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Mitchell’s 43 fuels Harrison’s rout of Union Local

T-L Photo/SETH STASKEY HARRISON CENTRAL’S Kobe Mitchell is fouled driving to the basket by Union Local’s Elijah Baker during Tuesday’s game in Morristown. Mitchell scored 43 points as the Huskies posted a 78-60 victory.

MORRISTOWN — Justin Clifford has never been the type of basketball coach who’s hesitant to raise his voice if the situation warrants.

Just before his Harrison Central Huskies tipped off against homestanding Union Local Tuesday, Clifford had one of those situations as he observed his team being a bit too lackadaisical during its pre-game warmup.

“We talked about it and got after them a little bit and the kids responded,” Clifford said.

Responded in a big way, too.

The Huskies overwhelmed the Jets in the opening eight minutes, racing out to a 34-13 lead in the first and never seriously looking back en route to a 78-60 victory.

“A lot of teams don’t know how to lose and a lot of teams don’t know how to win, and I am not sure we’re in either place yet,” Clifford said. “The kids really played well in the first quarter.”

On top of hearing a passionate speech from their coach, it didn’t hurt the Huskies’ cause that they feature one of the area’s premier players in sophomore Kobe Mitchell. He flashed the entire arsenal of his multi-faceted game en route to scoring 43 points.

“Kobe scores like that very unselfishly,” Clifford pointed out. “He never takes a bad shot, which is sometimes to my dismay because I’d probably like him to take a couple of more shots.”

Combining Harrison’s motivation, Mitchell’s performance and Union Local head coach Zach Delman saying his team “didn’t come out ready to play” and it equates to what it was a constant game of catch up for the Jets, who got only as close as 17 in the third quarter.

“Harrison took advantage of us going through the motions, so give them credit for that,” Delman said. “They made shot after shot after shot and we didn’t do anything to stop it.”

During the aforementioned first-quarter blitz, the Huskies cashed five bonus goals and forced upwards of eight turnovers, many of which led to run-out chances which either Mitchell or Gavin Muckle converted in transition.

The Jets, who have been struggling in the shooting department, were able to make it a bit more respectable thanks to an 18-10 third quarter. Senior Cal Kildow — a returning all-Ohioan — scored nine of his team-high 17 in that quarter.

That was a quarter that actually led to another Clifford teaching point when he called a time out after a Kildow trey made it 57-40 with still 10 minutes to go in the game.

“I think we thought we had it going, weren’t making many passes and it’s easy to do that when you start the way we did,” Clifford said. “They responded from there how we asked them. It’s tough to challenge kids every second of every game, but we did some pretty good things that we hadn’t done earlier (in the season). I am pleased with the effort.”

Mitchell’s production was backed by Muckle’s 12 and Evan Stine added 11 and was a force on the boards, too.

Complementing Kildow’s scoring for the Jets was Elijah Baker’s 14 and Luke Merritt’s 12.

“We’re not into moral victories or anything, but I was much happier with our effort in the second half,” Delman said. “We played harder and with more grit because this could have been an embarassing second half, but we battled. We have to shoot the ball better, so we need to get back to work.”

Both teams return to the court Saturday afternoon, taking part in the annual Buckeye 8 Challenge at Ohio University Eastern. The Huskies (3-1) take on Linsly at 3:45 p.m., while Union Local meets Steubenville in the opener at 2 p.m.

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