Caston’s L. Mollenkopf scores 20, but Tri-County captures 4th straight sectional

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Logan Mollenkopf Gavin Mollenkopf

Boys basketball

Tri-County 50, Caston 42 (Saturday): Logan Mollenkopf scored 20 points, but the Caston boys basketball team fell to Tri-County in the Class 1A, Sectional 50 final at Caston Saturday.

Lane Hook added eight, and Carson Harness hit a pair of 3-pointers for six.

Tyler Burns led the Cavaliers with 16. Drew Foster went 4 for 4 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and had 12. Clayton Atkinson, Tri-County’s 6-7 center, scored 10, all in the second half.

Caston lost despite making as many free throws as Tri-County attempted (10).

Tri-County jumped out to a 19-13 lead after one quarter and maintained a 26-21 halftime lead. Tri-County expanded the lead to 37-28 after three quarters.

Caston started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to get within 37-35.

Tri-County lost to Caston 47-44 on Jan. 31 in their regular season meeting. Tri-County also avenged regular season losses to South Newton in the quarterfinals and West Central in the semifinals.

Tri-County will face Fort Wayne Canterbury in a regional at 4 p.m. this Saturday at Huntington North.

Tri-County also beat Caston on Caston’s home floor in the 2024 sectional final.

Caston finished 17-8. Gavin Mollenkopf, who scored four points, is the lone senior. 

TRI-COUNTY (50) (15-10)

Miller 3 0-0 7, Burns 5 5-6 16, D. Foster 3 4-4 12, Atkinson 5 0-0 10, N. Foster 2 0-0 5, T. Foster 0 0-0 0, Voors 0 0-0 0, Morales 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 18 9-10 50

CASTON (42) (17-8)

Reed Sommers 1 0-0 2, Carson Harness 2 0-0 6, Logan Mollenkopf 5 10-11 20, Gavin Mollenkopf 2 0-0 4, Lane Hook 4 0-2 8, Owen Chapman 1 0-0 2, Mack Mappin 0 0-0 0, Gage Thomas 0 0-0 0, Kaemen Lee 0 0-0 0, Brodie Howard 0 0-0 0, Tucker Woolever 0 0-0 0, London Herd 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 15 10-13 42

Three-point field goals:

Tri-County 5 (D. Foster 2, Miller, Burns, N. Foster),

Caston 2 (Harness 2)

Total fouls: Tri-County 14, Caston 16

Turnovers: Tri-County 6, Caston 7

Score by quarters

Tri-County 19 7 11 13 – 50

Caston 13 8 7 14 – 42