Dec 16, 2021 3 min read

McDONALD – Owen Norman and Dylan Rogers were like milk and honey for the Fort Cherry boys basketball team.

The pair scored 26 points each to combine for 52 of Fort Cherry’s 89 points in a 89-76 win over Carmichaels Thursday night.

“They have a dynamic duo,” Carmichaels (2-2) assistant coach Sean McCombs said. “They had two guys, we kind of knew coming into the game that we had to stay in front of them, we had to have some help for.”

Norman has been hot all December, with this being the fourth straight game he’s broken 20 points. Along with Norman and Rogers, Evan Pond (12) and Maddox Truschel (10) also cracked double-digits. For Fort Cherry coach Eugene Briggs, this balance, along with Norman’s skill, allows him to shine.

“I think he gets his opportunities because we’re so balanced,” Briggs said. “It’s hard to take him away, because, you know, Dylan’s a threat, Maddox is a threat. We have some other kids who can make some shots. So that makes a difference. He’s done a good job.”

The Rangers (4-0) took a while to get moving. In the first quarter, Carmichaels jumped out to a 17-7 lead spurred by an 11-0 run.

“We weren’t really ready to play,” Briggs said. “I subbed three younger players who hadn’t really played much varsity so far. Then they got it going. So those guys who came out knew that they had to play to get to play. So really, those three guys came in and gave us a nice jumpstart and got the ball rolling.”

Fort Cherry turned it on for the rest of the second half. The Rangers cut the deficit to six by the end of the first quarter, and outscored Carmichaels 23-12 in the second half to go into halftime with a 36-31 lead. Rogers led the Rangers with 10 points in the first 16 minutes.

The second half was more open, with Fort Cherry scoring 53 points and Carmichaels 45. Michael Stewart led all scorers with 29 points for Carmichaels. Teammte Chris Barrish had 21.

“It the second half, Carmichaels just sent everybody to the glass … of course, they converted them all,” Briggs said. “The worked up the floor, pushed it, got some easy transition baskets.

“The fourth quarter of the game, neither team was interested in defense.”

Fort Cherry’s biggest kryptonite was the free-throw line. The Rangers missed 14 foul shots, which Briggs pointed out would have pushed them over 100 points.

Fort Cherry looks to keep it going next Wednesday at Waynesburg.

“Tomorrow, take a day off,” Briggs said. “Then over the weekend, to get back working on our sets. We really didn’t run our stuff tonight. Just get organized again.”

Carmichaels has a quicker turnaround. The Mikes host McGuffey in a non-section contest at 7:30 tonight.