and brought the Indians to within four at 52-48. Then, after Arnett splashed in a 3, Nickel hit another mid-range jumper to force a 56-56 tie with 5:13 remaining.

“You look at their game experience and their guards are tall and long,” Josh Shoemaker said, when asked about the problems that Valley gives opposing defenses. “They’re so quick and if you turn it over, it’s a lay-up on the other end. They’ve got three guards who can create their own shot. A lot of high school kids can’t do that. When you’ve got three different ways to score, especially at the high school level, you’re going to be pretty good.”

Despite seeing its 15-point lead erased, Minford threw a counter punch.

Shoemaker hit his first 3 for a 59-56 lead before Hannah logged the putback slam to give the Falcons a 61-58 advantage. Shoemaker then sank another 3 with 3:36 to go before eventually landing the knockout blow at the 2:49 mark with his third triple, making it 67-63.

From there, the Falcons were able to grind out the clock and play keep away, sealing an ever-important conference victory on the road.

“We did a lot of prep for this game and we had like three days where we scouted [Valley],” Jackson Shoemaker said. “We had a great scout [session] and we just had to go out and play our ballgame.”

Stat book

Jackson Shoemaker led all scorers with 22 points alongside five rebounds. He was 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point land. Hannah followed with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Montgomery finished with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

As for Valley, Copley led the team in scoring with 18 points to go along with five rebounds and a pair of assists. Arnett followed with 14 points, Nickel had 12 points of his own, and Buckle ended the evening with 11 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

What’s on tap

While Valley licks its wounds and attempts to bounce back on Thursday at Wheelersburg, the Falcons will attempt to stay unbeaten in conference play on Friday, hosting Waverly.

“The biggest thing is not losing focus,” Josh Shoemaker said. “We can’t take anything for granted. We told the boys that, no matter what, no matter what the record is, if we lose a big game, we fall immediately. So we just have to keep our focus and keep showing up.”

BOX SCORE

Minford: 13-27-12-19 — 71

Valley: 19-9-18-20 — 66

Minford: 25-60 FG, 11-16 FT, 10-24 3pt., 32 rebounds (Hannah 12), 9 turnovers, 12 assists (Montgomery 5). Scoring: Shoemaker 23, Hannah 20, Montgomery 15, Kayser 8, Crank 6.

Valley: 32-66 FG, 3-5 FT, 5-18 3pt., 35 rebounds (Buckle 12), 11 turnovers, 15 assists (Buckle 5). Scoring: Copley 18, Arnett 14, Nickel 12, Buckle 11, Stewart 9, Edwards 2.

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