North Dropped by Trail

Tri-County North dropped two games this weekend.  And to add to their dismay, both games were at home. They played against National Trail – a league foe who was also winless coming into the game and Dixie who was 1-5.   Against Trail they actually lead at one point, but when Trail put their foot down on the accelerator and picked up the pace of the game, they rapidly outscored North.   

The first quarter of the game was very slow paced as the two teams cautiously sparred against one another.  North had 8 fouls to Trails 2 near the end of the first quarter, so they were racking up fouls at too fast of a pace.  Still North managed to hold a 10-9 lead as the teams re-entered the court for the second quarter.   North scored a bucket early in the quarter, but then Trail went on a run and blew the game open.  North simply could not score – they must have thought that there were bunjee cords on the rim.  Jacob Louthen connected on a couple of free throws before halftime to stop the lopsided run, but North was staring at a double digit deficit going to the locker room 30-13.  

So what had been a close game had been blown wide open.  North continued to shoot cold in the second half, that and turnovers stymied them on offense.  Meanwhile the Blazers continued their scoring rate unabated. 58-35 was the final score.

“Friday night was a defensive breakdown for us. We allowed them to score 41 points in just 3 quarters. It comes down to stopping the ball.  We need to take pride in stopping the ball, we are capable of scoring, but we need to get stops. A good defense can translate into easy buckets for us.”

Scoring for North: Louthan 4, McCollough 2, Edgin 3, Cordes 8, Nelson 6, Vanbrederode 2, Ballard 2,Woodyard 8.

North next plays against Miami East, then will be in the annual holiday tournament hosted by Preble Shawnee.