ZT Wins Tight Battle Over Adena To Earn Trip to District Final

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Two SVC boys basketball foes took their battle down to the closing seconds, as the Zane Trace Pioneers came away with a 51-48 win over Adena, Sunday at the Ohio University Convocation Center.

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Both team traded early leads with Adena up 12-9 after the first quarter. The Pioneers went on a 13-2 run in the second quarter for a 22-14 lead, before the Warriors cut the margin to 22-18, only to see ZT close on a 4-1 spurt for a 26-19 halftime lead.

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The third period saw Zane Trace build a 32-25 advantage, before Adena went on a 5-0 run to make it 32-30. That momentum was short-lived, with the Pioneers closing the third quarter strong for a 40-30 lead, heading into the final period.

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After closing the ZT lead to 42-39, the Pioneers darted into what at the time seemed like a comfortable lead of 49-41. That's when the Warriors caught fire again from the three-point arc to pull to within 49-48 with 13.6 seconds remaining. Adena had to foul when their press couldn't get the ball, sending Colby Swain to the line- where he connected on both free throws for a 51-48 lead. Adena's Logan Bennett had one last three-ball try from the left wing with a ZT defender guarding him tightly, causing the shot to fall off the mark to end the game.

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Zane Trace was led by Nick Nesser's 17 points and 8 rebounds, Cameron Evans followed with 15 points and 7 rebounds, Luke Johnson with 9 points, Triton Davidson 6 points and Colby Swain with 4 points.

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Adena's Logan Bennett led all players with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Nate Throckmorton and Jarrett Garrison each had 8 points, Cade McKee and Dillon McDonald with 5 each and 3 from Preston Sykes. Sykes was hampered with foul trouble most of the second half, which kept him on the bench until late in the game.

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The Pioneers shot 20/48 from the field- including 4/11 from behind the arc for 42% and added 7/9 from the free throw line. Adena was 17/45- including 10/25 from the arc for 38% and added 4/6 at the foul line.

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Zane Trace improves to (21-3) and now plays Ironton in the March 6th district final, with tip-off at 8:15pm. The Tigers advanced with a 56-41 win over Eastern Brown. 94 Country WKKJ airtime will be 8pm.

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Adena's season closes at (16-9), advancing to the districts for a second straight season.

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WKKJ's Tom Beard became ill just prior to airtime and had to be taken home. We want to thank everyone at The Convo and in our listening audience who expressed their concern and well-wishes for Tom. At last check Sunday evening, he was home and doing ok. WE also want to say a big thank you to Brock Netter of Southern Ohio Sports Authority for providing many of our stats from the game.

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Replay of the WKKJ broadcast can be found on our podcast link below....


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