Beaver Local’s Owen Hill shoots over East Liverpool’s Tyler Kirby on Friday. (Morning Journal/Jimmy Joe Savage)

EAST LIVERPOOL — It was a celebration 43 years in the making.

The unbeaten Beaver Local boys’ basketball team played its best game of the season and won its first contest at East Liverpool’s Potter Fieldhouse since 1982 in a 68-48 win over the Potters before a jam-packed crowd Friday night.

“To my knowledge this is the first boys win here since 1982,” said Beaver Local head coach Nick Miller. “That’s what I was told, I don’t know how accurate that is. I’d say (this is the best win of the year) because of the environment and the atmosphere we were asked to deal with.”

“They scored on us whenever they needed to and our youth showed tonight for sure,” said East Liverpool head coach Kade Reynolds.

Owen Hill, the Beavers’ returning Div. IV first-team All-Ohioan who is averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds per game, dominated from the start, scoring a game-high 28 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“It feels great,” said Hill. “I had a real strong feeling we were going to come in here and take care of business. They (the Potters) are a young group and we’re veterans and we just executed very well tonight. I was going out there to win that game. This is probably the sixth time I’ve played here and I’ve never beaten them here, so I needed to get this.”

Hill had plenty of help as Beaver Local placed three players in double figures, as Aidan Dray added 13 points and Matt Anderson finished with 11 markers.

“That’s a good win for them, this is the first win in the fieldhouse and they earned it tonight,” said Reynolds. “They came out and they out-worked us, they out-rebounded us, they out-shot us and they beat us up tonight.”

East Liverpool (3-2), which was in foul trouble throughout the game, was led by Nolan Irving with 11 points and Dre Brown finished with 10. Standout Dre’Keim Abercrombie missed time in foul trouble and finished with six points.

“Being in foul trouble hurt us and we didn’t take care of the ball,” said Reynolds. “Beaver Local came out and did what they wanted to do.”

Miller was very pleased with the Beavers’ defense,

“That (great defense) seems to be our calling card right now,” he said. “We’ve been holding teams under 50 points and that’s kind of a real good recipe for high school basketball.”

Hill scored 10 first-quarter points and the Beavers held a 7-6 lead on the boards in the opening frame as Beaver Local jumped out to a 15-13 lead after one period.

The Beavers (6-0) took as much as a 10-point advantage twice in the second period, the last coming at 30-20, following a free throw by Hill with 58.2 seconds left before intermission. The Beavers took an eight-point (30-22) lead into the locker room. Beaver Local held a 13-10 advantage on the boards at the break.

The Beavers took as much as a 14-point third-quarter lead at 38-24 but the Potters whittled the deficit to seven points (46-39) at the end of three periods.

But the fourth quarter belonged to Beaver Local which outscored the Potters, 22-9 and it took as much as a 22 point lead on two occasions late in the game before settling for the 20-point triumph.

“Our kids never wavered and just kept battling,” lauded Miller. “This is a complete team win. Our guards took control there in the fourth quarter and were very calm where a year ago we were very frantic in this situation. We showed a lot of growth and maturity and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

“My hats off to my bench guys tonight,” continued the Beaver Local coach. “They came in and they played nails. They did everything I asked them to do, got a couple key baskets in the second half, especially from Tucker McElroy and Peyton Cowdery in the paint and at the free throw line.”

Game notes

• East Liverpool and Beaver Local’s boys teams split their two meetings last season, with the Beavers winning on their home court, 62-53, and the Potters earning a 69-62 win at Potter Fieldhouse.

• East Liverpool hits the road to Wintersville Tuesday night to play the Indian Creek Redskins in a conference game.

“That’s a good road game for us and we’ll see how we respond to this one,” said Reynolds.

• Beaver Local, which is in the midst of a five-game road stretch, will cross the Ohio River Tuesday evening when the Beavers play in Wellsburg against the Brooke Bruins.

BL: 15-15-16-22–68

EL: 13- 9-17- 9–48

BEAVER LOCAL SCORING: Owen Hill 10-3-28, Matt Anderson 4-2-11, Luke Rettos 2-1-5, Nick McKenzie 1-3-5, Aiden Dray 6-0-13, Tucker McElroy 0-2-2, Peyton Cowdery 2-0-4, J. McElroy 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 25, 13-22: 68

EAST LIVERPOOL SCORING: Jayce Douglas 1-5-8, Dre Brown 4-2-10, Tyler Kirby 1-0-2, Nolan Irving 5-1-11, Dre’Keim Abercrombie 3-0-6, Meshach Harris 0-1-1, Ben Myers 2-0-5, Elliott Fitch 0-0-0, Javan Dawson 2-0-5. TEAM TOTALS: 18, 9-17: 48

Three-point goals: Beaver Local 5 (Matt Anderson 1 Owen Hill 3, Aiden Dray 1); East Liverpool 3 (Jayce Douglas 1, Ben Myers 1, Javan Dawson 1).

Total fouls: Beaver Local 15, East Liverpool 21. Fouled out: Tyler Kirby.

——

GIRLS GAME

Beaver Local 45, East Liverpool 37

EAST LIVERPOOL — Mallory Miller tallied 15 points as Beaver Local outlasted East Liverpool 45- 37 in a girls game held before the boys contest on Friday.

The Beavers and Potters combined for 63 free throw attempts in the contest.

LaNease Andrews led the Potters with 15 points, while Meadow O’Rourke had 13 points.

Beaver Local is 3-5, while East Liverpool is 2-7.

Beaver hosts Indian Creek on Monday.

East Liverpool travels to Harrison Central on Monday.

BL: 8-3-13-21–45

EL: 10-12-5-10–37

BEAVER LOCAL SCORING: Ava Nocella 0-0-0, Gianna Congrove 2-2-7, Mercedes McCullough 3-1-9, Jansen Ours 0-0-0, Macie Bourne 0-1-1, Bella McLevey 2-2-7, Mallory Miller 2-10-15, Lilly Wright 1-0-2, Ally Wright 0-3-3, Mya Anderson 0-1-1. TEAM TOTALS: 9, 20-37: 45.

EAST LIVERPOOL SCORING: LaNease Andrews 5-4-15, Aubrey Lyle 0-0-0, Courtney Barker 1-1-3, Arie Weyand 1-0-2, Daeona Wise 0-0-0, Abriana Copeland 1-2-4, Kennedy Dobbins 0-0-0, Meadow O’Rourke 6-1-13. TEAM TOTALS: 14, 8-26: 37.

Three-point goals: Beaver 5 (Congrove, McCullough 2, McLevey, Miller), East Liverpool 1 (Andrews).