HAMILTON — Badin High School’s boys basketball team had no problem building a commanding lead and keeping it.
The Rams showed no mercy early on against a longtime rival on Saturday.
Cooper Ollis had a game-high 19 points and Badin didn’t allow Roger Bacon to score in the first nine minutes on the way to a 55-34 nonconference victory at Mulcahey Gym.
“We can’t go down to another team’s level. I don’t think we did that tonight,” said Ollis, whose 3-pointer in the first minute was the start of an 8-0 opening quarter for the Rams. “We played some good defense.”
Badin snapped a four-game losing streak to its former Greater Catholic League Coed rival. The Rams (4-8) had 11 players hit the scoring column, including six points apiece from seniors Drew Enginger and Aidan Brown.
Badin fired just 4 of 23 from behind the 3-point line but made up for it by hitting 13 of 17 free throws.
“There are times when we struggle on offense,” Rams coach CJ Fleming said. “We have to do a better job of putting those guys in situations to be successful. We’re going to continue to work on it every day in practice — get these guys to get a ton of shots off.
“We’ve still got about half the season left to go. We have to keep improving.”
Robby Brenner’s bucket with 6:30 left in the second quarter got the Spartans on the board. Nick Weigand had 12 points to lead Roger Bacon (4-11) in scoring.
Fleming, who is in his first season at Badin, said his team’s mid-season report card has been all around the grading scale.
“We’ve had some ups and downs so far,” he said. “But I love these guys. I love being here. They come to compete every single day at practice. They try to do everything that we say. It’s been a really fun group.
“But with that being said, I do think there’s a lot more ahead of them and for us to get better and to go into the second half (of the season) with a little momentum.”
UP NEXT
Badin travels to Wilmington on Tuesday before starting a three-game homestand with Fenwick on Friday, LaSalle on Jan. 30 and Carroll on Feb. 2.
Other Butler County area results from Saturday:
HAMILTON 66, EDGEWOOD 47
Peyton Davis scored 14 points, Austin Paige had 12 off the bench and Hamilton beat Edgewood on Saturday. The Big Blue (10-5) have won seven out of their last eight games and got nine points and eight rebounds from Andrea Holden.
Jaylen Barry had a game-high 23 points for the Cougars (4-10) who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
WINTON WOODS 60, LAKOTA EAST 56
Trey Perry erupted for a career-high 36 points in Lakota East’s nonconference loss to Winton Woods. The Thunderhawks (7-8) have lost six straight.
Sean Harmon Jr. had 21 points and Tyler McKinley added 19 for the Warriors (10-0).
ST. XAVIER 52, LAKOTA WEST 45
St. Xavier outscored Lakota West 16-2 in the fourth quarter to earn a nonconference victory. Jacob Wassler scored 14 points for the Bombers (11-3) who have won nine out of their last 10.
Hakeem Smith had 11 points off the bench and Isaiah Meade-Moss added nine to lead the Firebirds (9-5) who have lost two out of their last three.
