|
Botkins gets stopped by Russia |
|
Saturday, 06 January 2007 |
By TOM HECKMAN
Staff Writer
BOTKINS — Facing the Russia Raiders, who are 6-0 in the league, the Botkins Trojans varsity boys basketball team lost for the first time since their Anna match nearly a month ago.
The leading scorer for Botkins was Travis Dietz for the second game in a row with 17 points, including two 3-pointers. Another guard, Kyle Meyer, brought 10 points to the boards, including the other 3-pointer made by the team on the night. Following closely, Ryan Leugers contributed 8 points and Kyle Fairchild hit two baskets for 4 points.
Brook Schader led Russia with 13 points, including two 3-pointers. Chett Borchers hit six baskets for 12 points, while Andy Zumberger made 10 points. Following him, Cody Anthony and Levi Meyer each made 9 points, including two 3-pointers by Anthony.
“We got in a situation tonight that we haven’t been in before, where we were down by double-digits,” said Botkins varsity boys coach Brett Meyer, whose team is 6-2 in the SCL after their 68-47 loss. “We haven’t been there yet this year, and we didn’t react well to being down. It’s a learning experience and we give Russia a lot of credit. They’re 9-0 overall for a reason. They’re a very good team, and I would like to have competed a little harder all the way through the fourth quarter.”
Up until three minutes were left in the first half, Botkins was sitting pretty. The Trojans had gained a lead early in the game and maintained it throughout the first quarter. In the second quarter, their opponents picked up the pace enough to tie and eventually took the lead, but Botkins tied the score six seconds later and in half a minute had the lead again with a 3-pointer from Meyer. After this, Russia tied the game with a 3-pointer from Anthony. This was the last time Botkins saw any favor. Russia managed to bring their score up 28-23 by the end of the first half.
“I thought we played very well for a quarter and a half,” Meyer said. “Tonight’s game came down to one thing, and that’s turnovers. They beat us coming down the floor for some easy layups. Russia had seven turnovers while we had two at the start of the game and by halftime it was 18-11. It was a huge turnaround.”
The second half saw a continuation of this performance. It would be easy to say that Russia was favored, having more than double the free throw opportunities and making exactly double the number of free throws Botkins made. Russia simply adapted to their opponents quicker than Botkins did, taking advantage of any lapse Botkins had in rebounding and stealing at every opportunity, including unguarded dribbling down the court, passes, and even shot attempts. That said, Russia won the game 68-47.
“We got good performance, having a lot of different kids in the third and fourth quarter,” Russia varsity boys coach Paul Bremigan said. “We played extremely hard and I think our pressure wore them down a little bit. We knew the game was going to be won or lost on the boards and we rebounded really well tonight to get the job done.”
Botkins made 18-of-48 from the floor in the contest, including 4-of-15 (27 percent) from behind the 3-point line and 7-of-11 (64 percent) at the free-throw line.
“We had 30 turnovers and you can’t give a team like Russia that many more attempts than you get,” Meyer said. “We shot better on the floor than they did. I think I had them at 36 percent on the floor. We were about 41 percent from the floor, so it basically comes down to turnovers. We did not execute offensively like we needed to in the second half.”
Russia connected on 25-of-64 from the field, including 4-of-19 (21 percent) outside the 3-point arc and 14-of-27 (52 percent) free throws.
“We’re going to get better from this,” Meyer said. “The guys will take it and use it in a positive way. We get a chance tomorrow night to prove ourselves again against a very good team. We just need to put out a full four quarter effort and we’ll be fine.”
The Trojans return to the court at 6:30 p.m. today when they visit the New Bremen Cardinals. |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 08 January 2007 )
|
