Cocalico 67 Donegal 53: wrap

Written by: Dell Jackson on January 12, 2024

Cocalico 67 Donegal 53
Jan. 12, 2024

Both Cocalico and Donegal entered the game with 2-2 records in Section 3 play. Donegal featured the LL’s top three point shooting team, by far. Coach Sigman stated, “ We knew we had to guard the 3point line tonight…at half we talked about making sure Donegal’s threes were contested.” The Eagles can pop the three-ball as well, but they are led by power forward, Camden Ochs, 6’5” jn. Ochs seemed to score when the Eagles needed to on follows, drives, and threes (21 pts for the game). The Eagles clamped down on the defensive end when needed as they held Donegal at arms length for most of the evening.

Donegal lived up to their reputation as a three point shooting team as the Indians scored ALL of their points in the first quarter via the three-ball. (3 by Joey Williams and one by Evyan Patel). The Eagles countered with a 10 point quarter by Bryce Nash, 6’1”. Nash is listed as a guard but he pounded the boards and scored on follows and drives. The Eagles stretched their lead to 18-9 at the one minute mark of the quarter, but the Indians scored the last bucket of the period on a triple by Williams. 18-12 after one.

Donegal scored the first 2 buckets of the second causing a quick timeout by Cocalico (18-16 at the 7:18 mark). As was the case for most of the night, every time Donegal made a run, Cocalico would answer. Enter Mr. Ochs- he scored the Eagles the next 7 points. Did we say he could score in a variety of ways? Yep. Here is the rundown – A post, a drive and a three-ball. Cocalico in control at 25-16. Maybe. Donegal cranked up its defense as they turned over the Eagles 5 times in the second. A dunk by Sawyer Floyd pulled the Indians closer at 31-28 with 1:38 to go till half. A Sawyer drive tied the game at 31 at the break. The stats were so close at half that it made a lot of sense we had a close game.

Although the Eagles didn’t shoot it well in the third, they took care of the boards and focused on Donegal’s three-point game. Donegal pulled to within one point on a jumper by Jonzel Morant. Cocalico had a mini-run of 6-0 with the key bucket on and end to end play by Nash. Cocalico held the Indians to only 8 points in the quarter and led 44-39 after three.

Cocalico took advantage of their height advantage in the 4th stanza. They out rebounded Donegal by an 8-4 count. The Eagles got to the rim on follows and drives (Luke Main, Ochs- plus fouls shots by Ochs and Nash) which led to a 51-41 lead at the 4:54 mark of the quarter. A Morant layup cut the lead to 4 at 51-47. As was the case all evening, Cocalico would go on anther mini-run. The last bucket on a breakout by Nash as Timothy Hambright saved the ball under Donegal’s basket. Cocalico run their offense and made their fouls shots as they coasted to a Section 3 win.

Camden Ochs, LLhoops POG, said, “We really wanted to win tonight coming off some tough losses…We rebounded hard. We played defense hard and we executed our offense.” Well said and a pretty good wrap on the game.

Unofficial stats:
Rebounds: Donegal 18 Cocalico 26
Turnovers: Donegal 11, Cocalico 10
Blocks: Donegale 3, Cocalico 2

Points:
Donegal: Jonzel Morant 16, Joey Williams 13
Cocalico: Camden Ochs 21, Bryce Nash 18, Tate Wealand 10