the bistro off broadway
text
Mississinawa Valley senior Dalton Rinderle gets two of his team high 23 points against Newton Friday. The Hawks
were successful in theur CCC opener, thrashing the Indians, 76-59. CNO photo by Dylan Knoop
 
MV takes down Newton in season opener
Barga proves successful in debut
By George Starks

UNION CITY- When Tim Barga took the reins at Mississinawa Valley as the head boys basketball coach, there were several things he did not know.

The two biggest were the fact that he did not know his kids and he didn’t know much about the teams in the Cross County Conference.

Barga may still not know much about the teams in the conference but he knows his kids a little bit better than he did two months ago.

Holding a slim 27-26 lead at the break, Barga’s boys came out of the locker room, ready to play ball.

The Hawks held Newton to 33 second half points and tallied 49 of their own, gaining a 76-59 conference victory.

Led by senior Dalton Rinderle with 23, Mississinawa Valley landed five in double figures with senior Cayden Cox netting 15 as juniors Dalton Geesy, Devan Rinderle and Colyn Nelson scoring 10 each.

“We talked about this in the locker room after the game and I told the kids it’s hard to scout a team with five kids and nearly six in double figures,” said Barga. “if you’re looking to take a kid out of the game, who do you pick. I know Dalton had 23 but we’ve got two or three other kids that can do that also.”

Any coach will admit that no one player is responsible for winning a game and the ability to protect the ball is essential to the success of any team.

With 16 turnover in the first half, the Hawks had only six miscues in the second half for a total of 22 total turnovers.

“It means a lot to me that these kids were out there and they shared the ball,” said Barga. “We had a big talk at halftime about the turnovers,” said Barga. “Going against their press, we played their game in the second quarter and that was the topic at halftime as well. The boys came out and they responded to that. They didn’t play their game the rest of the time.”

Mississinawa Valley jumped out to a big 11-0 lead to start the game and with less than three minutes left in the opening frame, the Hawks enjoyed a 16-6 advantage.

That’s when the wheels fell off as the Tribe went on an 8-2 run to close out the frame, trailing 18-14 with one quarter in the books.

Newton remained relentless in the second half, outscoring the Hawks, 12-9, to trail by a point at the break.

With history as it is, the third quarter for MV has typically been a disaster but not on this night.

Mississinawa Valley did exactly what Barga wanted.

Play good defense, protect the ball and run the offense.

The Hawks did all three.

Leading 48-38 with eight minutes left to play, MV started to fly high.

The Hawks opened up a 54-40 lead with 6:53 remaining in the game on a deuce in the paint by Nelson off a steal on the other end of the floor.

Newton was able to stop the bleeding when junior Brady McBride nailed a three at the 6:34 mark, closing the gap to a 54-43 deficit.

With stellar ball control and a solid defense, the Hawks built a commanding 65-49 lead with 3:19 remaining.

With the opening game in the books and the Hawks holding a 1-0 CCC record, the Indians exposed several weaknesses in the MV armor.

One of those were being susceptible to the three ball, as the Tribe drilled 10 long balls in the game.

“We took a time out with about five minutes left in the game,” Barga said. “They wanted to get back in the game and threes were what they wanted to shoot and you could see that’s what they wanted to shoot. We had to make them put the ball on the floor. We don’t care if they take it to the hoop or not just make them put it on the floor. I wasn’t real happy until there was about three minutes to go. We really didn’t have them under control until then.”

Along with 23 from Rinderle, the senior guard hauled in 11 rebounds while freshman Ethan Bowam fell two points short of double figures with eight points and sox boards.

Mississinawa Valley, 1-0 in the CCC, will host Ansonia next Friday. The Hawks hosted cross town rivals, Union City Saturday in the Battle of the Hub City. As of the time of this writing, no score was known yet.


 
senior scribes
senior scribes

County News Online

is a Fundraiser for the Senior Scribes Scholarship Committee. All net profits go into a fund for Darke County Senior Scholarships
contact
Copyright © 2011 and design by cigs.kometweb.com