CHAMPION — Entering the second half down by two points, the Champion Golden Flashes stomped on the gas and didn’t let up.

Senior Drake Batcho scored eight unanswered points to start the third quarter and gave the Flashes the momentum they needed to secure a 58-51 victory over the Newton Falls Tigers, improving their impressive 6-1 home record.

Despite early defensive success for the Tigers, the Flashes were able to adjust the game plan and drain nine shots from beyond the arc.

“We tried to attack early, but they did a really good job blocking shots, and caused us to start to shoot,” Champion coach Nathan Kish said. “Fortunately, we were able to knock down some shots and get points.”

Champion improved to 7-6 overall and 5-2 in the All-American Conference Blue Tier. Newton Falls is 7-5 and 5-1.

The Flashes’ offense lit up the opposition with three players netting double digit point totals: Drake Batcho (20), Chase Wheelock (16), and A.J. Meyer (12), with the latter getting all of his points off of 3-pointers.

“We have to work on not having lapses,” Kish said. “We’ll go up by eight and we’ll let people back in with some careless turnovers. We need to clean that up so we can continue to get better.

“Our guys have had great effort, it’s been tremendous over the past week and a half, and that’s another thing we need to keep working on.”

Two players from Newton Falls put up double digits, Adam Honeycutt (17) and Preston Rapczak (11). Chris Rankin secured the paint, getting six rebounds and forcing the Flashes to score from distance.

Both teams continue their schedules in the Blue Tier on Tuesday. Newton Falls returns home to face Girard, while Champion heads to Brookfield to face the winless Warriors.