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Hounds Bedevilled
J. C. Tilton
After last weekends thrilling games, a victory over Waynesville and just losing to a solid Preble Shawnee team, fans were hoping that the Greyhounds were turning a corner. The team showed that it had the potential to rise to the occasion. The team has been hovering around the .500 mark this season, maybe they could finish strong and do well in the state tournament. Initially, it looked as if the team was going to springboard off of last weeks performances. Brookville picked up an early lead, but Dixie went to work and closed the gap to be down 13-15 when the quarter ended. Brookville employed a 3-2 zone for most of the game, while Dixie tried to keep the Blue Devils off-balance with a variety of looks. They also employed a 3-2 defense, slipping into a man to man, and mixing in a press. In this quarter, Dixie seemed to get most of their points when they penetrated the Brookville zone and scored in the paint.
The next quarter saw the Brookville shooters heat up. Dixie was trying to trap the ball and Brookville seemed to be able to find the open man. This lead to some easy points. The gap widened and at halftime Dixie was staring at a 10 point deficit. The Hounds kept pace with the Blue Devils thru most of the 3rd quarter. They closed to within 8 with about 3 minutes left to go in the quarter. Brookville turned up the pressure with a press of their own and also started to work their big men inside. Suddenly the gap widened to 15 points. You could sense that the Dixie spirits sagged at this point. They tried to get back in the game with the 3 point shot and the press. But Brookville kept working the ball inside and ringing up baskets. With about 2:25 to go in the 4th, Dixie's Kozlowski fouled out. He had been trying to get the team back into the game with a couple of treys. From there the Blue Devils ran the clock down and won handily 71-53.
In his post game comments coach Etler simply said, "We were manhandled, Brookville was very physical and we played soft. It was a similiar type of game against Waynesville, but the team played with them." The coach mentioned that a couple of the players had a good game, but the team performance did not meet his expectations. Leading the scoring for Dixie was Eldred with 13, Kozlowski 12, Adams 10, Kummer 6, Spahr 4, Barnes 2, McBain 2, Saunders 2, Bowman 1. Scoring for Brookville, Snedecker 2, Sharp 6, Denlinger 2, Dickey 6, Strain 28, Cunningham 13, Gambill 12, Smoot 2. The Dixie reserves lost 25 - 40; Scoring Neaves 3, McBain 5, Risner 4, McQueen 10, Taylor 1, Barnes 1, Bertke 1. Comments: email: Chris Tilton
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