Tri-West Bruins | Archive | December, 2008

Mike Mcgraw

Hoosier Authority

Sagamore Conference basketball reached the Christmas break
exactly where most people thought it would be, with Danville and North
Montgomery on top of the standings. Both the Warriors and Chargers picked up
league wins over the weekend and now stand at 3-0 in conference play. If you
are looking for a surprise, look no further than Lebanon where the Tigers are
growling once more. They sit third despite a loss to Danville on Friday night. Here is a look at
the action from over the weekend.

North Montgomery downed Crawfordsville 66-53 Friday evening
to once again claim the Montgomery
County mythical title.
The Chargers then celebrated Saturday by mauling Covington 72-48. D.J. Byrd continued to shoot
left handed most of the time and it posed serious problems—for Covington. Byrd scored 23
points on 10 of 12 shooting in the game. Colin Maltsberger added 17 markers for
the Chargers. Meanwhile, Crawfordsville rebounded from Friday’s loss by
rallying late to down highly regarded Seeger 64-55. The Athenians were led by
the 18 points of Trent Crabtree.

Danville kept pace by
defeating Lebanon
57-53 Friday night to improve to 3-0 in the league and hand the Tigers their
first conference loss. Brian Barber’s crew then dismantled Plainfield on Saturday, 67-51. Lebanon
salvaged the weekend by destroying Indianapolis Manual 55-35. The Tigers are
unquestionably the most improved team in the SAC.

The rest of the league action was on Saturday night. Frankfort served notice
that they are still to be dealt with this season. The Hot Dogs slipped past
Western 60-57. A three pointer from Steve Loveless broke a 55 all tie late in
the fourth quarter. Loveless finished with 19 points and Troy Porter added 13
markers. Western Boone had little trouble improving to 3-3, crushing Fountain
Central 50-33. However, the Stars hit the break still looking for their first
conference victory.

Things did not go so well for Southmont and Tri-West. The
Mounties were upset by North Vermillion 65-59 despite 18 point from Cody VanScoyoc.
Look no further than 12 of 29 free throw shooting for a cause. Tri-West
stumbled out of the blocks at Cloverdale, trailing 21-10 at the end of the
first quarter. The Bruins controlled much of the remainder of the game, but it
was not enough. The Clovers claimed a 63-59 upset victory.

[!] Flag as Inappropriate

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	Violent or Repulsive Content|Hateful or Abusive Content|Harmful Dangerous Acts|Child Abuse|Spam|Infringes My Rights
Write in Words: (Optional)

Mike McGraw

Hoosier Authority

Conference action got started in full force within the
Sagamore Conference Friday evening, and the league favorites quickly flexed
their muscles. Both Danville and North Montgomery picked up lopsided wins
However, there is a surprise entrant at the top of the league standings.
Lebanon is tied at the top with the big boys.

Danville used some pressure defense and he ever present
Travis Carroll to romp past Southmont 55-33 on the Warriors home court. North
Montgomery kept pace with a 75-46 pasting of Tri-West. The Chargers controlled
the boards and the tempo throughout most of this one. The surprise of the
evening came at Lebanon where the Tigers moved to 2-0 in league play by downing
Western Boone 56-47.

It was a disappointing night in non-conference play.
Frankfort, one of the favorites for the conference crown, was upset at home by
Logansport. The Berries kept the Hot Dogs high powered offense in check during
a 58-55 triumph. Also, Crawfordsville fell to West Lafayette in a low scoring
affair 45-38. The Athenians struggled to dent the scoreboard in the final
minutes.

In the Sagamore, conference games mean boys/girls
doubleheaders. The girls put on quite a show Friday night. The biggest news of
the evening is that Lebanon is discovering there is life after Maggie Boyer.
The Tigers downed Western Boone on a last second shot 50-49. The victory evened
Lebanon’s conference mark at 1-1 and moved them to 3-6 overall. Western Boone
dropped to 5-4 and 1-1 in the league.

Elsewhere, Danville continues to surprise people. The
Warriors moved to 6-3 with a 38-35 win over Southmont. It was the league opener
for both squads. Southmont falls to 2-5 overall. Finally, Tri-West downed North
Montgomery 58-53 to even their conference mark at 1-1. The Bruins face a major
test this coming week when Frankfort comes to call.

[!] Flag as Inappropriate

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	Violent or Repulsive Content|Hateful or Abusive Content|Harmful Dangerous Acts|Child Abuse|Spam|Infringes My Rights
Write in Words: (Optional)

Mike McGraw
Hoosier Authority

Friday night’s
game between Tri-West and Western Boone was a perfect example of one of the
oldest adages in basketball. The game requires a lot of different skills, but
the only one they give points for is putting the round orange thing through the
other round orange thing. It is a lesson Western Boone learned in a frustrating
68-61 loss to the home standing Bruins.

Western
Boone dominated play for much of the game, but they suffered through a
horrendous shooting night. Conversely, Tri-West was outrebounded for long
stretches at a time and committed far too many turnovers. However, they took
good shots and shot well. The result was that the Stars led only once the
entire game.

The first
quarter was symptomatic of the entire night. Tri-West jumped to a quick 6-3
lead. They then scored only once on their next seven possessions, turning the
ball over four times during that span. At the end of it all, the score was
still tied 8-8. The Bruins then ended the stanza on an 8-4 run and led 14-10 at
the end of one period. Western Boone, despite outrebounding the Bruins and
taking good care of the ball, hit only four shots in the quarter.

The second
period saw the Stars warm up from the field early and fight their way to a
21-20 lead midway through the quarter. They then hit only one shot the
remainder of the half and Tri-West ended the quarter on an 11-3 run for a 31-24
margin at halftime. Are you detecting a pattern here?

The third
quarter was an instant replay of the second. Western Boone spent most of the
quarter cutting into the lead, eventually closing to within one at 35-34.
Tri-West then went on a 7-2 run to regain control. The quarter ended 42-39 in
favor of the Bruins.

That set up
the key segment of the game, and if you blinked you missed it. The possession
arrow favored Western Boone. So, the Stars started the fourth quarter with the
ball and a chance to tie the game. Thirty-five seconds later they were down
eight and a minute after that the Bruin lead was 12. The Stars started the
period by missing a three point attempt. Tri-West immediately responded with a
transition trey from Austin Hendershot. Seconds later a Bruin steal at
halfcourt resulted in a layup and it was 47-39. The sudden flurry seemed to
rattle the Stars for the only time all night. They turned the ball over on
their next two possessions. The lead ballooned to 51-39 and Western boone’s
fate was sealed.

Tri-West
eventually extended the margin to 57-42 with a little over three minutes to
play. Western Boone would stage a furious rally, actually closing to with five
in the last minute. However, it was too little, too late.

Randall Lowe
had an outstanding night for Tri-West, scoring a game high 27 points. He was
aided by the 17 of Jake Allen. Trievin Poole had 18 for the Stars. The victory
evens Tri-West’s conference slate at 1-1. Western Boone falls to 2-1 overall
and 0-1 in the Sagamore Conference.

[!] Flag as Inappropriate

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	Violent or Repulsive Content|Hateful or Abusive Content|Harmful Dangerous Acts|Child Abuse|Spam|Infringes My Rights
Write in Words: (Optional)

Mike McGraw

Hoosier Authority

Sometimes it starts out too easy. Those are the really tough
games because when it starts to get difficult it seems harder than it really
is. Bluntly stated, it takes guts to win that kind of game and Tri-West showed
a lot of guts in their 64-60 overtime victory versus Greencastle Tuesday night.

This one started out way too easy for the Bruins.
Greencastle was supposed to be a stern early season test, entering the game
with a glossy 4-1 record. They didn’t show that early in the contest. Tri- West
jumped to a quick ten point lead and despite some careless ballhandling late in
the first quarter, still led 22-16 at the first break. As the half progressed,
the game became an open court affair. It was easy to see that was very much to
the Bruins liking. They controlled the boards in the first half and repeatedly
beat Greencastle down the floor for easy baskets. Many of those were finished
by Jessie Jansen, the Bruins’ very athletic post player. She was rewarded for
running the floor on several occasions by floor general Megan Bennett. By
halftime, the lead had ballooned to 36-27 and frankly should probably have been
a little more. Tri-West failed to stop Greencastle’s Hannah Spencer several
times and the talented guard kept the Tiger Cubs in the contest. She finished
the first half with 10 points. Still, they seemed harmless as Tri-West was
controlling play.

The third quarter was little different. Greencastle appeared
to slow the tempo some, but could not begin to cut into the Bruins’ cushion. In
fact, by the end of the stanza Tri-West had extended the margin to 11 at 50-39.
There had been nothing to foreshadow what was to come.

As the fourth quarter began to unfold, Tri-West suddenly
appeared tired. Greencastle was the team with the energy, and the once comfortable
lead began to evaporate quickly. The Tiger Cubs closed to within five, 53-48
with just under five minutes left. After a Tri-West bucket, Spencer responded
with six straight points for Greencastle and it was suddenly 55-54.From there
the game dissolved into a series of missed opportunities. The final one of
those will haunt Greencastle. Kelsey Wainman crashed the boards for a putback
with five seconds to play that tied the game 58-58. She was fouled on the play,
but after a Bruin timeout was unable to connect from the charity stripe. The
result was overtime.

That is when the guts kicked in for Tri-West. They scored
first in the overtime on a lightning quick post move by Jansen, who finished
the night with a team high 20 points. It was followed by a jumper from Sam
Ricks, who ended with 18 points, and the Bruins were up four. Greencastle
fought valiantly, cutting the lead to two at 62-60 and keeping the ball out of
Jansen’s hands for most of the remaining time. Nonetheless, they could not get
over the hump. The final gasp was a steal with 12 seconds remaining. It
appeared the Tiger Cubs might have numbers on the fast break, but the decision
was to call a timeout to set up a last shot. The play did not materialize
because of some good Bruin defense and the final Greencastle shot was a low
percentage effort.

You cannot write the story of this game without mentioning
the play of Bruin guard Megan Bennett. The junior spent the night repeatedly
finding mates with perfectly accurate passes for easy buckets. She was
instrumental to their success at both ends of the floor. The victory moves
Tri-West to 4-2 on the season.

[!] Flag as Inappropriate

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	Violent or Repulsive Content|Hateful or Abusive Content|Harmful Dangerous Acts|Child Abuse|Spam|Infringes My Rights
Write in Words: (Optional)