Centerville, Ohio — The first round of the division one tournament usually gives us some pretty interesting matchups and that was no different as the Belmont Bisons from the Dayton City League battled the Miamisburg Vikings from the GWOC. Miamisburg came into this season with some uncertainty as a lot of their GWOC championship team from the year before had graduated but sophomore Anthony Coppock has stepped up this year.
To get the game started, Belmont attacked the paint as four-star 6’10” big man Shawn Phillips got the turnaround jumper to go. Phillips would get another bucket just a couple plays later. Junior guard Alex Ball played well in the first quarter getting a pair of buckets and he also set up his teammates well. He found Corey Fries for a three and then found Anthony Coppock for a three and an and-one. The Vikings led 16-8 after one quarter.
Miamisburg started off the second quarter red hot as Fries and Murphy each hit a three to put ‘Burg up 22-9. After freshman Jackson McGohan and Alex Ball each got and-ones, Miamisburg led 30-12. Anthony Coppock and Collin Murphy each got a pair of buckets and the Vikings led 36-19 at the half.
Shawn Phillips started the second half strong as got three quick buckets, one of those being a dunk to bring Belmont back. Antaune Allen also contributed with an and-one. Allen cut the lead to single digits with another bucket and then Logan Moore got the steal and dished it to Allen to cut it to just a 7 point game. Allen missed a jumper at the buzzer which would’ve cut it to a 4 point game. Miamisburg still led 42-36 heading into the 4th.
Anthony Coppock was unstoppable in the 4th. He got four straight buckets to give Miamisburg a 56-42 lead. It seemed everything Coppock threw up went in and the Bisons had no answer for that. A jumper for Colin Murphy and an up-and-under layup from Alex Ball put the game out of reach for Belmont. That late run from Coppock saved Miamisburg’s season and gave the #5 Vikings a 67-50 first-round win over #11 Belmont.
Anthony Coppock finished with a game-high 20 points and Colin Murphy added on 14 points in the win. Alex Ball finished with 11 and then Luke Copsey had 9 points for Miamisburg.
The Vikings will play Springboro in their next tournament game which will be at Centerville on Thursday at 6 pm.