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It
was a rough night for Mitchell Campbell and the Versailles Tigers
Wednesday in their
regional semi-final game against Summit Country Day.
Campbell scored just seven in the
Tigers 61-46 loss. CNO Photos by
Chuck Runner, tigerballonline.netzero
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Tiger ball
exits in regional semi-final
Versailles has season ended
By George Starks
cnosports@countynewsonline.org
KETTERING- On paper, it looked liked a good match up for Versailles. On
the scoreboard, it was anything but good.
The Versailles quest for state gold came to a screeching halt Wednesday
as the Tigers season ended in a 61-46 loss to Summit Country Day. On
several occasions, Versailles came within striking distance, making
small runs. In the end, it was a kid named Kevin Johnson that destroyed
the Tigers.
The Country Day junior netted 21 points and pulled down a dozen boards.
In addition, sophomore Joey Kreyenhagen was the dagger netting eight
points off the bench, three right out of the gate, stone cold.
“We knew with their talent level that we would have to pick and choose
who we were going to have to get help off of and he (Joey) was one of
them,” said Versailles coach Scott McEldowney. “We figured if they beat
us from outside then they beat us but we would contest it the best we
could. We didn’t want to give up the easy shots and we didn’t. They
earned everything. Give them credit. They did a great job defensively
and took us out of the flow of our offense. We hit some three’s here
and there but it was never enough to bring us back”
Coming out in a straight man defense, the Silver Knights bolted out to
a 7-3 lead. McEldowney called for time with 4:08 remaining in the frame
to change from a man to a 2-3 zone. That seemed to even the tide as the
Tigers battled to a 7-7 tie after one. The zone continued to work to
get the second quarter started but by the break, Country Day was up
22-18.
“They are well coached and there in the fourth quarter, we had to come
out of the zone,” McEldowney said. “We tried the zone press then we had
to go back to the man to man and try to get after it.”
Coming out of the zone and back to the man, meant one thing as time
started to dwindle down. Trailing by 10 with 2:16 remaining, the Tigers
were forced to start fouling.
“No matter who we picked to foul, they were stepping up and hitting
their foul shots,” McEldowney pointed out.
From the line, the Silver Knights were 19 of 25 while the Tigers were
just nine of 14 on the night (62.3 percent).
“That is very uncharacteristic of us,” said the Versailles coach.
“We’ve been shooting over 70 percent as a team all year and that always
comes back to haunt you.”
Points in transition was the best weapon the Knights had on this night.
“We tried to crowd the rebounder and that led to some easy breakout
buckets for them,” McEldowney said. “If we would have got back into our
defensive sets, we might have had leads but that wasn’t the case.”
For players like senior Mitchell Campbell, it was the end of the line
in a devastating loss.
“It’s tough for these seniors,” McEldowney admitted. “They expected to
go all the way right from the start of the season so they are
devastated. They felt like there was no one they couldn’t go up against
and beat. It may be several years after they are out of school before
they realize that what they did was something special.”
Versailles ends with a 21-3 record and was led by Chad Winner with 16
points.
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Ethan
Bruns battles for a rebound during the Tigers loss to the Silver
Knights.
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