“It’s a good early test,” Miamisburg coach Tim Fries said. “I think in a way it’s going to help us because it’s baptism by fire with these young guys.
“I think playing Northmont and Springfield back to back is only going to make us better because these teams are athletic.”
Springfield used its fast-break ability and depth to score the game’s first 15 points and led 33-17 at halftime.
Miamisburg did hold Springfield senior center Darius Harper in check with four points. But junior Danny Davis scored 17 points and Jeremiah Ward (16), Antwuan Johnson (15) and Michael McKay (10) stepped up to fill the points void.
“Danny is going to get his points. He’s a phenomenal scorer, my goodness,” Fries said. “We had a plan for Darius and that was to keep a body on him and wall him up. Our guys, the two-headed monster of Ryan Zech and Duncan Hall, did a really good job of battling. I think they’re going to be sore Saturday but they really did a nice job.”
Sophomore Korte Justice led the Vikings with 18 points and senior Max Dungan added 11.
“We’re learning on the fly and learning quite a bit about what we can do,” Fries said. “Unfortunately we’re not getting the wins but I think it’ll lead to that down the road.”
The Vikings lost four of their top five scorers and return about 14 points from last season’s team. One of the losses was junior big man Josh Myers, an Ohio State University recruit in football who decided not to play this season.
“We might have seen the only guy in the GWOC who is bigger than Josh,” Fries said of the 6-foot-9 Harper. “It would have been nice to have had him down there. Josh made a decision and that’s the best decision for him. We wish he was playing but at the same time he’s got something special going and we respect his decision.”
Miamisburg hosts Bellbrook on Tuesday, then travel to Fairborn on Friday and Sidney on Saturday.
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