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Versailles seniors goes to the hoop, scoring two for the Tigers. Ahrens
was frustrated by the St. Henry defense
Friday, being held to only 13
points in a 72-49 MAC loss to the Redskins. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Versailles
silenced by St. Henry
By George Starks
ST. HENRY- Through nine games of the season, Versailles and St. Henry
were sporting 8-1 records and both were undefeated in the Midwest
Athletic Conference.
It was all on the line and the Tigers had hopes of a conference title.
Those hopes were dashed as the Redskins, behind a 30 point, 13 rebound
performance by senior Ryan Mikesell, dropped a 72-49 loss on the Tigers
Friday.
With the game being played on the floor, it was a huge concern for
Tigers coach Scott McEldowney as a look of disparity was on his face
long before the opening tip.
“I’ve been hyping it up all week that it’s been four years now that
we’ve played St. Henry and every year the home team has always won and
they’ve been blowouts,” said McEldowney. “We beat them by a decent
margin last year without Kyle. It was after Kyle was injured. It was
one of the best games we played last year. Two years ago, we came here
and got beat soundly and that was the year we went to state. We got
down and was forced to pull out and chase and we panicked a little bit.
For four years in a row, the home team has had the visiting team’s
number.”
Trailing 17-7 at the end of the opening quarter, Versailles seemed to
get things together in the second eight minutes, outscoring the
Redskins, 21-17 in the frame, trailing 34-29 at the break.
“We came alive in the second quarter but we need guys that can guard,”
said McEldowney. “That’s been a concern of mine since the start of the
season. We’ve got to get better defensively.”
The rest of the game resembled the opening quarter as St. Henry led
51-38 after three quarters of play.
On this night, the Redskins not only had the number of the visiting
team, they had the number of Versailles stud, Kyle Ahrens.
The Versailles senior was held to a season low, 13 points on the night.
A night when the Versailles offense sputtered and the Redskins defense
shined.
“They did a nice job doubling up on Kyle,” said McEldowney. “I told the
kids that there was a lot of open areas that we could have taken
advantage of and didn’t. We’ve been good all year long about making the
pass into the open area. Sometimes, you get hyped up into this game and
everybody wants to make the big play and take it upon themselves. When
you play a good team like this with a good defense, the extra pass
definitely has to be made to get that open look. They did a great job
of that in the second half and got a lot of open three’s.”
It was a solid night for Tiger freshman, Justin Ahrens. Ahrens dumped
in a career high 18 points but with the Redskins defense shutting the
senior Ahrens down, Versailles could get the offensive firepower it
needed to stay with its opposition.
“We mixed in a lot of zone on defense tonight but it was very, very
bad,” McEldowney said. “Kyle expended a lot of energy chasing Mikesell
around trying to guard a very good player. Justin did a nice job but we
needed others to step up and contribute. When other contribute, it
shows people you can do that and you’re going to play and we have guys
that are very capable of doing that and have shown it.”
Upon graduation in the spring, Mikesell will head for the University of
Dayton to play for the Flyers.
Now 8-2 on the season before the game Saturday with Lima Central
Catholic, Versailles will host Ft. Recovery Friday.
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St. Henry senior Ryan Mikesell (33) created havoc for Versailles as
Versailles junior Jared Neikamp found out.
Mikesell, heading to UD in
the fall, netted 30 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Skins.
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