Coming off a 72-52 loss to Scott on Monday, it looked like Walton-Verona was
primed for a comeback back at home against North Oldham.
The Bearcats started hot, up 15-4 in the first quarter…but North Oldham didn’t give
in to adversity. They didn’t take the lead until the third quarter and stormed back for
the 82-74 win.
How exactly did they do it?
Fighting through adversity.
“It was pretty resilient. We just didn’t start off good, but when you have three
seniors, they lead you in a lot of big games and we fought back,” Mustangs coach David Levitch said. “They paid attention to the scouting report. They only had one three in the second half and they’re a very good shooting team. At the end of the day our seniors, Grant (Neal) and Jack (Fischer) led us.”
In contrast, adversity is what hurt Walton-Verona. Once they got down, the Bearcats
didn’t take the lead again. They were outscored 25-10 in the third quarter and 48-35
in the second half.
“We’re still trying to figure out how to handle adversity,” Bearcats coach Mike Hester said. “I would think with a veteran group that we have, but we’re struggling with that right now. We’re allowing these teams to make runs in the second half. It happened the other night against Scott and it happened again tonight. We’ve got to do a better job of handling runs and limiting those runs.”
In the first quarter, the Bearcats controlled the pace and got the shots they wanted,
leading by six. North Oldham caught up offensively in the second quarter, but still found themselves trailing 39-34 at the half unable to make a difference they needed to defensively.
“Our offense all year has been really good. We’ve been scoring at a high clip. We’ve
been shooting good percentages. We were 14-26 in the first half, but we just weren’t
playing any defense. I thought it was a lot better in the second half,” Levitch
said.
In the second half, the momentum shifted. Walton-Verona couldn’t manage the
game the way they did early on. North Oldham slowed the game down and found
good shots inside the paint and from three.
Jack Fischer and Grant Neal combined for 42 points, 21 apiece for the Mustangs.
Brooks Cargould added 11 and Ryan Howard had 10 points including a huge three at
the end of the third quarter for a 62-52 Mustangs lead.
The Bearcats made a late run cutting the lead to four with just under two minutes
left, but crucial turnovers and clutch free throws by North Oldham put the game out
of reach.
Walton-Verona had four players in double figures. Aaron Gutman led with 25
points. Zach Smith put up 15 points, Max Montgomery had 14, and Landon Bach with
12.
Even though it may not look like it, shooting was a struggle.
“We got a lot of open looks. We were 3/17 from three and that’s not who we are.
We’re better shooters than that. We just have to continue to find some confidence
and continue to shoot the basketball. That’s who we are. We’re shooters and we’ll
eventually break out of this and when we do we have a chance to be a pretty good
team,” Hester said.
The Bearcats will go back to the drawing board after two straight losses. They take
on Collins next on Saturday at home.
North Oldham stays undefeated at 6-0. They are back in action on Friday at home
against Spencer County.
MUSTANGS 82, BEARCATS 74
NORTH OLDHAM — 13-21-25-23 — 82
WALTON-VERONA — 19-20-10-25 — 74
Scoring
North Oldham (82) – Fischer 21, Neal 21, Cargould 11, Howard 10, Schmittel 9,
Sanders 7, McRoberts 3
Walton-Verona (74) – Gutman 25, Smith 15, Montgomery 14, Bach 12, Dixon 4, Kerns
2, Webster 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers made: North Oldham 9, Walton-Verona 4
Free Throws: North Oldham 9/10, Walton-Verona 16/21
Fouls: North Oldham 17, Walton-Verona 16
Records: North Oldham 6-0, Walton-Verona 5-3