For The Tribune
MEDORA
Trinity Lutheran outscored Medora in all four quarters for an 87-49 win at the Hornets Nest on Friday night.
The Cougars broke a 3-3 tie on a 3-point basket by A.J. Goecker to lead the rest of the way on the Hornets’ homecoming.
Goecker topped the Cougars (5-9) with 34 points.
“It was a big boost for our confidence,” Trinity coach Brian Stuckwisch said. “We’ve have been practicing against each other since Christmas break. We’ve taken some tough losses, and this was a good bounce back.”
The Cougars on the strength of 3-point baskets by Jacob Rowe and A.J. Goecker and seven points by Tyler Goecker held a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Trinity warmed up on the offensive end in the second quarter by hitting 10 of 14 shots to build its lead to 34-25 at the half.
A.J. Goecker had the hot hand for the Cougars in the period with four baskets, and his steal and layup at the buzzer gave him 11 points in the half.
The Hornets closed the gap to 28-24 on a 3-point play by Owen Sullivan with 1:58 on the clock.
Trinity shot 14-for-27 and Medora was 8-for-21 in the half.
Skylar Jones and Fish topped the Hornets’ offense in the first half with 9 points each. Jones had two 3-pointers.
The Cougars opened the second half on a 7-0 run with A.J. Goecker’s free throws giving his team a 41-25 lead at 5:51. The Hornets then outscored the Cougars 12-6 to reduce its deficient to 47-37 on a 3-point play by J.D. Fish at 2:43.
The Cougars then went on a 13-0 run to take the lead back to 23 points at 60-37, and held a 60-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“We thought we wore them down in the first half,” Stuckwisch said. “We played a lot of players in the first half, and we thought we could speed up the game a little bit with a quicker, faster lineup, and do some pressing and it paid off.”
Medora committed 18 turnovers, which included eight in the third quarter and Trinity had nine for the game.
“We got it down to 10 and we let one mistake turn into nine or 10 mistakes,” Hornets coach Mark Morin said. “We always hit a two- or three-minute span where we get outplayed 10 or 12 points, and we’re not good enough to make it up.
“Even though it was a 38-point game it didn’t feel like a 38-point game until the end. The first half was probably the best half we played all year.”
A.J. Goecker scored 13 points for Trinity in the third quarter, while Sullivan lead Medora’s attack with nine points.
Tyler Goecker finished with 19 points and Trent Shoemaker 10.
Sullivan topped the Hornets (1-14) with 18 points and Fish added 16.
Trinity outrebounded Medora 33-15. A.J. Goecker lead the Cougars with 8 and Jones was high for Medora with 6.
Stuckwisch said, “That’s better than we’ve been doing. We put an emphasis on it in practice, and it’s showing up a little bit more in the stat book.”
Both teams will be on the road today. Medora will play at Eminence with the girls’ game at 1 p.m., followed by the boys’ junior varsity and varsity games. Trinity Lutheran will travel to Greenwood Christian tonight.