CHILLICOTHE — The Miami Trace Panthers went on the road Tuesday night, traveling over into Ross County and arriving at Unioto High School to take on the Sherman Tanks.
A very fast start for the Tanks proved too much for the Panthers to overcome as the home team took the win, 70-39.
The Shermans shot the ball very well Tuesday, hitting 28 of 52 field goal attempts for 53 percent.
Miami Trace connected on 16 of 46 shots for 34 percent.
Unioto took an 8-0 lead to start the game.
At the end of the first quarter, Unioto had raced out to a 22-5 lead.
Miami Trace had nine turnovers in the first quarter and a total of 18 for the game.
The Tanks turned the ball over a total of nine times in the game.
Freshman Andrew Guthrie led the Panthers with 12 points. He also had four rebounds.
Senior Cameron Moore hit three three-point field goals for the Panthers for nine points.
Junior Ethan Steele had four points and led Miami Trace in rebounds with five.
Junior Logan Rodgers scored six for the Panthers.
Unioto junior Isaac Little scored a game-high 27 points. He went 10 of 16 from the field and five of seven from the foul line. Little also led the Tanks with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Senior Josh Lambert was a nice compliment to Little with 12 points.
Senior Reece Wheeler and sophomore Evan Park each chipped in seven points for Unioto.
The 17-point first quarter deficit was too much for the Panthers to overcome on this night.
The Tanks led 34-18 at halftime.
Unioto scored 18 in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth quarter, while Miami Trace scored 11 and 10, respectively.
“Right now we’re just not in a place, offensively, where we have enough fire power to come back from a 15-point deficit,” Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser said. “To dig a hole like that early is certainly a little concerning.
“We had a hard time making effort plays there in the first half,” Pittser said. “They were making a lot of shots but they were also beating us to a lot of loose balls and beating us in a lot of rebounding situations. Those two factors put together made it a mountain that was too big for us to climb.
“We had some kids show some guts there in the second half, the third quarter, especially,” Pittser said. “I was proud to see some of that. We’ve got some things we have to figure out, for sure.”
Miami Trace (1-2 overall) hosts Jackson for the Frontier Athletic Conference opener Friday. The freshman game begins the action at 4:45 p.m.
The Panthers are back at home to host Waverly Saturday night. The reserve game opens play at 6 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 5 13 11 10 — 39
U 22 12 18 18 — 70
MIAMI TRACE — Andrew Guthrie 5-2-12; Cameron Moore 0 (3)-0-9; Logan Rodgers 3-0-6; Ethan Steele 2-0-4; Kyler Conn 1-0-2; Dylan Bernard 1-0-2; Keegan Terry 0-2-2; Bo Little 1-0-2; Trevor Barker 0-0-0; Hayden Hunter 0-0-0; Cyrus Keplinger 0-0-0; Isaiah Reisinger 0-0-0. TOTALS — 13 (3)-4-39. Free throw shooting: 4 of 9 for 44 percent. Three-point field goals: Moore, 3. Field goal shooting: 16 of 46 for 34 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 3 of 17 for 17 percent. Rebounds: 25 (11 offensive). Assists: 11. Steals: 4. Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 18. Personal fouls: 13. Bench points: 20. Second chance points: 14. Points off turnovers: 5.
UNIOTO — Isaac Little 8 (2)-5-27; Josh Lambert 6-0-12; Reece Wheeler 3-1-7; Evan Park 2 (1)-0-7; Nate Keiser 0 (2)-0-6; Carson Debord 0 (1)-1-4; Cameron Debord 0 (1)-0-3; Jeremy Lambert 1-0-2; Cater Markko 1-0-2; DeSean Branson 0-0-0. TOTALS — 21 (7)-7-70. Free throw shooting: 7 of 13 for 53 percent. Three-point field goals: Little, 2; Keiser, 2; Park, Car. Debord, Cam. Debord. Field goal shooting: 28 of 52 for 53 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 7 of 18 for 38 percent. Rebounds: 29 (11 offensive). Assists: 10. Steals: 8. Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 9. Personal fouls: 12. Bench points: 14. Second chance points: 15. Points off turnovers: 15.
