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St. marys falls to LCC |
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Wednesday, 10 January 2007 |
By BRIAN SMITH
Staff Writer
LIMA — Adam Johns efficiently filled up the stat book for the St. Marys boys basketball team on Tuesday night against Lima Central Catholic, but he did not get enough chances to do in the Thunderbirds.
The Roughriders fell 47-46 in a game Johns scored 12 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out five assists and blocked a pair of shots. But for long spells in the game, Johns was kept under wraps by a T-Bird zone defense designed to keep the ball out of the big man’s talented hands.
“LCC was really conscious of where Adam was,” said St. Marys head coach Paul Sadler. “They were trying to front him as much as they could and were getting help from all over the floor. Unfortunately a guy without the basketball is much easier to guard than one with the ball.”
Johns scored with 3:20 left in the game to draw the ‘Riders to within 42-40, his last basket of the game and one of his last touches. On St. Marys’ next two offensive trips that lasted over 30 seconds each, Johns was shrouded in defenders and did not touch the ball.
Sadler said that the rest of the ‘Riders team needs to realize that other things are open when Johns is double and triple-teamed.
John Stanovich converted a 3-point play with 1:10 left to extend the lead to 45-40 for the Thunderbirds.
St. Marys did not go quietly. Pfeffenberger drilled a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left. After Stanovich sank two free tosses, ‘Rider forward Cory Menker hit a trey with three-tenths of a second remaining. The late 3-pointer brought the game to its final score, 47-46.
“We played extremely hard,” Sadler said, “and put ourselves in a position at the end and had some sort of chance., even if it was a small chance.”
The biggest spot in the game began the second quarter, however.
After jumping out to a 12-5 first quarter lead, the Roughriders, who fell to 3-5 with the loss, sat Johns to start the second quarter. Lima Central Catholic roared back with a 10-0 run, grabbing a 15-12 lead while Johns looked on from the side.
“We had a seven point lead and the ball and we throw an immediate turnover,” added Sadler. “Then bang-bang., next thing you know we’re looking at a deficit. You just can’t take passes for granted against LCC’s defense. If you do, it’s a turnover.”
The T-Birds outscored St. Marys by 11 points in the second quarter and took a 24-20 lead to the half. The ‘Riders committed five turnovers in the second quarter, directly leading to two fastbreaks for Lima Central Catholic.
Aaron Pfeffenberger, who led the ‘Riders with 13 points, cut the lead to one with a trey on the ‘Riders’ first offensive possession of the third quarter. But again Johns disappeared from the offense, not scoring another point in the third quarter while LCC’s Neal Shine, who had a game-high 14 points, took over the game. Shine scored six consecutive points, capped by a put-back of his own shot to extend the T-Bird lead to 35-29 late in the third quarter.
Close losses have been the modus operandi of the ‘Riders this season, a trend that Sadler said needs to change.
“When you come to a good team like LCC’s court and come within a point, it’s a good sign for your team,” he said. “But we’ve had that all year where we’ve been right there. We have to find ways to get over that hump.”
Sadler preaches to his team that there are no such things as moral victories, simply indicators of how well a team is playing. Heading into a match-up with Western Buckeye League rival Wapakoneta on Friday, he feels like his team is on the right track.
The T-Birds, who moved to the Northwest Conference this year, improved to 8-2 on the season.
ST. MARYS 46
LCC 47
1 2 3 4 F
SM 12 8 12 14 46
LCC 5 19 11 12 47
ST. MARYS
Menker 3-0-7, Brenneman 1-0-2, Burke 2-2-6, Pfeffenberger 5-0-13, Carroll 3-0-6, 5-2-12. Totals 19-4-46.
LIMA CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Kottenbrock 1-0-3, Stanovich 4-4-13, Evans 5-0-12, Vandemark 1-0-2, Shine 7-0-14, Conrad 1-0-3. Totals 19-4-47 .
3-point goals - LCC 5 (Evans 2, Kottenbrock 1, Stanovich 1, Corwin 1): SM 4 (Pfeffenberger 3, Menker 1).
Rebounds - SM - 26 (Johns 10): LCC - 23 (Shine 8).
Technical Fouls - None.
Fouled Out - None.
Turnovers - LCC - 11: SM - 14.
Halftime score: LCC 24-20.
JV Score: LCC 49-36.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 January 2007 )
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