Warren’s Evan French was as hot as the room temperature inside Hatton Gym.

Equally as hot, were the Cavaliers.

Chillicothe evened up the SEOAL race by handing the visiting Warriors (8-1, 3-1) a 65-56 loss.

French, a 6’4” sophomore, pumped in 40 points on lights out shooting from beyond the arc. He accounted for 9 of the team’s 20 long range shots to help Warren overcome a 16-point deficit.

“He wasn’t even a concern for us coming in,” said Cavs coach Gary Kellough. “We were more interested in shutting down (Tyler) Ward and (Jeremy) Hastie outside.”

The Warren back court tandem combined for just 9 of the  Warriors 16 points.

Meanwhile, the Warriors made the Cavs MaLik London defend them away from the basket… a spot the 6’9” center is most dangerous. London managed just 9 points on the night making just 3 of 6 shots from the field, but at halftime was scoreless.

The Cavs were pretty impressive from the start.

Full court pressure and aggressive moves to the basket by Aaron Elliott (23 points) and Adam Bixler (21 points) got the Cavalier guard off to career nights. Between them, they accounted for 20 of Chillicothe 22 point first quarter (Marcus Dunn had the other two) while the Cavs made 10 of their 12 field goals. Most interesting was seven of those shots were from point blank range as Chillicothe raced out to a 22-8 lead.

The French started warming up. He hit for 13 as Warren outscored the Cavs 19-10 to pull within five at the midway point 32-27.

Slowly, Warren erased the 14-point hole they’d found themselves in from the first period, to cut the Cavs lead to 38-36 with 4:30 remaining in the third and French’s 6^th 3-pointer. Then French hit back to back baskets to knot the game at 41.

Isaiah Johnson nailed a Cavalier three to go ahead 46-43, but French answered to tie it again at 46 entering the fourth quarter.

Coach Kellough only went two deep to his bench, and the Cavs were still shorthanded by not having Zach Johnson. Coach K rested Aaron Elliott for most of the third quarter because he knew he’d have to count on him in the final period.

In the last 8 minutes, momentum appeared to have gone back with the Warriors.

French dropped in another three-ball (his 9^th) to give Warren a 49-46 lead. That began a series of lead changes… the last for the Warriors at 51-50.

Josh Winland, with a chance to tie and regain the lead, missed both shots. At the other end, Adam Bixler and Jalen Jones buried back-to-back three point shots for the Cavs and Chillicothe was back on top 56-51. London added another field goal and gave the Cavs the breathing room necessary to earn the victory.

Portsmouth’s 77-36 win over Gallia Academy created the tie atop the SEOAL among the League’s big three.

One of the goals for the Cavaliers was to cut down the turnovers. For the first time all season, the Cavs’ opponent had more (15-13).

While French was impressive individually, the Cavs were pretty good from the outside, too… making 8 of 11 three-pointers.

The Cavs home stand continues Saturday with Dublin Coffman, a game added when both teams pulled out from a showcase tournament which was originally scheduled at Ohio State.

The Shamrocks suffered their first loss of the season last Tuesday night (42-37 at Hilliard Davidson).

CLICK HERE for the Cavs-Warren Game Podcast