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Jackson sparkles in Potter rout of Beaver

East Liverpool’s Tresean Jackson shoots over Beaver Local’s Ryan Cunningham on Saturday.

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool’s boys basketball team will able to count on its senior experience this season with five in the starting lineup.

But Tresean Jackson might be a really special one.

Jackson poured in 32 points on Saturday afternoon as the Potters navigated some rough spots to dump rival Beaver Local 69-44.

Jackson, who averaged 16 points a game as a junior, only had three points in the first quarter before things started to click.

“I was 0 for 6 from three against Edison on Tuesday, so I wanted to get some shots in early to get going,” Jackson said.

Jackson had 12 of the Potters’ 20 points in the second quarter, six of the team’s 14 in the third and 11 of the team’s 24 in the fourth quarter.

“When Jackson gets going it’s going to be hard to stop him,” Beaver Local first-year coach Nick Miller said.

East Liverpool made it a clean sweep of the opening week and is now 3-0.

“It’s always nice to get a win against Beaver because I have a lot of friends over there,” Jackson said.

The Beavers (1-2) were right there with the Potters at the start as they closed out the first quarter tied at 11. In the second quarter the Beavers nearly erased a 10-point deficit to get to within two at 25-23, but Jackson had six points to close out the half including three free throws with .8 seconds left to push the halftime score to 31-23.

“We did a nice job early being composed when they pressured us with the traps,” Miller said. “But we ran out of patience and got out of our comfort zone. They were making us play faster than we wanted to.”

The Potters cranked up the defensive pressure in the second quarter with aggressive traps which forced Beaver Local into nine turnovers in that quarter alone. The Beavers had 21 total on the afternoon.

“With the depth we have, we have guys who have seen it all,” East Liverpool coach Nate Conley said. “They struggled with our trapping and I don’t think they got to run their offense once. Our defensive goal is to hold the opponent to under 50 and we’ve done that three times so far.”

Beaver Local cut the Potter lead to 35-30 with 4:15 left in the third quarter, but was outscored 34-14 the rest of the way.

Senior Nick Woodyard came off the bench to score all eight of his points in the second half. Brennan O’Hara had 10 points, while Timmy Neal contributed eight.

Outside of the senior core, Conley was impressed with sophomore Zavea Green who had four points off the bench.

“We plays really long and he had a nice block in there,” Conley said. “If he continues playing like he did today, he’s going to earn more playing time.”

A bright spot for Beaver Local was forward Ethan Stephenson who had 11 points and four rebounds. His aggressive play on the boards altered plenty of shots and made rebounding a more of a chore for the Potters. Logan Reed also had a strong presence with eight points but he was a bit limited by an ankle injury.

Game notes

¯ East Liverpool won the jayvee portion, 52-48. Cole Dailey scored 21 points for the winners, while Brady Smith had 15 points for Beaver Local.

¯ Beaver Local’s Ethan Agnew landed hard on his right shoulder with 4:45 left to play in the game and had to be helped off. Miller said he was in significant pain and will likely have to be checked out by a doctor.

¯ The game was orginally scheduled for the evening, but was moved to an afternoon start to give everyone ample time to attend East Liverpool’s Christmas parade in the evening.

“I’ve got three daughters, so I like it,” Conley said. “It’s nice to get a win against your rival in the afternoon and to head downtown to enjoy the parade. It’s really a great event.”

¯ Both teams play Buckeye Local next. Beaver hosts the Panthers on Tuesday, while the Potters are at the Panthers on Friday.

BEAVER: 11-12-11-11–44

E. LIVERPOOL: 11-20-14-24–69

BEAVER LOCAL SCORING: Sky Pappas 2-0-5, Nathan Barber 1-2-4, Ethan Agnew 0-0-0, Brady Smith 1-0-2, Luke Chetock 2-1-6, Tate Jospeh 1-0-2, Angelo Sposato 0-0-0, Ryan Cunningham 0-0-0, Josh Hilditch 1-1-4, Ethan Stephenson 4-3-11, Logan Reed 3-2-8, Jaden Kiddey 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 16-35, 9-21: 44.

E. LIVERPOOL SCORING: Nick Woodyard 3-2-8, Brennan O’Hara 3-4-10, Timmy Neal 4-0-8, Levi George 1-0-2, Gannon Irvine 2-1-5, Tresean Jackson 11-5-32, Cole Dailey 0-0-0, Zavea Green 2-0-4, Izaiha Browning 0-0-0, Cameron Beverly 0-0-0, Demani Brown 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 26-48, 12-15: 69.

Three-point goals: Beaver Local 3 (Pappas, Chetock, Hilditch), East Liverpool 5 (Jackson).

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