Although North was winless
coming into the game, they gave the Ansonia Tigers all that they could handle
for 4 quarters in a heated battle at the Tri-County North gym. North
closed the gap to two points late in the third quarter, but Ansonia was able to
fend off several North runs down the stretch and walk out of the gym with a
58-63 win to snap their 5 game losing streak.
Interestingly, both coaches
shook up their lineups in an effort to jump start their teams in the first
quarter. And Ansonia freely substituted; at times using a Kentucky-like line
change where 4-5 players were exchanged on the floor. Finally, both teams utilized a variety of
offensive and defensive sets in an effort to gain an advantage. Ansonia used a zone, man to man, and even
pressed the Panthers on defense. But the difference was in the inside game
where North found it hard to stop the Tigers.
In the early going North
had the upper hand, ending the first quarter with a 3 point advantage. But
about midway through the second quarter, Ansonia went into a press which got
them some turnovers. They then went on a
9-0 run to get the lead. North countered
with a half court trap of their own. Which
slowed down the Tigers, but North was giving away second chance shots on the
defensive boards and went into the locker room down 34-28.
In the second half North
had to play catchup. They made several
good runs, but were never able to regain the lead. In the third quarter Ansonia was pressing but
North was beginning to make them pay for it.
They pulled to within 2 at the 3:10 mark where Ansonia took a time out
to call off the press and slow down the momentum for North.
But that was as close as
North would come in the second half. In
the last quarter, North attempted to rally several times but couldn’t close the
gap. Senior Cody Cordes, who came off
the bench, scored 16 of his game high
(and personal best) 19 points in the second half. He had one sequence where he took the ball to
the hoop for a layup to score, then raced to the other end to take a charge –
he was a whirlwind on the court against the Tigers.
“Our effort tonight was
the best effort we have had all season, commented coach King after the game, “This
week we had a good week of practice. The
message this week was that we have to rebound and play harder to be successful.
The guys stepped up their game tonight, but
we just couldn’t get stops on defense.
We couldn’t hit 3 point shots when we needed them down the stretch. “
Cody Cordes, “He shot his
personal best tonight. He’s been a senior leader. Now I sent a message earlier by not starting
him. I thought he wasn’t playing up to
his potential. But he got that message loud and clear tonight. He responded well – like a senior guard should.”
The next night North had
to travel to Brookville where both the girls and boys teams played. The girls fell 40-29 and the boys team
trailed Brookville the entire night before falling 53-37. TCN Sophomore Zach Edgin had a hot hand in
this game scoring a game high 19 points. Next week North faces league leading
Tri-Village and Preble county opponent Preble Shawnee.
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