Boys basketball: Avon gets defensive, beats Midview

AVON — Defense was the difference for Avon on Friday night. The Eagles forced Midview into missing its first 11 shots and three turnovers, scoring the first 15 points of the game in a 65-52 Southwestern Conference victory. "Midview is a team that wants to slow the game down and that's hard to do when you are down 15," Avon coach Mike Fitch said. "Our goal is to get up early, and it can be easier said than done, but it was our defense tonight that got us up 15-0." In addition to the defense, the Eagles (7-3, 4-1 SWC) were hot on the other end, hitting five of the first eight attempts. Zane Austin scored the first eight points of the game, including a pair of 3-pointers. Tyson Ziegler had a pair of layins, Nolan Good hit a pair of free throws and Sam Toniolo split a pair of free throws to account for the commanding lead. "That was really a wild start," said Austin, who finished with a game-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. "We were clicking on offense and playing great team defense. This is such a tough conference. We'll certainly take the win." The Middies (6-5, 1-4) got on the board with 1:25 left in the first period on a pair of Bryson Hicks free throws, but didn't hit their first field goal until Hicks scored on a layin with 52 seconds left in the quarter. "I told our guys, 'I actually thought we played pretty well in the first quarter,'" Midview coach Jim Brabenec said. "We played good offense, getting the ball into the right position. We played good defense, but we just couldn't get the ball in the basket." The Middies hit just one of 12 (8 percent) in the first eight minutes of regulation and finished the night hitting 18 of 53 (34 percent). After Austin lit up the Middies to start the first, Chance Miller came off the bench and scored on a layin and and three straight 3-pointers to push the lead to 28-12 midway through the second period. Avon opened the second half on a 13-4 run, getting five points from Good (12 points) and four more points from Austin for the largest lead of the night at 50-26. But just when it looked like the night was over, the Middies finally found the bottom of the basket, going on a 23-6 run over the end of the third and the first three minutes of the fourth. David Moore (14 points) and Jacob Gregory each hit 3-pointers at the end of the third to trim the lead to 52-26. The run kept going on a three-point play by Ethan Elbert (16 points), five more points from Moore, including a dunk, a Drew DiFranco three, and an Elbert midrange jumper. Suddenly, it was a game again at 56-49 with five minutes left. "We kept competing and got the lead down to seven, but then we had four or five bad possessions in a row trying to do too much and couldn't get any closer," said Brabenec, whose team made only one of its final 10 shots. Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. AVON 65, MIDVIEW 52 MIDVIEW (52): David Moore 5-2-14, Drew DiFranco 3-0-8, Ethan Elbert 5-5-16, Brayden Newton 1-0-3, Steve Komar 0-0-0, Bryson Hicks 1-2-4, Jacob Gregory 1-0-3, Tyler Davis 2-0-4. Totals 18-9-52. AVON (65): Spencer Williams 0-0-0, Chance Miller 4-0-11, Tyson Ziegler 3-0-6, Nolan Good 2-7-12, Paul Leftrict 1-0-2, Colten Fitch 1-0-2, Zane Austin 5-5-17, Joe Griffiths 0-1-1, Ali Jaber 2-0-4, Andy Falasco 1-0-3, Sam Toniolo 2-3-7. Totals 21-16-65. Midview 4 18 14 16 — 52 Avon 15 22 15 13 — 65 Three-point goals: Midview 7-21 (33 percent, Moore 2, DiFranco 2, Elbert, Newton, Gregory), Avon 7-19 (37 percent, Miller 3, Austin 2, Good, Falasco). Field goals: Midview 18-53 (34 percent); Avon 21-41 (51 percent). Free throws: Midview 9-9 (100 percent); Avon 16-20 (80 percent). Rebounds: Midview 36, Avon 34 Turnovers: Midview 15, Avon 8 Junior varsity: Avon, 54-28