Tigers sweep season series with Indians
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The McClain Tigers and Hillsboro Indians are known more for their defense this season, rather than their offense, and that was evident Tuesday at the home of the Tribe.
With both teams struggling from the floor, under the hoop and from the free-throw line, it was defense that proved to be the biggest difference in this old-school style of basketball with the Tigers defeating the Indians, 29-25, sweeping the varsity regular-season series with the Indians for the first time in at least five seasons.
The four-point win by the varsity Tigers (4-3, 7-7) gave McClain a three-game sweep on the evening with the MHS freshmen winning 41-27 and the Tigers JV squad gaining the victory, 32-19.
But the main event was the varsity game, and though there wasn't much scoring, the defense on display made up for some of the action.
"I think a lot of this was good defense, but let's be honest, neither team is an offensive juggernaut," MHS head coach Joe Wisecup said. "I felt like we did a good job defensively. We had trouble guarding them man-to-man.
"Coach (Brett) Prince did some great things to adjust against us, and we had to adjust our defense, depending on what they were doing. The kids did a good job with that."
In an opening first quarter where the Tigers led 8-6 after eight minutes had expired off the clock, it was the host Indians (0-8, 3-12) who scored the first four points of the game with jumpers by Austin Bagshaw.
McClain's Ryan Faulconer equaled the feat with two buckets in the paint, tying the score at four, followed by the Indians regaining the lead with 4:03 left in the first off a layup by D.J. Brown.
Brown led the Indians with 11 points. Faulconer led all scorers with 14 points, while adding seven rebounds and two blocks.
MHS came back with four straight points from Faulconer and Mikel Pritchard, snatching back the lead at 8-6 with 2:11 left in the quarter, as those were the final points scored in the first frame by either team.
"Offensively, we haven't played in 10 days, so I think there was some rust, but we aren't a tremendous offensive club to begin with," Wisecup said with a grin. "We struggled offensively.
"In the first half, I thought we did a good job. They played us with a softer man, and we were patient and got some good looks. We just missed some easy ones."
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The Tigers opened up their lead in the second frame with Pritchard nailing a 3-pointer at the 7:09 mark, and Evan Mustard not only making a free throw, but sinking a 3-pointer with 3:38 left in the quarter for a 15-6 advantage. Pritchard ended the game with seven points, and two rebounds.
HHS scored their only points of the second with a 3-pointer from Bagshaw with 19 seconds left on the clock, their first points since the 4:03 mark of the first quarter. Bagshaw totaled seven points.
Faulconer ended the first half with a layup for a 17-9 MHS lead at the half.
The Indians were first to score in the third with Zach Young, who totaled seven points, scoring a basket to bring the Indians to within six points of tying the score with 6:43 left in the third.
That was followed with both teams answering each other with two-point baskets until Young scored the final five points of the quarter with a 3-pointer at the 4:41 mark and followed that with a layup at the 4:07 mark.
Neither team scored points in the remainder of the third frame as HHS outscored the Tigers, 9-4.
In the fourth, the Tigers led the quarter scoring over the host Indians, 8-7.
HHS was able to cut the Tigers' lead down to two points with a three-point play by Brown with 1:48 left in regulation, but the Tigers managed to keep HHS from getting any closer with Faulconer scoring two final points off free throws with 59.2 for the eventual four-point win.
For MHS, Thomas Schrader and Mustard each scored four points, with Schrader grabbing five rebounds and Mustard collecting four boards. Both players also had two steals apiece. Bryce Duff led MHS with four steals.
At the free-throw line, the Indians were 1-for-3, while the Tigers were 5-for-15. Unofficially, each team committed 18 turnovers. MHS out-rebounded the Indians, 23-14.
HHS took five charges.
With both teams struggling from the floor, under the hoop and from the free-throw line, it was defense that proved to be the biggest difference in this old-school style of basketball with the Tigers defeating the Indians, 29-25, sweeping the varsity regular-season series with the Indians for the first time in at least five seasons.
The four-point win by the varsity Tigers (4-3, 7-7) gave McClain a three-game sweep on the evening with the MHS freshmen winning 41-27 and the Tigers JV squad gaining the victory, 32-19.
But the main event was the varsity game, and though there wasn't much scoring, the defense on display made up for some of the action.
"I think a lot of this was good defense, but let's be honest, neither team is an offensive juggernaut," MHS head coach Joe Wisecup said. "I felt like we did a good job defensively. We had trouble guarding them man-to-man.
"Coach (Brett) Prince did some great things to adjust against us, and we had to adjust our defense, depending on what they were doing. The kids did a good job with that."
In an opening first quarter where the Tigers led 8-6 after eight minutes had expired off the clock, it was the host Indians (0-8, 3-12) who scored the first four points of the game with jumpers by Austin Bagshaw.
McClain's Ryan Faulconer equaled the feat with two buckets in the paint, tying the score at four, followed by the Indians regaining the lead with 4:03 left in the first off a layup by D.J. Brown.
Brown led the Indians with 11 points. Faulconer led all scorers with 14 points, while adding seven rebounds and two blocks.
MHS came back with four straight points from Faulconer and Mikel Pritchard, snatching back the lead at 8-6 with 2:11 left in the quarter, as those were the final points scored in the first frame by either team.
"Offensively, we haven't played in 10 days, so I think there was some rust, but we aren't a tremendous offensive club to begin with," Wisecup said with a grin. "We struggled offensively.
"In the first half, I thought we did a good job. They played us with a softer man, and we were patient and got some good looks. We just missed some easy ones."
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The Tigers opened up their lead in the second frame with Pritchard nailing a 3-pointer at the 7:09 mark, and Evan Mustard not only making a free throw, but sinking a 3-pointer with 3:38 left in the quarter for a 15-6 advantage. Pritchard ended the game with seven points, and two rebounds.
HHS scored their only points of the second with a 3-pointer from Bagshaw with 19 seconds left on the clock, their first points since the 4:03 mark of the first quarter. Bagshaw totaled seven points.
Faulconer ended the first half with a layup for a 17-9 MHS lead at the half.
The Indians were first to score in the third with Zach Young, who totaled seven points, scoring a basket to bring the Indians to within six points of tying the score with 6:43 left in the third.
That was followed with both teams answering each other with two-point baskets until Young scored the final five points of the quarter with a 3-pointer at the 4:41 mark and followed that with a layup at the 4:07 mark.
Neither team scored points in the remainder of the third frame as HHS outscored the Tigers, 9-4.
In the fourth, the Tigers led the quarter scoring over the host Indians, 8-7.
HHS was able to cut the Tigers' lead down to two points with a three-point play by Brown with 1:48 left in regulation, but the Tigers managed to keep HHS from getting any closer with Faulconer scoring two final points off free throws with 59.2 for the eventual four-point win.
For MHS, Thomas Schrader and Mustard each scored four points, with Schrader grabbing five rebounds and Mustard collecting four boards. Both players also had two steals apiece. Bryce Duff led MHS with four steals.
At the free-throw line, the Indians were 1-for-3, while the Tigers were 5-for-15. Unofficially, each team committed 18 turnovers. MHS out-rebounded the Indians, 23-14.
HHS took five charges.