Monday, December 29, 2008
By Travis David, Sports Writer
TERRE HAUTE — The Bloomfield Cardinals boys basketball team wrapped up play in the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic with a 1-2 record after falling to Owen Valley 66-34 here Monday.
The Cardinals missed their first eight shots from the field and fell behind 13-1 after the first eight minutes of play and was never able to recover in the lopsided loss. Bloomfield had defeated the Patriots a little over a week ago at home 45-44 in overtime.
“When you fall behind early like that it makes it extra tough on your team,” Cardinals head coach Ron McBride said. “Owen Valley is a good ball club and I just felt like they out competed us today. We did not compete very hard. That is the most disappointing thing today.”
After the first quarter the Cardinals played the Patriots even in the second quarter, but was outscored by 18 more points in the second half.
“Winning teams make in-game adjustments, and we did not make the necessary adjustments here tonight,” McBride said. “You have to be able to make adjustments during the game and that was the difference in the game.”
McBride also pointed out that in order for his team to be successful they need to have a ‘gut check’ when things are not going so well.
“You have to be able to dig down deep and play through the adversity when things are not going your way,” the veteran head coach said. “If you don’t want to play harder then it makes it that much more difficult to make a comeback.”
The Cardinals had some good looks early on in the game that could have provided a different outcome had those shots fallen.
“We missed some easy shots there early,” McBride said. “If we make some of those shots you are looking at a different outcome possibly. When you fall behind double digits early like that it makes you play a different style of game.”
The Cardinals fired up 49 shots in the game, connecting on just 11. The Patriots on the other hand seemed like they could not miss, as they connected on 24 of 33 shots for the game.
For the first time this season no Cardinal player reached double digits in scoring. Andy Cochrane and Gavin Thompson led the Cardinals with seven points apiece, while Mitch Hobson came off the bench for six points. Rick Tally and Kurt Schulte each posted four points, while Chris Babcock, Holden Hamm and Graham Helms added two points in the loss.
“One positive we take out of this game is we were able to play some other players that do not get that much playing time,” McBride said. “That will only make us better as the year goes on.”
Dayton Gobert led three Patriots in double digits with 16 points, while Cody Vest and Randy Lientz scored 15 and 11 points respectively.
BLOOMFIELD (34) — Mitch Hobson 2-7 1-1 6, Graham Helms 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Arford 0-0 0-0 0, Rick Tally 1-2 2-2 4, Andy Cochrane 2-14 1-4 7, Chris Babcock 1-4 0-0 2, Gavin Thompson 3-13 0-0 7, Kurt Schulte 1-6 2-4 4, Holden Hamm 0-0 2-4 2. Totals 11-49 8-15 34.
OWEN VALLEY (66) — Sean Hollows 1-3 0-0 2, Brandt Warner 1-1 2-3 5, Cody Vest 6-8 1-3 15, Woody Worland 0-1 1-1 1, Randy Lientz 3-4 5-8 11, Dillon Shedd 1-1 0-0 3, Tyler Collier 3-3 0-0 7, Dayton Gobert 6-9 4-5 16, Aaron White 2-2 0-0 4, Dylan Christenberry 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-33 13-20 66.
Bloomfield 1 15 6 12 — 34
Owen Valley 13 15 14 24 — 66
3-Pointers — Bloomfield 4 (Cochrane 2, Hobson, Thompson), Owen Valley 5 (Vest 2, Warner, Shedd, Collier). Rebounds — Bloomfield 15 (Schulte 5), Owen Valley 33 (Collier 8). Steals — Bloomfield 10 (Hobson 3), Owen Valley 3 (Lientz 2). Turnovers — Bloomfield 7, Owen Valley 16. Fouls — Bloomfield 17, Owen Valley 14 Fouled out — None.
