McKinley takes down Akron East 74-39 in home opener

Tuesday night boys basketball coverage brought us to one of the most legendary sites in Ohio for high school basketball, Memorial Fieldhouse in Canton Ohio home of the Mckinley Bulldogs. This would be the Home opener for the Bulldogs as they hosted the visiting Akron East Dragons. Both teams had already kicked off their seasons coming into this one with the Bulldogs taking a close 60-58 win over a tough Cleveland Heights team. The Dragons were coming into this one already with a loss as they dropped their season opener to Copley 78-43 at home. 

It was a packed and rowdy crowd at the fieldhouse which is just what the Bulldogs wanted. The crowd would help McKinley get out in front in a huge way as they ran out to a quick 9-2 lead causing the Dragons to call a quick time out to start the game. Bulldogs Anthony Chavers and Reed Sims Jr. took over the 1st quarter for Mckinley as they each had over 8 points in the first helping them to a 31-12 McKinley lead to end the 1st quarter.

The East Dragons knew they needed to try to shut down the McKinley offense in the early goings of the second quarter to have a chance in this one, but McKinley had all the momentum going into the 2nd quarter and their run didn't stop there. The Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas as the duo of the night, Reed Sims Jr. and Chavers, turned things into what seemed to be a dunk contest. In the 2nd Quarter alone Chavers slammed home 3 Dunks and Reed had himself 2. Among Chavers 3 was a crazy Alley Oop pass from Sims Jr and a crazy dunk that would make the fans price of admission worth it. The 2nd quarter would end 54-19 and things were not looking good for the Dragons. 

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If the odds of a comeback were already looking bad for the Dragons the second half would start with a running clock due to the massive 35 point first half lead by the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were starting to unload the bench due to the large lead which prompted the Dragons put together a solid 3rd quarter limiting the Bulldogs to just 12 points and putting up 11 points. This one was looking more than over to start the 4th quarter with the student section clearing out and the Crowd getting thinner. East would show fight until the final buzzer as they would go on to outscore McKinley 9-8 in the 4th. The final buzzer sounded in this one as the Bulldogs would take the win by a final of 74-39.

The Bulldogs leading scorer on the night were Senior Reed Sims Jr as he led the team in points with 18. Bulldogs Juniors  Anthony Chavers and Jayveion Carter each joined Sims in the Double digit category as Chavers had 13 and Carter had 10. The now 0-2 East Dragons will take on the North Vikings at home for their next game and the 2-0 McKinley Bulldogs look to stay undefeated in what is going to be a really tough game against the Warren Harding Raiders led by Senior Penn State Commit Chazz Colemann on Saturday.