|
|
Ansonia
senior Kalob Earick gets two of his eight points Friday against
Fairlawn in the
sectional opener at Piqua. The Jets unloaded a 72-47
loss on the Tigers.
CNO photos by George Starks
|
|
Ansonia bows out in sectional action
By George Starks
PIQUA- The Ansonia Tigers gave it all they had Friday in the opening
round of the D-IV boys sectional at Piqua.
Sometimes, all you got just isn’t enough.
The Tigers went in charging hard against the third seed, Fairlawn. In
the end, the Jets, with fully loaded guns, shot the Tigers right out of
the gym with a 72-47 loss.
“We played hard for most of the game,” said Ansonia coach Darrick
Barga. “We had to execute better to start the game. We weren’t knocking
down shots when we had them and we should have been looking for better
shots. Fairlawn is a good team and they like to run. We got tired
quick. We are not an up and down team.”
Trailing 14-4 at the end of one quarter, the Tigers started the second
frame, read to take it to the Jets.
Ansonia scored two quick buckets, cutting a 10 point lead to six and
had the Jets backing up and asking for time.
“We started slow but we jumped back at them,” admitted Barga. “We’ve
had a lot of losses but we just don’t lie down for any reason. We fight
and we scrap and we do what we can and that just tells you our kids are
not quitters.”
Despite trailing 36-16 at the intermission and 58-26 after three, the
Tigers battled for every point and every rebound they could get.
“We came to play,” said Barga. “Berger and Bergman got their share of
rebounds. Kaleb Erick was in there getting offensive rebound off missed
free throws. He was going as fast as he could go out there tonight.
Fairlawn is a good team. We had to defend their perimeter and stop
their drives and when they shoot, all five of their guys goes to the
boards.”
With two minutes left in the game and the Tigers down a bunch, Barga
pulled his five off the floor. Emotions were running high and it was
evident on the face of senior Logan Moody as the tears flowed.
“The five seniors, overall, are great young men,” said Barga. “They
have very high character and I hope the under classmen saw this and fed
off of it. There were a lot of distractions and they ignored the
distractions and did what we asked them to do. They shut out all of the
noise and I’m very proud of them. The fans told them they were going
the wrong way and they stayed the course. The course may have been the
wrong one, we finished 3-20 overall but they stayed with what we asked
them to do and that is a testament to them.”
Ansonia was led on the floor by senior Derek Kaiser with 13 points.
|
|
Junior
Dustin Berger gets a rebound for Ansonia in the second
quarter against the Jets.
|
|
|
|
