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Dixie Heats Up and Cools Down
J. C. Tilton
It was a hot and cold weekend for Dixie basketball against two quality teams. First they played SWBL foe Northridge, a team that was riding a 6 game winning streak. In their first matchup the Polar Bears had prevailed by a basket. This time, the Greyhounds established themselves early and leaped out to the lead. Coach Miller remarked that, “We played tremendously well, everything we shot seemed to go in.” Four players scored in double figures as the Greyhounds: Johnny Adams 10, Sean Kummer 18, Kevin McBain 17, and Jared Moore 11.
The Greyhounds couldn't carry this momentum forward when they visited Arcanum, a CCC team that had several losses early. But Arcanum was also on a streak, matching Northridge's 6 wins in a row. It was too tall a task for the Greyhounds to break both winning streaks in one weekend. Arcanum shot well on their home court. They hit just enough from the outside to force the Dixie zone to loosen up and did the most damage with put backs. They had an edge in rebounding in the first half despite one of their strong post players, Trevor Moore, getting into early foul trouble. I didn't keep a count, but it seemed like most of their baskets in the first half were offensive rebounds that were put back for scores.
Dixie mainly played a half court zone. They tried to catch the Trojans off guard by throwing a half court trap and press at them. The Trojans played a stingy man to man full court defense for the entire game. The Greyhounds did get open shots. But not one three point shot found the net and as further evidence of the cold shooting, they weren't hitting free throws either. At the end of the second quarter, Dixie was shooting bonus. But the front end of the one and one's were not dropping. The team walked off the court down 12 points.
In the second half the Greyhounds sparked a rally, closing to within 7. However there was a cost, Johnny Adams picked up his 4th foul in the third quarter and had to sit. In the 4th quarter he would finally foul out. Playing aggressive defense generated a lot of fouls, Dixie watched Arcanum hit their tosses and extend their lead. At the final whistle, Arcanum won 58-43. One bright spot for Dixie was the strong post play of Ben Spahr who muscled his way to a game high 16 points.
“We can't seem to get them up 2 games in a row,” reflected Coach Miller, “We came out tonight really, really flat. We gave away too many second chance points. We out rebounded them in the second half, but everything we put up seemed to miss.” Dixie has another busy week as a previously cancelled game against a strong Oakwood team will be played on the 28th. Previous to that they play 2 more road games - Tuesday against Shawnee, and Friday a rematch against Madison. The Madison game will be chance for Dixie to break away from the pack. Waynesville is undefeated in the division, but second place is shared by Dixie, Northridge, and Brookville.
Scoring for Dixie: Johnny Adams 12, Alex Denny 2, Sean Kummer 4, Kevin McBain 2, Jared Moore 2, Ben Risner 3, Ben Spahr 16, Andrew Thacker 2.
The reserve team fared better on Saturday night. They had a healthy halftime lead and held off an Arcanum charge to win 49-44. Scoring: Bates 11, Miller 9, Bertke 17, Prater 1, Risner 6, Worley 5. Comments: email: Chris Tilton
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