RUSHVILLE — After a long layoff, the Lions jumped into 2013 with a double weekend. Rushville lost a close game at Jennings County 69-62 and came back to roll  over Indianapolis Manual 62-36. The Lions are 4-5 on the season.

Rushville had not played since Dec. 15, but the layoff didn’t seem to  shake the Lions at Jennings County (8-5 after loss Saturday to Columbus

North). The Lions led by as much as six points in the first quarter. Alex  Yurack led the Lions in the first eight minutes with five points. Nate Hoeing had a 3-pointer in the first and added five points in the second  quarter. John Riddell had a solid first half with eight points and Mitch Laird drained a pair from downtown in the first half en route to his eight points.

Laird’s second triple gave the Lions their largest lead at 28-21. Jennings  County fought back to grab the lead at 35-33 on a 3-pointer from Bailey Sanders.

Hoeing kept the hot hand for the Lions in the third quarter as he hit two bombs and a total of nine points to keep the Lions within striking distance of the Panthers.

Laird’s four-point play in the fourth quarter pulled the Lions within one, but two big plays by Sanders in the final three minutes allowed the Panthers to hold off the Lions 69-62. Sanders led the Panthers with 20 points. Hoeing led the Lions with 22. Laird finished with 12 and Yurack had nine.

The Panthers won the junior varsity contest 46-39 with Jennings County being led by Richard McNamee with 13 points.

Saturday, the Lions handed Indianapolis Manual (1-9) a 62-36 beating and improved to 4-5 on the season.

Rushville opened the game on a 10-3 run. Nate Niehoff started the scoring and Hunter Orme put in the next basket en route to his game-high 18 points. Manuel’s Burke hit from behind the arc to get the Redskins on the board. John Riddell’s bucket started another spurt for the Lions as Rushville pushed the lead to 10-3.

Manual came back with four straight points to cut the deficit to 10-7. With the lead at four, Nate Hoeing’s free throw was followed by a Burke bucket for the Redskins. Cameron Cox’s bucket off the assist from Mitch Laird ended the first quarter with the Lions leading 16-11.

Rushville outscored the Redskins 17-9 in the second quarter. The Lions looked to the paint to start the quarter as the Lions got five points from Orme and three from Niehoff to push the lead to 24-11. After a driving bucket by Manual’s Jaquelle Gist, Rushville scored the next five points - a bucket by Cameron and 3-pointer from Hoeing. Manual closed to within 11 before Hoeing ended the first half with two free throws to give the Lions a 33-20 advantage.

The third quarter doomed the Redskins of any chance of a second-half comeback. Rushville held Manual to just five points in the frame and none in the final 4:40 of the quarter. The Lions continued to look to the paint in the third quarter. Niehoff, Orme and Cox combined to score 12 of the 14 points in the quarter. Rushville led 47-25 after three quarters.

The Lions built their largest lead of the game at 30 points on a Laird 3-pointer with 3:32 to play in the game. The Redskins closed the game on a 6-2 run to make the final margin 62-36.

Orme led the way with 18 points followed by Niehoff with 12 and Cox with nine. Burke led the Redskins with 16 points.



Box score

Rushville 62, Manual 36

Scoring: Manual – Walker 2 0 0-0 4, Gist 2 0 0-0 4, Hedrick 4 1 5-5 16, Burke 3 1 0-0 9, Watkins 1 0 1-2 3. Totals 12 2 6-7 36. Rushville – Hoeing 0 1 3-4 6, Riddell 3 0 0-0 6, Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Al. Yurack 1 0 0-0 2, Laird 1 1 2-2 7, Niehoff 3 0 6-8 12, Orme 7 0 4-6 18, Cox 4 0 1-1 9. Totals 20 2 16-21 62.

JV game

Scoring: Manuel (29) – Mounds 11, Breeding 2, Floyd 3, Twitty 13. Rushville (52) – Dye 10, Combs 4, Seals 6, Thompson 10, Al. Yurack 5, Hallgarth 4, Busald 7, Borders 4, Jones 2.



Contact: Aaron Kirchoff at 765-932-2222 ext. 114