Ethan Linninger Has 18 Points, 7 Assists as JH Tiger Boys Hand Falcons 1st Loss

Worth County continued to put on a clinic Monday as they easily turned back a challenge from unbeaten St. Gregory's, beating the Falcons 52-12 Monday. The Tigers had won handily in all of their games so far, their closest challenge being a 57-21 win over King City. St. Gregory's came in with the two headed monster of ball handling wizard Tate McCollum (son of the Northwest men's coach) and Luke Allen a physical post player able to hang with Worth County's big men. 

The Falcons put Allen on Collins, and Allen did his job defensively, holding down Collins to 9 points. The problem was that they had nobody to put on Ethan Lininger. They tried to double team him every time he touched the ball in the low post, but he turned out to have guard-like court vision, passing the ball out of the double team and knowing when to attack the rim and when to skip the ball to the open man. He had 18 points for the Tigers and led the team with 7 assists. 

As for the other end, Worth County rotated Collins and Lininger on Allen, holding him to 3 points. They rotated Hayden Sanders and Cole Ruby on McCollum, holding him to 6. The rest of the squad could not pick up the slack, turning it into a long night for the Falcons.

Lininger picked apart the Falcons at will in the first quarter, scoring six of the first 12 points as Hayden Sanders was getting him the ball inside; he added an assist to Bo Collins on a high-low look and a skip to Caleb New for a 3-pointer. Joe Snyders broke the shutout for the Falcons with a shot from the right wing, but Bo Collins scored twice after Lininger got him the ball in transition and Caleb New added a putback to make it 18-2 after one.

Tate McCollum finally got on the board for St. Gregory's to start the second, but despite all of his probing off the dribble, he couldn't find any of the driving lanes he was used to. Meanwhile, Bo Collins got on the line and hit three free throws, Cole Ruby scored off a drive, Ethan Lininger scored off a couple of putbacks, and Hayden Sanders scored a 3-pointer off of one of Lininger's skip passes out of the post. Lininger added a third putback in the closing seconds of the first half to make it 32-6 at the break.

The third quarter was more of the same as Lininger started off with a third chance putback. Cole Ruby went coast to coast and Ethan Lininger went backdoor to make it 38-6. McCollum's free throws cut it to 38-8, but then Lininger hit a free throw, hit Caleb New backdoor, and then Hayden Sanders hit a free throw and Caleb New scored off a drive to make it 45-8 before McCollum cut it to 45-9 going into the fourth. 

Allen hit a free throw to start the fourth and Connolly Mayfield hit from the wing for the Falcons, but then Caleb New hit two free throws, Dylan Smith inbounded one to Brock Healy for a 3-pointer, and Brock stole the ensuing inbounds pass and got it to Jordan Dannar near the end.

Ethan Lininger had 18 points for the Tigers. Caleb New had 11, Bo Collins 9, Cole Ruby 5, Hayden Sanders 4, Brock Healy 3, and Jordan Dannar 2.

Cole Ruby had 2 blocks and Bo Collins 1.

Ethan Lininger had a double double with 13 boards to go with his 18 points. Bo Collins had 7, Caleb New 5, Brock Healy 4, Cole Ruby 2, and Dylan Smith 1.

Ethan Lininger had 7 assists. Hayden Sanders had 4, Cole Ruby 2, and Caleb New, Brock Healy, and Dylan Smith each with 1. 

Bo Collins had 5 tips. Hayden Sanders had 4, Cole Ruby 3, and Caleb New 1.

Hayden Sanders had 5 steals. Ethan Lininger, Caleb New, and Brock Healy had 2 each. Cole Ruby, Bo Collins, and Jordan Dannar had 1 each.