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Bobcats
pounce early, run away from Portagers
By DYLAN
SAVELA, Manistee News Advocate
Sports Writer
Published:
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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BRETHREN — Onekama scored the first two
buckets against Brethren Monday night, but the Bobcats may have just
been laying in wait.
It didn’t take long before the Bobcats pounced on the Portagers and ran
away with a 59-39 West Michigan D League victory.
“We talked about keeping the intensity level up a bit, and I thought we
did that for most of the game,” said Brethren coach Alex Sexton.
“Especially in the first half, I was really happy with the way we came
out.
“We decided to press at the beginning to get that intensity and get into
the flow of the game a little bit more and I think that helped.”
Brethren (4-6, 4-4 WMD) turned the initial
four-point deficit to a 14-8 advantage after the first quarter before
distancing themselves substantially from Onekama (2-6, 2-5 WMD) by
halftime with a 34-12 lead.
“We were able to get our hands on some turnovers, and we didn’t
necessarily get buckets out of it, but keeping (Onekama) from getting
set up in their offense really helped us,” Sexton said of the Bobcats’
defensive pressure.
But, Brethren’s ability to find seams in the Onekama zone defense was
also key, particularly for Brethren’s Roddy MacNeil who scored 17
first-half points.
“I thought one thing we did really well was move the ball,” Sexton said.
“We got it inside, and once they started taking that away from us, we
had some guys step up and knock down some big 3-pointers. When you can
knock down those outside shots, it opens a lot of things up.
“We have Roddy usually running the baseline, so when we get the ball
moving like we did tonight, that’s where he’s going to get his looks.”
MacNeil finished with a game-high 19 for the Bobcats to go along with
seven rebounds while David Conrad scored 17 points, Dennis Winek scored
eight and grabbed eight rebounds, Josh Sexton had eight points, seven
boards and four assists, while Eddie Lodin added seven points. “I was
really pleased with the effort that was there,” said Sexton of his team.
“The kids busted their tails tonight.”
Despite outscoring the Bobcats by two points
in the second half, the first-half hole proved too big for the Portagers
to climb out of.
“We just can’t dig ourselves that big a hole,” said Onekama coach Roger
Smith. “We’re just not that potent of an offensive team.”
Joe Kosiboski led the way with eight points for the Portagers while
Thomas Koon and Matt Monroe scored seven apiece, Austin Barnett had six,
Skyler Kimpel scored five, Jake Matthews scored four, and Rease Heiler
added two. |
Brethren’s Josh Sexton (31)
shoots over Onekama’s Tanner Kott during the first half on Monday
night. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
“Actually, I thought we were starting out
pretty good with a 4-0 start, but then we turned right around,” Smith
said. “We had shots, but we missed a lot of early layups. I think we
missed five in a row at one point, so that didn’t help while they were
making a lot of theirs.
“We didn’t take care of the ball. Especially in the second quarter when
we gave up 20 points. We just can’t do that,” Smith added. “We just
couldn’t recover for whatever reason, and we never bounced back.”
The Portagers doubled their first-half output in the third but still
found themselves down 46-24 heading into the final eight minutes.
“I thought in the second half a lot of kids came off the bench and
played pretty well,” Smith said. “Especially the kids who haven’t been
playing much. I still liked the fact that everyone played hard.
“It’s still disappointing though because the last two weeks we’ve been
playing well.” |
