STAC BASKETBALL: BOGART, SAGE LEAD OWEGO PAST JC, 70-64 (2019-01-17)

Tioga County Sports Report
JOHNSON CITY - Kobe Bogart and Christian Sage combined for 59 points to lead Owego to a 70-64 STAC Metro victory over Johnson City here Thursday.

Bogart pumped out 26 of his game-high 36 points in the second half while Sage scored 16 of his 23 after intermission. Their efforts offset a 28-point performance by the Wildcats' Xavier Hill and a combined 27 more from Jaden Johns and Keith Harris.

"Fanatstic effort by Kobe and Christian," Owego head coach Chris Evans stated. "We still must do a better job of getting more players involved offensively. We need more than four people to score."

Rob Merrill scored all six of his points in the first quarter and Bogart added four as the Indians and JC battled to a 12-12 deadlock.

Bogart put up six, Sage had five and Mike Wasyln added three of his five as Owego squeaked out a 26-23 halftime advantage.

The Indians would increase their lead to 46-40 with a 20-point third quarter as Bogart tossed in 13 points and Sage tacked on seven. Both players hit a 3-pointer to highlight the surge and Bogart also went 4-for-4 at the free throw line.

Bogart hit three more foul shots and Sage knocked down his third trey of the evening as they scored 13 and nine points, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

"Sage and Bogart took over in the second half - they were fun to watch," Evans said.

Those fourth-quarter points would be valuable as Hill scored 11 points and Harris banged out a couple of threes.

Owego received solid performances from other players in other aspects of the game.

"Merrill was the best defensive player on the floor while (Isaiah) Bishop, (Nate) Bennett and (Brendan) Evans contributed solid minutes off the bench. (Evan) Hamed and Wasyln did a tremendous job of getting the ball to the hot shooters and helping to rebound," coach Evans said.

"Strong team effort, but we still need to disperse the scoring a bit better," he added.