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Andrew
Johns leads a dejected group of Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks
off the floor at Piqua
Tuesday after the Hawks bowed out of the OHSAA
sectional tournament, losing to Ft. Loramie 58-46.
The loss ended the
season for MV with a 16-8 mark overall. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Hawks season ends at 16-8
Hawks fall to a
tough Ft. Loramie team
By George Starks
PIQUA- What started out as a mediocre season, ended with a six game
winning streak and a 15-7 record.
That winning streak went to seven in the opening round of
sectional action last Friday at Piqua in a win over Houston.
Coming in with a 16-7 mark and a seven game winning streak on the line,
it all came crashing down on Mississinawa Valley Tuesday as Ft. Loramie
moved on to play Russia with a 58-46 victory over the Hawks.
With MV holding a commanding 10-4 lead early in the opening quarter, it
was Ft. Loramie that ended the opening eight minutes with a 6-0 run in
the final 2:16 to end the frame with a 10-10 tie.
“I felt the end of the first quarter was the difference in this game,”
Barga said. “We didn’t take our time and our patience kinda went flat
on us. We should have been up in the first quarter and I thought that
really hurt us. When you have 10 points and 10 turnovers in one
quarter, that isn’t good.”
Led by Colyn Nelson with 14, Ethan Bowman added 12 and Trent Perkins 10
in support of Nelson, the Hawks did everything in their power to keep
the Redskins off balance, especially in the second quarter.
After Bowman had hit in the paint with 6:08 left in the half, giving MV
a slim 15-12 lead, the Blackhawks were able to go up 17-12 later when
Perkins would pull down an offensive board and get the stick for the
five point lead with 4”56 left in the half.
That would be the last lead Mississinawa Valley would see the rest of
the night.
Ft. Loramie would close out the half on a 16-5 run to take a 28-22 lead
at the break.
“We played hard,” said Barga. “We just came up short. Too many
turnovers early and wew missed some shots that we normally hit. We put
Colyn on the Berning kid and held him to four points in the first half.
I though our defense played well.”
Trailing by six at the half, the Blackhawks came out in the third
quarter and hung with the Skins, trailing 39-32 with eight minutes left
in regulation.
That’s when things went from good, to bad, to ugly for Mississinawa.
Before the Hawks could blink their eyes, a seven point deficit had to
10 at the 5:45 mark of the game to 54-45 score with 1:12 remaining.
A nine point lead that looked more like Mt. Kilimanjaro…a mountain too
large to climb.
Led by 6-7 sophomore Tyler Siegel with 21 points, the Loramie big man
was a little to much for the Hawks in the end.
“He got a lot of little two footers,” said Barga. “We needed to get him
a little further away from the bucket. He did a good job against us.”
Losing three seniors in Nelson, Geesy and Dalton Rinderle, Barga will
see sever good players coming back in Bowman, Perkins and Andrew Johns
as well as a couple of others.
A team that will look to improve on a solid season and a third place
fininsh in the Cross County Conference behind Tri-Village and Miami
East.
“These kids had a great season,” Barga stated. “We had some ugly games
at the start of the season but the last three quarters of the season
were just fantastic. We beat some teams that were supposed to be a lot
better than what we were and we still beat them. These guys have come a
long ways. I know they were tired and I thought if we slowed it down we
would be a lot better off but the guys have played well this year.
These kids exceeded everybody’s expectations this year and I’m very
proud of them.”
According to Barga, things changed after the loss to Twin Valley South.
“We went in and watched the film and then we had a heart to heart
talk,” admitted Barga. “You can’t make them play the game correctly but
you can always point them in the right direction and tonight we just
didn’t play the way we did the last seven or eight games.”
With the next season a year away, Barga said it’s going to take a lot
of work on everyone’s part.
“These kids coming back are going to have to work hard over the
summer,” said Barga. “I’ve got five kids coming back that can be big
contributors but they have to work hard in the summertime. Parents want
their kids to be all-stars but how many parents get out there and work
with their kids and how many kids as their parents to work with them.
If the fans want to see this year in and year out, this has to happen
at Mississinawa!”
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MV
senior Dalton Geesy knocks down a shot during first quarter action
against Ft. Loramie.
The Redskins held Geesy scoreless in his final
game in a Blackhawk uniform.
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Sophomore Ethan Bowman goes into the lane looking to score. Bowman had
12 points on the night in a losing effort.
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