LEBANON — North Montgomery had no answer for Lebanon in a 62-32 Sagamore Conference Charger loss on Friday night.
The Tigers score early and often, leading 18-7 after a quarter and 38-18 at the half.
Reese Jones scored 10 first half points, while Kobe Ottinger scored 12 of his game-high 18 over the first 16 minutes, as Lebanon connected on 16-of-32 field goals.
Jones and Ottinger broke a 7-7 tie and took the Tigers on an 11-0 to close the first quarter. The Chargers never got any closer.
“I told the guys before the game, that I thought they were the best team we’ve played so far,” North Montgomery coach Chad Arnold said. “They’re just so physical. Their guards are good, their bigs are good. They are just a really good basketball team.”
The Chargers shot 39% from the field in the first half, but committed nine turnovers and managed just 18 shots.
“They took us out of everything,” Arnold said. “We’ve got to learn to cut harder on things. They had us scouted and are a well coached team.”
Jakob Kirsch led the Chargers with 12 points, including eight in the second half — but North Montgomery was unable to claw back into the game.
Lebanon outscored North Montgomery 14-2 in the third quarter, ending any chance of a Charger rally.
“We did some good things out there, but it’s tough when you get down by what we did,” Arnold said. Our guys are battling and they’ve got a lot of guys that they can throw at you. Some of our guys got worn down, but I didn’t think we quit. We played hard. I thought our guys came out tonight and competed, it was just a tough game for us to match-up.”
For the game Lebanon was 27-of-55 from the field, while the Chargers were just 11-of-31.
Jack Ferrell added 10 off the bench for the Tigers, while Drew Norman chipped in five for North Montgomery.
The win pushes Lebanon to 11-5 overall and 5-1 in Sagamore Conference place. The Chargers drop to 0-4 in the league and 1-12 overall. North Montgomery will entertain West Lafayette on Tuesday, while Lebanon is at Covington tonight.
