Braves overcome Titans

By BRYAN GASKINS
Tribune sportswriter

February 08, 2008 12:20 am

— BUNKER HILL — Maconaquah and Taylor flew under the radar in preseason Mid-Indiana Conference boys basketball predictions, but they came into their game Thursday night firmly in the upper division of the league standings.
The Braves bolstered their position by beating the visiting Titans 61-45.
“We knew coming in that if we won, that would put us in a position where if we could beat Hamilton Heights in our last conference game, the worst we could finish was second place,” Maconaquah coach Lucas Zartman said, noting a share of the conference title is still mathematically possible. “That was our focus and the guys came out and executed the game plan great and they played with a lot of heart. They fought through a lot of adversity. I couldn’t be more proud of how they played.”
The adversity came midway through the third quarter when backup guard Brennan Dexter went in for a fastbreak layup, took a hard foul and crashed to the floor where he remained for approximately 30 minutes with a head injury. Dexter was placed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital.
The Braves led 37-29 at the time. They let the Titans no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Maconaquah improved to 8-7 overall and 4-2 in the MIC while Taylor dropped to 10-5 and 4-3.
“I thought Maconaquah came out and just took it to us. They outplayed us and outworked us. They cut harder, they screened better, they rebounded better and they were definitely more physical,” Taylor coach Jeff Fisher said.
“We just couldn’t get in sync all night long. I thought maybe we had turned a corner with the Western game [a 55-53 win], but then we come out and kind of lay an egg.”
The Titans played without starting point guard Reomey Northington, who remained at home with strept throat. They committed 19 turnovers in his absence — and their offense looked out of sync nearly throughout.
Down 14-12 early in the second quarter, the Braves seized control with a 13-0 run that Nick George fueled with three 3-pointers. They capped the run with three straight 3-pointers — each coming after the Titans turned the ball over at the other end.
The Braves led 29-22 at halftime. The Titans drew within two on two occasions in the third quarter, 29-27 and 31-29, but the Braves answered with an 8-0 run.
The fourth quarter turned ragged as the teams combined for 14 fouls. The Braves hit 10 of 16 free throws to seal the win.
George hit 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range and scored 17 points to lead the winners. Jarrid Bradley had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Kodi Deisch had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Zartman praised his inside players for their defensive work and overall physical play, and credited his guards for taking care of the ball against the Titans’ different defenses.
Tyler Gotshall led the Titans with 14 points and seven rebounds. Drake Herr had nine points and seven rebounds and Seth Vautaw had eight points. The Titans shot just 29 percent from the field.
“In transition, we want to take the open shot, but we took some shots that were horrendous,” Fisher said. “Then, in our offense, we’d make one pass and then shoot. We have to make the defense work once we’re in our offense. We have to screen and cut and do the things I thought we were doing at the beginning of the season.”
Once 0-5, Maconaquah is 8-2 over its last 10 games — and is on the happy side of .500 for the first time.
“Our goal all season has been to get better every week,” Zartman said. “We’re never satisfied with where we’re at and even after this game, we talked in the locker room about how we’re still not satisfied. We’re going to go back and hit it hard [today] and try to get better. Hopefully there are more positives down the road for us.”