You can give him style points, but Zanesville junior Malik Bocook has been more about substance the past two games.
The 6-foot-4 junior had 21 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots in unbeaten Zanesville’s 63-45 win Friday against rival Cambridge, then had 19 points and 13 rebounds in the Blue Devils’ 71-43 win at Lancaster a day later.
The 6-foot-4 junior was 8-of-13 from the field and had six offensive rebounds against the Bobcats. He had 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first half and had eight points with nine rebounds after halftime.
Bocook also was 5-of-6 from the line.
“I definitely had a strength advantage against the guy who was guarding me, so I figured I was going to get it a lot,” Bocook said. “Any time I got it down there I just tried to go hard to the rim.”
Bocook had 19 points — 11 in the third quarter — 13 rebounds and four blocks to lead the Blue Devils (16-0) against the Golden Gales. Zanesville is No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Division I poll.
Blackboard material
Montpelier’s boys were outscored 57-10 combined in the first quarter in dropping three games last week, 76-41 to Patrick Henry, 59-40 to Metamora Evergreen and 76-47 to Antwerp; Nikki Meyer scored 37 points but her Liberty Center team still came up short against Hamler Patrick Henry, 87-69; Kalida’s girls forced Miller City into 38 turnovers in a 69-34 victory; Findlay Liberty-Benton lost its top returning scorer when Katie Simon (17.5 ppg) suffered a preseason knee injury, then lost its season opener to Bellevue but has won its past 15 behind BGSU-bound Rachel Myers; Maysville’s girls (19-0) ran their regular-season winning streak to 40 games with a 49-34 win against Tri-Valley — the Panthers’ only loss in that span is a district final setback to fellow unbeaten Millersburg West Holmes; Versailles, the Division III state boys runner-up in 2012-13 and out to a 9-0 start to this season, have dropped seven straight after losing junior Division I prospect Kyle Ahrens to fractures in his fibula and tibia in one leg; Fort Recovery’s boys ran their win streak to nine in a row and took sole possession of first place in the Midwest Athletic Conference with a 66-48 win against Minster; New Knoxville’s girls picked up their 11th consecutive win with a 60-29 win against Waynesfield-Goshen, and Minster won its ninth in a row with a 52-36 win against Russia (no, not the one hosting the Winter Olympics).
Slow starters
Archbold’s boys scored just 13 points in the first half but rallied from that 16-point deficit to beat Defiance Tinora 52-44; Tinora’s boys had a 17-6 lead on Haviland Wayne Trace after one quarter and 37-27 halftime advantage but lost in overtime 67-64; and West Unity Hilltop’s boys trailed Pioneer North Central 35-16 at half but thanks to a 39-18 upper hand in the second half won 55-53.
Double triple-double
Upper Sandusky’s Taylor Graboski — a 6-2 senior headed to Valparaiso on a volleyball scholarship — turned in a triple-double with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in a 65-61 win against Bucyrus. She then followed that with another triple-double (14 points, 11 rebounds, 12 blocks) in the Rams’ 56-46 win against New Washington Buckeye Central.
Cardiac kids
Pandora-Gilboa’s Seth Schmenk capped a 32-point night by throwing in a half-court shot at the second-overtime buzzer to give his Rockets a 63-61 win against Vanlue; and in a battle of unbeatens, Division III Andover Pymatuning Valley (16-0) rallied for a 55-54 victory against Division II Cortland Lakeview (17-1).
Top-five thriller
In its first season in the Northern Ohio League, fifth-ranked Mansfield Ontario ended Division II No. 1 Norwalk’s 57-game regular-season winning streak with a 63-61 win. Both teams entered the game 15-0. The Truckers had a potential game-tying basket rim out with less than two seconds left, sealing the defeat. The 57 consecutive regular-season wins goes down as the ninth-longest in Ohio history according to the unofficial OHSAA state record book. The streak began Feb. 26, 2011, and included parts of four seasons.
Half a thousand
Berlin Hiland girls coach Dave Schlabach won his 500th game last week in a 93-7 win against Newcomerstown. Now in his 23rd season, Schlabach is 501-80 at the Holmes County school. Under Schlabach, the Hawks have four Division IV state championships, four state runner-ups and three other trips to the state final four. Hiland will win the Inter-Valley Conference title for the 19th consecutive season and 21st time in Schlabach’s tenure.
Contributing: Sam Blackburn, staff reports.
