Malvern extends season with district title; Hornets wrestler scores at district

Perhaps the players just weren’t quite ready to say goodbye. And maybe their coach isn’t either.

The Malvern Hornets are headed to regionals for the second time in three years after defeating Hannibal River in the Div. VII East 1 District championship 44-32, meaning Dennis Tucci will have to put his retirement plans on hold for the time being.

Something tells me he won’t have a problem with that.

This year’s iteration of the Hornets may not have the big names of years past or a glossy won-loss record, but they play the same type of smart, disciplined, never-say-die basketball that Malvern has become synonymous with under the tutelage of Tucci.

In the game, which took place at the ECO Center March 7, fourth-seeded Malvern jumped on No. 3 seed River early, sprinting to a 14-3 lead by the end of the first quarter. It was a lead the Hornets would not surrender as they withstood every attempt by the River Pilots to work their way back into the game.

Following a much more evenly fought second period, Malvern took a 25-13 advantage into intermission. The Hornets kept applying pressure, forcing River into turnovers and widening their cushion to 14 points at 36-22 as the teams began the final quarter. Ultimately, Malvern’s early lead proved too much for the River Pilots to overcome.

Malvern possessed a slight advantage over River in field goal percentage, shooting 16 of 41 from the field (39%) to the River Pilots’ 38%, and held a 20-19 edge in rebounding. One area in which the Hornets excelled was ball control. Playing the sure-handed type of basketball Tucci is renowned for, Malvern coughed up the ball just six times, while forcing the River Pilots into 18 turnovers.

Grady Barkley paced the Hornets (17-9) with 14 points, while senior Tripp Tucci provided marksmanship from downtown, scoring nine points on three 3-pointers. Jaxon Jones added eight points to complement his team-high five rebounds. Delonte Simmons also scored eight points for Malvern.

River (16-10) was led by Evan Longwell, who led all scorers with 18 points. Crestyn Isaly added seven as the River Pilots were held to nearly 20 points below their season average of 51.5 points per game.

Malvern will face Racine Southern March 12 at Ohio Dominican University’s Alumni Hall in a Region 27 semifinal contest.

To reach the district finals, Malvern had to get by Inter-Valley Conference foe Strasburg-Franklin March 3 in a district semifinal game played at Dover. In the rubber match between the two rivals, the Hornets logged a 58-46 victory.

Strasburg-Franklin had upset Malvern on the road just 11 days prior, but this time, the Hornets left nothing to chance, racing to a 20-9 lead by the first quarter’s close. A 15-9 run in the third period put Malvern up by 15 entering the fourth period, spelling doom for the Tigers (13-11).

Luke Thomas led the Hornets with 13 points while Barkley added 11. Gage Moore scored a game-high 20 points for Strasburg-Franklin.

Boys wrestling

Scoring 4.0 points, the Hornets finished tied for 37th place with River and Bellaire at the Div. III District tournament, held March 6-7 at Coshocton High School. Barnesville outpointed Garaway 188.5-176.0 to claim the team title.

Wrestling at 113 pounds, Bowen Irwin provided the scoring for Malvern as he won his first-round bout by a 12-3 major decision before narrowly losing in the quarterfinals to Bidwell River Valley’s Logan Purcell. Purcell, who ended up placing sixth, defeated Irwin 4-2 to notch the decision.

Attempting to work his way back into contention, Irwin picked up a second victory with a 5-3 decision in the second consolation round before being decisioned 12-7 in the third consolation round, ending his tournament.