Thunderbirds complete road trip undefeated

For the third time in as many games to begin the season, the Eastern Greene boys basketball team went on the road and came up victorious.

The Thunderbirds got a season-high 19 points from Zack Johnson and 12 more from JT Yoho as they defeated Mitchell 55-52 in a non-conference contest Friday night.

"I think any time you can go on the road for three games and go 3-0 you've got to be happy," said Eastern Greene Coach Andy Igel. "But we are far from satisfied.

"We have to do a better job defensively. To give up 18 points in a quarter (21-18) is unheard of. We have to figure out why we are giving up so many easy baskets."

Igel said they bounced back after slow starts in the areas of rebounding and turnovers.

"We had a bad start on the boards but I think we outrebounded them in the end," said Igel. "We also had a bad start on turnovers and finished with 12.

"We are averaging under 12 on the season. We will take the win over a quality team and move on."

Igel added it was encouraging to see Johnson, who made 7 of 8 free throws, have a breakout game. Leading scorer Davis Russell, who averages 21, was limited to seven.

"It was nice to see Johnson get back on track," said Igel. "When your leading scorer has seven and you win, that says a lot about your team.

"There is going to be a lot of balance on this team. On different nights, different people are going to step up. It will make us tough to guard in the end. But we are not there yet."

The T-Birds were 13 of 16 at the foul line while the host Bluejackets made 5 of 9.

The Thunderbird junior varsity squad defeated Mitchell 60-32, improving to 3-0. Tyler Brough paced the winners with 11 points.

Eastern Greene will host Brown County at 6 p.m. on Friday.

EASTERN GREENE (55) -- Zack Johnson 6 7-8 19, Zach Ingram 1 3-4 5, Tyler Igel 2 2-3 8, Davis Russell 3 1-1 7, JT Yoho 5 0-0 12, Cody Sparks 1 0-0 2, Sam Jacob 0 0-0 0, Miles Hutchison 1 0-0 2, Logan Hash 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 13-16 55.

MITCHELL (52) -- Phillips 5 2-4 13, Wintczak 7 0-1 14, Tanksley 3 0-0 6, Owens 2 0-0 5, Speer 2 2-2 8, Smith 1 0-0 3, Bales 1 1-2 3, Reed 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-9 52.

Eastern Greene 21 11 10 13 -- 55

Mitchell 18 10 10 14 -- 52

3-point goals -- Eastern Greene 4 (Igel 2, Yoho), Mitchell 5 (Speer 2, Phillips, Owens, Smith). Fouls -- Eastern Greene 16, Mitchell 14. Fouled out -- Tanksley.