South Overcomes Sluggish First Half

Twin Valley South overcomes a sluggish first half and breaks open a 21-21 tie in the second half. South rode the back of Wes Cole who scored 17 of his game high 21 points after halftime.  A vigorous team defense kept South in the game in the first half and lead to points off of turn overs in the second.  South wins 54-40.  Next up is Brookville which South plays on Saturday night.  Can South keep their momentum as they head into next week for a big game against league leading Tri Village.

First up for South this week was Ansonia.  It has been a long season for Ansonia and the Tigers were dispatched easily 70-42.  Coach Augspurger has been harping on the team’s offense this season and the Panthers responded – at least for this game by having 3 players score in double figures and tally up the teams highest score of the season.  Wes Cole had 26, Jacob Bassler 10 and Jake Osborn had 12.

The team ended their week against Brookville.  This was another game where the team ran their defense in workmanlike fashion and clamped down the Brookville offense.  The Blue Devils struggled to score. The Panthers gained the lead early and gradually extended it throughout the game, finally winning 48-28.  Cole lead all scorers with 20 points.

Sandwiched in between these two game South played against league foe Bethel.  Another team trying to stake a claim to the top half of the league.  Although South was able to prevail, Bethel played with the Panthers for a spell and made South work for the win.

Coming out of the chute, South was shooting cold – baskets were hard to come by.  Bethel was able to make some perimeter shots and had a 6 point lead after one quarter.  Bethel ran a sort of weave offense in the perimeter and were cutting to the basket in the second quarter to extend their lead. Coach Augspurger had finally seen enough and took a time out at the 5:31 mark with South down 16-7.  The team which had been in a man to man defense went into a zone defense.  And the talking to had effect on the offense as well. The lethargy was shaken off and South was making shots and mounting a comeback.  Winston Crozier hit a trey just before halftime to tie the ball game at 21 all.

A determined Panther team re-entered the court after the break.  The defense was intense and the team was generating turnovers and turning them into points.  The team gradually built a double digit lead. Bethel tried a half court trap and then a full court press in an effort to stop the onslaught, but South was undeterred.  They romped to a 54-40 win. 

“We had a lousy first quarter,” remarked coach Augspurger after the game, “but we recovered from that and played well the rest of the game.  I felt good about the team effort.  We didn’t score well early, but we got stuff going with our defense.  We got offense from transition.  We got some steals and were able to take those down the court and get baskets. When they pressed, we attacked it and got layups. Wes Cole had a good game tonight he attacked the rim well and got a lot of points from steals once he got it going.”

Next week’s matchup is at South on Friday night.  Tri-Village has scored over 100 points this season, so they are a team that can score. So it will be a matchup between a sizeable and hot shooting Patriot team against the defensive pressure and intensity of the Panthers.