LUCKEY — Eastwood didn’t get discouraged after trailing 11-0 to start its game against Woodmore Friday.
The Eagles plugged away to trail 30-23 at the half before playing a strong second half at both ends of the floor to rally for a 60-48 Northern Buckeye Conference victory.
Eastwood is 10-5 overall and 7-2 in the NBC, while Woodmore fell to 6-9, 3-7.
“We came out playing hard, the shots were just not falling,” said Eastwood senior Lincoln Peters. “I felt that we had the game the whole time. We just needed to get some shots to start falling.”
The Eagles were coming off a 52-42 loss to Genoa on Tuesday, a loss that dropped them out of a first-place tie in the NBC.
Woodmore used some of the same defensive strategy that Genoa employed, packing in a zone defense which forced Eastwood to shoot from the outside. The Eagles missed six shots from the floor, including four 3-pointers, to start the game.
During a timeout, Eastwood head coach Todd Henline urged the Eagles to get into the gaps of the zone and cut to the basket instead of settling for jump shots. Peters scored Eastwood’s first hoop on a cut to the basket with 3:01 left in the first quarter.
“When we’re not shooting well, sometimes we rely on jumpers. We did that too much against Genoa,” Henline said. “(Friday), the kids responded and listened to what we talked about and we started attacking them off the dribble.”
Woodmore held a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained that seven-point lead at the half as each team scored 15 points in the second quarter.
“In the second quarter, we settled down, starting running our offense and scoring. But we would give it right back at the other end. We weren’t playing a lick of defense,” Henline said.
To start the second half, Eastwood went to a 3-2 zone defense and the change took away Woodmore’s inside attack and also forced turnovers that Eastwood parlayed into transition baskets. Woodmore had 11 of its 15 turnovers in the second half.
“Our zone was pretty effective. It kept them on the perimeter. In the first half, they were going to the basket on us,” Henline said. “We were more concentrated and our zone really bothered them; it slowed their scoring.”
“It helped us get some stops. We started rebounding real well and we ran the floor real well,” Peters said about the zone.
Eastwood took the lead for good on a pair of Cody Jennings free throws with 2:20 left in the third quarter. The Eagles out-scored the Wildcats, 18-6 in the third quarter to hold a 41-36 lead after 24 minutes. Peters scored eight points in the quarter.
“He played fearless tonight ... He played a whale of game not only offensively, but he did some nice things defensively,” Henline said about Peters, who is known for his defense. “He took what the defense gave him. Tonight, it was Lincoln’s turn.”
Woodmore was within 43-42 midway through the final quarter after a basket from Jon Sandwisch.
After Henline took a timeout with 3:56 left, Eastwood rattled off a 6-0 run, including a basket by Peters off a good pass from Jennings, to regain control of the game and start a parade to the free-throw line.
Eastwood made 12 straight free throws in the fourth quarter before missing and finished the quarter 15-of-16 from the line. Jacob Faykosh was 11-of-12 from the line in the fourth quarter and Jennings was 4-of-4.
The Eagles were 18-of-20 from the line for the game.
Faykosh led the Eagles with 16 points. Jennings added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Peters and Jacob Schmeltz each scored 12 points.
“I was just hitting open shots, making cuts, and finishing,” Peters said. “I’m not here to be the leading scorer.
“Everyone played real well, we shared the ball really well. On defense we got after it.”
Jake Lewandowski, Donny Bowen, and Cody Croll each scored 10 points for the Wildcats and Harrison Wooten had six rebounds.
Eastwood won the junior varsity game, 41-26, as Michael Flipse, Steven Bradley, and Grant Peters each scored 10 points.

EASTWOOD 60, WOODMORE 48
WOODMORE
Lewandowski, 2-2-0—10; Bowen, 5-0—10; Sandwisch, 4-0—8; Wooten, 2-2—6; Haar, 0-2—2; Croll, 1-2-2—10; Flick, 0-0—0; Shrewsbury, 1-0—2; Greulich, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 15-4-6—48.
EASTWOOD
Faykosh, 1-1-11—16; Schmeltz, 4-1-1—12; Peters, 3-2-0—12; Jennings, 4-6—14; C. Vespi, 2-0—4; N. Vespi, 1-0—2; Sweeney, 0-0—0; Speck, 0-0—0; Dierker, 0-0—0; Bickbrader, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 15-4-18—60.
WOODMORE    15    15    6    12    —48
EASTWOOD    8    15    18    19    —60
Junior varsity: Eastwood, 41-26.