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| Growing pains leave Tribe with setbacks |
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12/16/2016
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
Consecutive losses to Paris, Madison Central and Dixie Heights last week brought the Montgomery County Indians back to earth after an 2-0 start.
“The old saying, things are never as good or as bad as they seem to be fits here,” said Coach Matt Daniel.
The Indians opened the season with a pair of wins over two above average teams and with top returnee Jerryd Jones sidelined with an ankle injury, things looked pretty good.
Then came a close loss to Paris, a lop-sided setback against Madison Central and offensive problems in a loss to Dixie Heights and voila, the Indians headed into this week with a 2-3 record.
“This is going to be a season where we’ve got to continue to work, continue to stay positive and motivated and see where the road takes us,” Daniel said. “We’ve still got a lot of questions to be answered about our team, but right now we are getting some valuable experience that should pay off down the road.”
This week the Indians have plenty of challenges ahead as they traveled to Bourbon County for another district game Tuesday night with a trip to Rowan County this weekend for the Kentucky Bank Challenge (see story on page B2) where they’ll meet two-time defending 5th Region champion Taylor County and Franklin County on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Then next week they’ll be off to the Clash of the Titans at Mercer County for three more challenging battles.
“We’re playing the teams we need to be playing,” Daniel added. “These are winnable games but we’ve got to step things up a little bit.”
Here’s a recap of games played this past week:
Dixie Heights 49, MCHS 39
In a game that looked like a game from out of the 1950s on the scoreboard the Colonels managed just enough offensive fire-power late in the game to beat the Indians in the Kentucky Bank Challenge at Bourbon County on Saturday.
The Colonels took advantage of a cold stretch by the Indians at the beginning of the second half to break away from a 24-20 halftime lead to grab a 30-20 lead and the Indians could never get closer than five points the rest of the way.
“We played good enough defense to win,” Daniel said. “We simply couldn’t score.”
The Indians made eight of their first nine free throws in the contest and then hit only five of their final 11.
The turned the ball over four more times than Dixie Heights and were out-rebounded by two and that was just enough of a combination to get the Tribe beaten by 10 points.
Junior point guard Tucker Norris was under the weather but still managed to play much of the game. But he finished with a sub-par shooting day for him as the Indians collectively hit only 30 percent from the field.
Dixie Heights, a veteran team with four returning starters and a reputation for playing good defense, allowed the Tribe only seven field goals inside the three-point line in the game.
“Our kids came back from a disappointing effort on Friday night and played hard,” Daniel added. “We just didn’t have a lot left at the end but I still felt pretty good about our overall game today.”
The Indians battled to within 35-30 with just under six minutes to play when Norris sank a three-pointer but they were never able to get any closer.
Dixie Heights improved to 4-0 with the win while the Indians dropped to 2-3.
Dixie Heights (49) — Hunter Meyer 4-8 2-2 11, Tyler Schreck 5-8 2-3 12, Cameron Thornberry 2-11 3-4 8, Reed Bradfield 4-10 4-4 12, R.J. Schweitzer 0-9 0-0 0, Darius Jackson 2-3 0-0 6, Andrew Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Suedkamp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 11-13 49.
MCHS (39) — Tucker Norris 3-13 2-4 11, Deuce Ralls 0-3 0-0 0, Hayden Chism 3-4 5-5 11, Brennan Canada 4-9 3-5 12, Evan King 0-2 1-2 1, Landen Barber 1-3 2-4 4, Pharoah Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Dillon Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-35 13-20 39.
Dixie 12 12 8 17—49
MCHS 12 8 5 14—39
Three-point field goals — Dixie Heights 4-17 (Meyer 1-3, Thornberry 1-8, Jackson 2-3); MCHS 4-14 (Norris 3-7, Canada 1-4). Rebounds — Dixie Heights 33 (Schreck 7, Meyer 6); MCHS 31 (Canada 10, King 7). Assists — MCHS 5 (Norris 2, Canada 2). Turnovers — Dixie Heights 10, MCHS 14. Total fouls — Dixie Heights 16, MCHS 15. Fouled out — None. Technicals — MCHS (administrative technical).
Madison Central 69
MCHS 48
Madison Central sophomore center Isaiah Cozart had a big night to lead Central to an easy win over Montgomery County Friday night at the MCHS Arena.
Cozart scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds and that came even though he made only one of seven free throws. But he swatted away 13 Montgomery County field goal attempts and helped the Central defense stifle the Tribe offense throughout the game.
“When you commit 17 turnovers and he blocks 13 shots then that’s 30 possessions that you didn’t get the ball to the rim,” noted Coach Matt Daniel.
Senior guard Tucker Norris drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key to begin the second half to cut Madison Central’s lead to 30-24 but that was the last time the Indians were within range.
Central followed that field goal with a 15-4 run for a 17-point advantage and coasted from there as Daniel cleared his bench early and allowed some of his young players to go against the Central starters.
Montgomery County had won both the freshman and junior varsity games earlier in the evening.
Cozart’s 15 points along with 15 from Dustin Geralds led the Central Indians with Kenyon McKee (13) and Michael Roberts (12) also hitting double figures.
Brennan Canada led the Tribe with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Hayden Chism added 10 and eight.
Central improved to 2-2 while the Indians fell to 2-2.
Madison Central (69) — Isaiah Cozart 7-9 1-7 15, Dustin Geralds 6-14 3-3 15, K.J. Long 1-2 0-0 2, Alex Mays 2-3 1-1 6, Kenyon McKee 6-7 1-1 13, Isaiah Minter 1-8 0-0 2, Glake Muntz 2-4 2-4 6, Michael Roberts 5-7 0-0 12, Jacori Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Deion Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Scott Quaid 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler C
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