Fulton County Ohio Media

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Swanton senior Cole Mitchey, still healing from a flagrant foul head injury suffered just days earlier in a game against Ottawa Hills, returned to action Friday night and lit up the gym at Wauseon to the tune of 34 points to carry the Bulldogs to 61-43 NWOAL victory over the Indians. 

Mitchey, wearing a bandage to cover the five-stitch wound over his swollen left eye, began the game on fire, hitting three consecutive three-point shots and scoring 12 points in the first quarter, staking the Bulldogs to a 16-9 lead after one.  He scored six of Swanton’s 14 points in the second as the Bulldogs took a 30-22 advantage over the Indians as the teams headed for the locker room at halftime.

Wauseon began to close the gap when play resumed, pulling within four points at 30-24, but Mitchey continue with his torrid pace, racking up another 11 points, matching the Indians’ total for the third quarter and pushing the Swanton lead to 46-33.  A slam dunk off a feed from Hayden Callicotte in the last frame and his sixth and final three-pointer finished Mitchey’s scoring on the night with a career high of 34 points and an 18-point Bulldog win.

“The game plan wasn’t to keep giving me the ball, but the shots kept falling,” said Mitchey.  My teammates were working the ball and finding me when I was open.  It just worked out.”

The victory was critical for the Swanton’s title hopes this season.  They were coming off a grueling stretch of three consecutive overtime games, the second of which was a heartbreaking double OT road loss to league opponent Patrick Henry.  The win over Wauseon evens their NWOAL record at 1-1 with five more league games to play.  “We’re a resilient bunch.  We never quit, that’s for sure,” stated Swanton head coach Bruce Smith referring to his team’s bounce-back performance after the last two overtime defeats.  “They (Wauseon) are so well coached and patient and have some people that can put the ball in the bucket and we held them to 43.  I don’t think they scored in the last four minutes.  When we score 61 that means something went right.  We’re normally a 52- or 53-point team.”

The Bulldogs are typically a very balanced scoring team, but on this night Mitchey just could not and would not be contained.  “When you come out and hit your first two or three shots you think you can do anything and beat anybody and he was magnificent, exclaimed Coach Smith.  “He was an All-Ohio player tonight.”

Swanton moves to 10-2 overall on the season and returns home on Tuesday night to face the Fayette Eagles at 7:30 PM.  Wauseon also lost 60-51 to the Northview Wildcats on Saturday night, dropping their overall record to 7-7 and are currently 1-1 in the NWOAL.  The Indians travel to Evergreen on Friday night to take on the Vikings in the Big House.

Swanton: 16-14-16-15 = 61 Cole Mitchey (34), Hayden Callicotte (9), Dre Smigelski (5), Luc Borojevich (5), Kayden Davis (4), Charlie Wood (4)

Wauseon: 9-13-11-10 = 43 Jack Leatherman (15), Landon Hines (11), Tyson Rodriguez (7), Jude Armstrong (4), Elijah Mcleod (3), Trey Parsons (2), Ethan Borton (1)

Photo: Cole Mitchey takes the court

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