AFTON – On Tuesday, the Oxford Blackhawks boys basketball team got back on track with a much-needed 64-51 win over Afton. While it wasn’t easy, Oxford appreciated picking up their third win of a very tough 2022-2023 season.

Oxford started out strong with 38 points scored in the first half to take a 38-26 lead at halftime. They settled in the second half, but this allowed Afton to comeback and take a brief lead in the fourth quarter. Oxford stood their ground and was able to push a six-point lead, including making foul shots in the end to secure the victory. In all, the team made 19 of a total of 29 foul shots received.

John Rovente made seven of 10 free-throws on the night to finish with a team-high 17 points while teammate Donovan Rickard had 15, including two three’s. Caden Rifanburg went wild in the first quarter with posting 11 points out of his total 13.

Oxford (3-8) is up against a fierce Delhi this evening at 7 p.m. Delhi won the previous matchup and have been an extremely tough competitor in the MAC this season, standing tall at 11-0.

Scores by Quarter:

OX 18 20 6 20–64

AF 12 14 11 14—51

OX: John Rovente 17, Donovan Rickard 15, Caden Rifanburg 13, Jared Sheridan 7, Sylas Emerson 6, Aidan Amin 4, Eli Bennett 2.

AF: Equan Patterson 14, Ryan Wright 12, Brandon Sadlemir 8, Tyler Kelly 7, Anthony Obeida 4, Matthew Carme 3, Charlie Casomire 2, Carter Burns 1.

Three-Pointers: OX 3 (Rickard 2, Rifanburg); AF 4 (Patterson 2, Sadlemir, Wright)