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Versailles senior Kyle Ahrens drives the lane as several New Bremen
defenders clog his path to the bucket.
In his first start of the
season, Kyle netted 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds helping the
Tigers to a
56-50 win over the Cardinals in MAC action. CNO Photos by
Dylan Knoop
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Versailles
gains hard fought MAC victory
New Bremen proves to be a handful
By George Starks
VERSAILLES- “He’s going to get double and triple teamed all year long
and we know that.”
Those were the words of Versailles boys basketball coach Scott
McEldowney Friday, talking about his star senior, Kyle Ahrens, after
the Tigers survived a brutal 56-50 victory over New Bremen Friday.
On the night, Ahrens was forced to battle the masses that New Bremen,
despite scoring 22 points and yanking down 11 boards, five off the
offensive glass.
The victory was the first of the year for the Tigers (1-1), after
falling to Celina a week ago.
“It feels really good to get another game under our belts,” said
McEldowney. “I know we’re close to where we need to be but we’re not
there yet.”
It was obvious from the opening tip that the Cardinals knew they had to
stop Ahrens to be successful.
Stopping Ahrens seemed to be easy for New Bremen in the opening half,
shutting the senior down and holding him to only seven points in the
first half.
Even though Versailles led 26-23 at the break, it was a frustrated
bunch of Tigers that walked off the floor having been outplayed on
their home court.
At the end of the third frame, the Tigers were staring at a 36-36
score.
It was defense that proved to be the difference and McElownney
acknowledged the defense.
Especially the 2-2-1 zone.
“I thought we took care of business as far as the defensive side was
concerned,” said McEldowney. “Our 2-2-1 zone was something we practiced
one day so I thought it looked pretty decent even though we only
practiced it for one day.”
In the fourth frame, the Tigers watched New Bremen take the lead on two
different occasions. The first coming at the 5:41 mark of the game when
senior Alex Britton stole the ball and went the length of the floor for
a lay-up, giving the visitors a slim 38-36 advantage.
That lead was short lived when Ahrens drained a three 20 seconds later.
With 4:51left in the game, the Cards regained the lead and again it was
from a steal. This time it was by senior Carson Manger and New Bremen
was up 40-39.
That would be the final lead of the night as Versailles, led by Ahrens,
would score the next six points to hold a slim 46-40 lead.
New Bremen would close the gap to within a 46-43 count but would never
get any closer.
While most would love to net 22 points in a game, Ahrens was frustrated
most of the night as New Bremen would throw two and even three players
on him to stop or slow him down.
“I think the more practice time we get, the more things we can
implement to spring Kyle open,” said McEldowney. ““He’s going to get
double and triple teamed all year long and we know that. As long as we
have kids that can step up and knock down some shots, we’ll be okay.”
One of those players was senior Jace Barga.
Barga had nine big points in the opening half and finished with 13 on
the night.
“He did a phenomenal job,” admitted McEldowney. “He’s played a lot of
varsity games and got in a lot of quality minutes when he was a
sophomore during that big state run we made.”
Ahrens did score point 1,000 and was awarded the dame ball after the
game was over.
Now 2-1 overall after blasting Covington Saturday, 94-51 and 1-0 in the
MAC, the Tigers will go on the road to Lehman Catholic on Tuesday and
to New Knoxville and a conference date with the Rangers on Friday.
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Versailles freshman Justin Ahrens takes a shot as a New Bremen defender
hits the floor.
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