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Anna gets by Botkins Friday |
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Saturday, 16 January 2010 |
By LANCE MIHM
Sports Correspondent
BOTKINS – Botkins finally seemed able to run their offense Friday. That is, right up until it was time to shoot the ball.
The Trojans found the hoop seldom as they were only able to connect on seven of 45 shots from the field (16 percent) as league foe Anna handed the a 48-23 trouncing. Plenty of the missed shot came after the Trojans executed the ball in for high percentage shots.
“We could not have asked for better shots,” Botkins head coach Brett Meyer said after the game. “Most of the shots we were taking were with no contact. When there was contact, it was very little.
To compound the problem, many of the shots made came in the final quarter when both teams began to empty their benches. The second-teamers came in and hit four-of-11, meaning the starting rotation hit only three-of-34 for only 9 percent.
“We talked to the guys after the game about taking the next step,” Brett Meyer said. “When you start hitting them bunnies, you start gaining confidence. Its at the point where it is nothing that can be coached. The only thing that can fix it is repetition. We need to just keep up repetitions shooting the ball in practice to the point it becomes a team aspect.”
The Trojans did play good defense, holding the prolific-scoring Rockets to 48 points and holding 20-point-a-game scorer Derek Billing to nine points under his average.
“We really struggled with their zone,” Anna head coach Matt Meyer said. “We haven’t seen it much this year. Fortunately we hit enough shots to win. The fact that we maintained our defensive intensity and rebounded well carried us tonight.”
When Doug Schmerge took a Dylan Newman pass to the paint for two-points with 7:47 remaining in the second quarter, it was the last field goal the Trojans would score for 19:41 of game time. Not until the benches emptied and Tyler Egbert took in a steal for a transition bucket with 4:06 remaining in the game did they score again from the field
Both coaches saw positive play from their benches as they saw most of the fourth quarter playing time.
“Our bench played great,” Matt Meyer said. “It shows we are deep. We didn’t see any drop in play and it got plenty of guys some experience.”
The Trojan bench also performed well, with one player in particular needing only defensive improvement in moving far up the depth chart. Sophomore Tyler Egbert led the team in scoring in limited minutes and has looked well off the bench as of late in spare playing time.
“He’s hit his shots when he has had his looks,” Brett Meyer said of Egbert. Now we need him to work on the defensive end of things and he could see himself moving up.”
Wesley Hunsucker was the only other player besides Billing in double figures with 14 points. Anna put together a solid team performance on the boards, out-rebounding the Trojans 40-27. No player had more than seven boards and 11 different players registered at least one.
Anna improves to 9-2 on the year and is now 6-1 in Shelby County League. Botkins falls to 1-10 and 0-7 in the league. The Trojans take on Sidney Lehman Saturday.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 January 2010 )
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