Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN Freshmen Jake Endicott and Noah Frazier combined for 28 points and the Man Hillbillies beat the Van Bulldogs 53-40 on Thursday night at the Man Memorial Fieldhouse to advance to the championship game of the Stephen Caldwell Holiday Tournament.
Frazier led Man with 17 points, including five 3-pointers, and Endicott added 11 points for Man. The Hillbillies will face the River View Raiders for the championship Friday night. The Raiders defeated Richwood 63-34 in the second game of the tournament.
Man has won three straight games against Van dating back to last season, and the Hillbillies, who won four games last season but have won three of their last four games, knocked down nine 3-pointers in the season opening win over the Bulldogs.
Man, who briefly trailed 1-0 following a Dalton Kessinger free throw, used a 12-0 first quarter run to take control of the game early as Frazier knocked down three 3’s and Endicott had one 3-pointer as part of the run.
Frazier hit a fourth 3 in the first to give Man a 15-5 lead before Van closed the gap to 15-7 after one quarter of play.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Trace Doty to start the second quarter gave Man a 21-7 lead before Van closed the gap to nine, 21-12, on Easton Moore’s basket.
Man made 7 3-pointers in the first half and lead 26-15 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Hillbillies led by as many 18 points on two occasions.
Gavin Branham led Van with 11 points while Easton Moore scored 10 points. Josh Marcum had seven points, Cooper Grant five, Bryson Davis four and Markie Meadows three for the Bulldogs.
Frazier scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the first half, Endicott had eight of his 11 points in the second half and Doty, who finished with eight points for Man, scored six points in the first half.
Kaleb Mullins had six points, Devon Sanders five and Landon Cantrell, Micah Goble and Blake Hicks had two points each for the Hillbillies.
Van (0-2) will face Richwood in the consolation game at 6 p.m. on Friday while the Hillbillies (1-0) will talk on River View in Friday’s championship at 8 p.m.
River View 63, Richwood 34: Jackson Danielson had 19 points to lead four Raiders in double figures as River View defeated Richwood in the nightcap of the Stephen Caldwell Holiday Tournament.
Danielson scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half for River View, who never trailed in the contest and led by as many 31 points and improved to 2-0 on the year.
Gabe Lester had 12 points, Ashton Hunt 11 and Kaiden Newberry 10 for the Raiders.
Trae Trivolette led Richwood (0-1) with 10 points and Tyler Barnhouse had seven points.