Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

FRANKLIN FURNACE — The Green Bobcats kept hitting the snooze alarm.
Locked in a tight struggle with the Sciotoville East Tartans, the Bobcats came to life in the fourth quarter as they pulled away to a 69-54 Southern Ohio Conference win on Friday.
“It took three quarters to wake up, but we got the job done,” said Green coach Dirk Hollar.
Caden Blizzard didn’t have any of Mr. Sandman’s handy work bothering him as he knocked down all seven 3-point goal attempts and led the Bobcats with 23 points.
Gage Sampson was right behind with 22 points and sparked the fourth quarter scoring surge.
“Ethan did a great job running and jumping the ball when we needed him. His brother Zach did a great job handling the point guard and chipped in six points,” said Hollar.
“(Sampson) was also vocal on defense when we needed to turn up the pressure in the fourth quarter.”
Ethan Huffman scored 10 points and Tayte Carver added seven points for Green.
Will Shope scored a game-high 25 points for East (0-4, 0-3). Austin Smith scored 15 points and Stan Hollen added 10.
Green (4-3, 2-1) took a 16-12 first quarter lead as Ethan Huffman scored six points and Sampson had four. Will Shope score seven points as he and Hollen each hit a 3-pointer.
East got within 30-28 at the half as Shope scored seven points and Kyle Flannery four in the second quarter.
Blizzard drained three 3-point goals while Sampson was 3-of-4 from the line in the quarter.
The Bobcats inched ahead 50-47 at the end of the third quarter as Blizzard knocked down three more treys and Sampson scored five points.
Smith and Shope scored nine points each to account for almost all of East’s scoring in the quarter.
But in the fourth quarter, East was limited to only nine points while the Bobcats used 10 points by Sampson and another triple by Blizzard to put up 19 more points and open up the 15-point win.
Green played Manchester on Saturday and hosts New Boston on Tuesday.
Sciotoville 12 16 19 7 = 54
Green 16 14 20 19 = 69
SCIOTOVILLE EAST (0-4, 0-3): Will Shope 8 2 3-5 25, Chandler Carver 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Coyle 0 0 0-0 0, Stan Hollen 0 3 1-2 10, Kyle Winston 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Bradley 0 0 0-0 0, Zach Fritz 0 0 0-0 0, Kyle Flannery 1 0 2-2 4, Austin Smith 7 0 1-6 15. Totals: 16 5 7-15 54. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.
GREEN (4-3, 2-1): Tayte Carver 3 0 1-5 7, Gage Sampson 8 0 6-10 22, Caden Blizzard 1 7 0-0 23, Zach Huffman 2 0 2-6 6, Troy Otworth 0 0 1-22 1, Levi Singleton 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Barber 0 0 0-0 0, Mason Hensley 0 0 0-0 0, Caden Brammer 0 0 0-0 0, Wiley Sanders 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 7 12-25 69. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.