HOPEWELL-LOUDON’s Luke Bolte, center, gets an offensive rebound and puts it back up between Cory-Rawson’s Tommy Stauffer, left, and Nathan Zuercher in Friday’s Blanchard Valley Conference game at Hopewell-Loudon. (Photo by Matthias Leguire)
Vermillion
It took 21 days for Arlington’s Jason Vermillion to celebrate a career milestone.
It finally came Friday night in a 58-47 victory over longtime Blanchard Valley Conference kingpin Liberty-Benton.
The triumph was the 300th in Vermillion’s illustrious 20-year Red Devil head coaching career. He now sports a 300-144 win-loss mark.
It was Dec. 29 when the Red Devils last posted a victory, defeating Miller City 81-75.
Since then, Arlington had lost four in a row.
That ended, though, Friday night when the Red Devils used a 21-9 fourth-quarter advantage to rally past the Eagles and even their season record at 6-6 overall and move to 3-2 in the BVC.
Liberty-Benton falls to 2-10, 2-3.
Ivan Berry led Arlington’s offensive assault, converting 10 free throws enroute to a game-high 23 points. Jaret Vermillion, son of the head coach, added 12 points and Ryan Metzger had nine.
The Red Devils trailed 32-30 at halftime, were within 38-37 after three quarters, and then won it going away in the fourth.
The difference came at the line where Arlington went 21 of 27 and L-B was just 10 of 17.
Liberty-Benton got 17 points from Austin May with Josh Reindel adding 10.
Vermillion’s most rewarding season came in 2011-12 when the Red Devils advanced to the Division IV state semifinals, falling to eventual champion Berlin Hiland.
His 300 victories have also included outright BVC titles in 2013-14 and 2003-04, while the Red Devils have gained a share of championships in 2011-12, 2005-06 and 2002-03 during his tenure.
arlington (6-6, 3-2 bvc)
Vermillion 4-3–12, Metzger 3-3–9, Russell 1-3–5, Price 2-2–6, Berry 6-10–23, Webb 1-0–3. TOTALS: 17 21-27–58.
liberty-benton (2-10, 2-3 bvc)
Jenkins 2-0–4, Poling 1-0–3, May 5-6–17, Schroeder 4-0–9, Dillon 1-0–3, Jo. Reindel 3-3–10, Ja. Reindel 0-1–1. TOTALS: 16 10-17–47.
Arlington 15 15 7 21 — 58
Liberty-Benton 17 15 6 9 — 47
3-Point GOALS: Arlington 3 (Vermillion, Berry & Webb 1); Liberty-Benton 5 (Poling, May, Schroeder, Dillon & Jo. Reindel 1).
RIVERDALE 55
ARCADIA 30
MOUNT BLANCHARD — Riverdale overpowered Arcadia 31-1 in the second quarter as the Falcons went on to beat the Redskins 55-30 in Blanchard Valley Conference boys basketball Friday night, earning just their second victory of the season.
Arcadia (2-10, 0-5 BVC) was coming off back-to-back nonconference victories, while Riverdale (2-11, 1-4) got its first win by rolling over Hardin Northern 83-33 on Dec. 27.
Alex Loveridge drained three of Riverdale’s 10 treys on the night en route to a game-high 15 points. Brock Davis added 10 points with Logan Frey scoring five points and grabbing a team-high five rebounds.
Not only did Riverdale convert 10 of 21 3-pointers, the Falcons also went 9 of 13 at the free-throw line.
Arcadia got seven points from Sammy Stahl with Eli Palmer and Trevor Brubaker adding six points each.
arcadia (2-10, 0-5 bvc)
Coppus 1-0–3, Palmer 2-2–6, Rader 1-0–3, Stoner 1-1″”4, Brubaker 1-3″”6, Johnson 1-0″”2, Stahl 3-1–7. TOTALS: 10-30 7-12–30.
riverdale (2-11, 1-4 bvc)
Miller 1-1–4, Murphy 2-0–6, Morris 2-0–6, Loveridge 4-4–15, Frey 2-1–5, Vent 0-3–3, Walter 3-0–6, Davis 4-0–10. TOTALS: 18-38 9-13–55.
Arcadia 10 1 11 8 — 30
Riverdale 9 31 11 4 — 55
3-Point GOALS: Arcadia 3-10 (Coppus, Stoner & Brubaker 1); Riverdale 10-21 (Loveridge 3, Davis, Murphy & Morris 2, Miller 1).
rebounds: Arcadia 14 (Palmer 3); Riverdale 23 (Frey 5, Walter & Murphy 4).
turnovers: Arcadia 19, Riverdale 15.
LEIPSIC 59
VANLUE 52
VANLUE — Austin Erickson poured in 22 points and Leipsic edged Vanlue 59-52 in Friday’s Blanchard Valley Conference action.
Erickson tied for the team-lead with two 3-pointers and also popped in six of the Vikings’ (5-6, 3-2 BVC) nine free throws. No other Leipsic played scored more than eight points.
Caleb Bonham paced the Wildcats (3-8, 0-6) with 17 points, while Treg Price and Troy Ward both added double-doubles. Price finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds and Ward scored 12 with 10 boards and three assists.
Leipsic (5-6, 3-2 BVC)
Erickson 7-6–22, Mangas 4-0–8, Gillespie 3-0–8, Hiegel 2-0–6, Niese 1-2–5, Schroeder 2-0–4, Lomeli 1-0–3, Gerdeman 1-0–2, Rieman 0-1–1. TOTALS: 21-59 9-16 — 59.
Vanlue (3-8, 0-6 BVC)
Bonham 7-3–17, Ward 4-1–12, Price 3-5–12, Kloepfer 3-0–6, Sunderhaus 1-0–3, Temple 1-0–2. TOTALS: 19-51 9-16 — 52.
Leipsic 13 13 16 17 — 59
Vanlue 17 13 13 9 — 52
3-Point GOALS: Leipsic 8-22 (Erickson, Hiegel & Gillespie 2, Lomeli & Niese 1); Vanlue 5-20 (Ward 3, Sunderhaus & Price 1).
rebounds: Leipsic 28, Vanlue 37 (Price 14).
turnovers: Leipsic 10, Vanlue 14.
junior varsity: Leipsic, 46-39.
HOPEWELL-LOUDON 56
CORY-RAWSON 46
BASCOM — Six players chipped in six points apiece for Hopewell-Loudon as the Chieftains defeated Cory-Rawson 56-46 for a Blanchard Valley Conference boys basketball win Friday.
Jake Simonis drained four 3-pointers en route 18 points to lead the Chieftains (8-4, 4-1 BVC) and Jordyn Jury added 11 points.
Travis Milligan and Luke Bolte (13 rebounds) each scored seven points while Alec Hoover and Carter Coffman had six apiece.
Eric Ritter totaled a game-high 26 points and registered three steals for the Hornets (4-8, 2-3).
CORY-RAWSON (4-8, 2-3 BVC)
Ritter 10-2–26, Roth 1-0–2, M. Zuercher 1-2–4, Schultz 3-0–8, Houck 0-2–2, Stauffer 2-0–4. TOTALS: 17-51 6-8–46.
HOPEWELL-LOUDON (8-4, 4-1 BVC)
Milligan 2-1–7, Bolte 3-1–7, Coffman 1-3–6, Jury 3-5–11, 3-5–11, Rumschlag 0-1–1, Hoover 3-0–6, Simonis 6-2–18. TOTALS: 18-56 13-28–56.
Cory-Rawson 11 6 18 11 — 46
Hopewell-Loudon 14 16 13 13 — 56
3-Point GOALS: Cory-Rawson 6-19 (Ritter 4, Schultz 2); Hopewell-Loudon 7-17 (Simonis 4, Milligan 2, Coffman).
rebounds: Cory-Rawson 27 (Stauffer 7); Hopewell-Loudon 37 (Bolte 13).
turnovers: Cory-Rawson 15; Hopewell-Loudon 18.
junior varsity: Hopewell-Loudon, 36-26.