|
|
Franklin
Monroe's Travis Feitshans take the ball to the hoop, scoring
two of his game
high 22 points as the Jets claimed a 52-43 victory over
Mississinawa Valley
Tuesday. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
|
|
Jets win tough battle with Mississinawa
Valley
Hawks push FM before falling
By George Starks
UNION CITY- To say Franklin Monroe had a tough time with Mississinawa
Valley Tuesday in the Hawks Nest would be a gross understatement.
In fact, when Carson Stump dropped in a trey at the buzzer, ending the
first quarter, it was obvious that things could get a little dicey.
And it did.
The triple Stump dropped in brought the first quarter to a close and
saw a six point Franklin Monroe lead trimmed to three, 13-10.
At that point, the momentum shifted and Mississinawa Valley took off,
outscoring the Jets 17-9 in the quarter to take a 27-22 lead at the
break.
“Colton hit that shot at the buzzer and that was a big boost of
momentum for us,” said Hawks coach Rodney Saintignon. “If Carson misses
that shot, we don’t get that momentum swing like we did. When he hit
that three at the buzzer, it lifted everyone’s spirit and it kept our
momentum up.”
For Jets coach Troy Myers, he knew what the Hawks were capable of.
“We had seen MV on film and we knew what they are capable of, so what
happened in the second quarter came as no surprise,” said Myers after
the Jets 52-43 Cross County Conference victory. “I thought our
preparation was spot on for this game but we just didn’t go out and
execute in the first half and they were ready for us.”
While the Hawks were poised to pull the rug out from underneath the
Jets feet, Myers said it was the lack of shooting that hurt them.
“We shot a lot of three pointers in the first half,” said Myers. “When
you shoot that many and miss, it puts you behind the eight ball and
that wasn’t our game plan. They were open shots and MV was leaving it
open for us. They were covering the post area and we didn’t knock our
shots down, but you’re going to have nights like that.”
Trailing by five to start the third frame, the Franklin Monroe offense
started to click but it was the defense that turned things over.
The high flying Jets put 18 points on the board, while the defense held
the Hawks down to a mere four points to hold a 40-31 lead with eight
minutes left to play.
“We needed guys to step up and we had that in the second half,” said
Myers. “It was like that Friday with Newton. When we went to the locker
room at the half, I challenged them, and they responded. They know what
we are about on the defensive end and when we don’t play the way we
need to, it leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. When I walked in,
you could see it on their faces. They take a lot of pride in what they
do on defense and they weren’t happy with their performance.”
Along with the third quarter defense, the Jets controlled the boards on
both ends of the floor.
Travis Feitshans netted a game high 22 points but yanked down 14
rebounds, nine on the offensive end. In addition, Trey Mong grabbed 13
more rebounds with three coming off the offensive glass.
“That was the difference maker,” said Meyers of his teams rebounding
efforts. “In the first half, MV was getting some easy trash points
underneath and when we shut that off in the second half, they started
to miss some jumpers and we weren’t giving them second looks.”
For Mississinawa Valley it was the same story, another third quarter
debacle.
“In the first half we were hitting some shots early and I really don’t
know what our percentage was,” said Saintignon. “Then we come out in
the third quarter, missed five or six open shots in a row. We were
doing what we wanted to do early but the shots weren’t falling for us.”
With 10 days off, Sainignon’s team had plenty of time to prepare.
“We came out and did exactly what we wanted to do,” said the MV coach.
“We were able to switch the defenses up but when we got behind, we had
to go man to man and that hurt us a little bit there.”
Hawks junior Dane Blumenstock led Mississinawa Valley with 20 points
but had no support in a losing effort.
“Dane is an outstanding basketball player,” said Saintignon. “He’s a
great leader and one of our captains on the team. He averages
about 18 points a game. He’s just an all-around great athlete. He gets
upset when things don’t go right and he takes over. Everyone is out
there working hard but I think our next scorer had eight points. We
need three guys in double digits.“
Franklin Monroe will travel to Ft. Recovery Friday before returning
home to The Hangar on Saturday to host Dixie.
Friday night, the Hawks will venture to Bradford for another CCC battle
and will host Troy Christian on Saturday before playing in the Jet
Tournament.
|
|
MV junior Dane Blumenstock put up 20 points for the Hawks
in their CCC loss to Franklin Monroe.
|
|
|
|
