WINTERSVILLE — The Indian Creek boys’ basketball appeared to be in control against Union Local as the Redskins led by eight points in the third quarter.

Trailing by eight, the Jets decided to ratchet up the pressure, and it paid big dividends as Union Local built a 13-point advantage in the fourth on their way to defeating the Redskins, 58-47, Friday night on Coach D Court.

“We started throwing the ball to them,” Indian creek (0-2) head coach Joe Dunlevy said what caused the Jets’ 21-point turnaround. “We were handling the ball well, and they we didn’t. We committed turnovers, and they got the ball. When you commit turnovers, you give teams more possessions. We were playing really well, and then we didn’t.”

There is a big difference between committing live-ball turnovers as compared to dead-ball turnovers. Unfortunately for the Redskins, they committed a lot of live-ball ones that led to some easy baskets on the other end.

“You give them extra possessions,” Dunlevy said. “They are going to make shots eventually. We just gave them extra shots.”

The hosts led 33-25 in the third before the visitors ripped off a 15-2 run to take a 40-35 advantage. The boys in white hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull within 40-39 entering the fourth.

Unfortunately for the Red-and-Gold, the fourth quarter belonged to the Red-and-White as they extended their advantage out to 56-43 before winning the game by 11.

Nishon White tallied a team-high 16 points to lead the way offensively for Indian Creek, while Caden Saffle finished with 14 and Evan McGrew recorded 11. 

Brody Kerns collected a team-high 16 points to lead the way for the boys from Belmont County, while Bam Porter produced 13.

McGrew opened the scoring in the game with the first of his three 3-pointers. The boys from Jefferson County led by three points on multiple occasions before a pair of foul shots gave them a 14-9 lead. A basket extended their advantage to seven points at 16-9 before the boys in red recorded the final two points of the first to make the score 16-11 going into the second.

Indian Creek increased its advantage back out to seven points at 20-13 resulting in Union Local (2-0) head coach Zach Delman calling a timeout.

His team responded as they closed to within 22-21 before a 7-0 spurt by the home team extended their advantage out to 29-21. The Jets netted the final four points of the quarter to make the score 29-25 going into the locker room at halftime.

The Redskins came out of the locker room and scored the first four points of the third to go up by eight, however, the rest of the game belonged to the Jets.

“We executed,” Dunlevy said asked what his team was able to do to build that eight-point lead. “We ran our offense. We worked hard on defense. We have worked from Day 1 on handling pressure. If you can’t handle pressure, that is what teams are going to do. We did OK with it for a while, and then we didn’t. It was just the basic things.”

Union Local opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer. Indian Creek closed to within 44-41 before UL tallied the next eight points to go up 52-41 on their way to winning the game. 

Indian Creek is scheduled to play Jefferson County rival Toronto this afternoon on the road inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium. The JV game is set to start at 1 p.m. with the varsity game to follow.

“Yeah, we have a fast turnaround,” Dunlevy said. “You hear coaches talk about other coaches. You this is a great coach, Sean Tucker is a great coach, Nate Moses is a good coach. They do what they do. You get film on teams. You scout. There are no surprises. We just have to take care of the basketball.”

Union Local is slated to play Barnesville Tuesday night on the road.