The Cavaliers' home woes continued Wednesday night in a non-league battle with Eastmoor Academy (6-0), falling 61-47.
It’s the Cavs second straight loss at Hatton Memorial Gymnasium and third consecutive to very similar teams. Chillicothe lost its home opener to Portsmouth last week 45-43 and 68-50 to Akron Buchtel last Friday at Ironton. Like the Trojans, Eastmoor returned nearly its entire team from last season, which ended in the Central District tournament at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. And much like Buchtel, the Warriors had a great deal of quickness to amp their game.
The Warriors’ defensive pressure created difficulties for the Cavs, which yielded 19 turnovers to just 10 for Eastmoor which also found the bottom of the net, shooting 61% from the field to the Cavs’ 41%.
Eastmoor raced out to a 17-12 1st quarter lead and pulled ahead 32-19 by halftime. Chillicothe rallied to cut the lead to five but expended a great deal of energy to do so. Eastmoor held a 45-38 lead after the third quarter.
John Draper led all scorers with 18 points and Eastmoor’s Doug Richey added 15.
The Cavs’ Aaron Elliott and Zach Johnson had 13 apiece and MaLik London chipped in 11.
Both London and Bixler showed little effects from the ankle injuries suffered last Friday at Ironton, which is good news with the Cavs next game this Friday.
Chillicothe (5-3) will host Fairfield Union Friday night at Hatton Gym.
