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MV’s
Dalton Rinderle goes up for two of his 10 points against
Brookville Thursday in the
Championship game of the Jet Holiday
Tournament. It was a gallant effort that fell short to
Brookville,
57-51. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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MV plays tough
against Brookville in title game
Hawks fall short in the end of Jet Tourney
By George Starks
Pitsburg- Long before the start of the championship game between
Mississinawa Valley and Brookville Thursday in the Jet Holiday
Tournament, Hawks coach Tim Barga was a little concerned about his team.
“We’ve not put to good games back to back this season,” Barga stated.
On opening night, the Hawks took care of business against Franklin
Monroe, 75-60 as the Hawks put four in double figures led by Devin
Rinderle with 26 points.
This all coming on the heels of a 52-47 victory by the Blue Devils over
Arcanum in the opener.
Knowing his team and its inabilities were spot on for Barga.
After going into the break with a 29-29 tie, the Hawks came out in the
third quarter and took it to Brookville.
Mississinawa Valley held Brookville to just seven third quarter points,
holding a very impressive 43-36 lead with eight minutes left in the game
“These kids! Look at what they did in the second and third quarters,”
Mississinawa Valley boys basketball coach Tim Barga said. ”We just
can’t put two games together.”
It was the final frame that proved to be the disaster for the Hawks as
Brookville would turn the tables on defense, holding MV to only eight
points to claim a 57-51 victory.
With a game consisting of 32 minutes, the Hawks played 28 brilliant
minutes, backing up what Barga knew.
“That game proved it right there,” exclaimed Barga. “You can play seven
and a half quarters of good basketball but if you don’t play eight, you
won’t win games.”
Even with 3:30 remaining, the Hawks were in a position to claim the Jet
title, up 51-46.
That was the beginning of the end.
Brookville reeled off six unanswered points and with 1:08 remaining,
the Blue Devils were up 53-51 after junior Dalton Stewart hit two of
three from the charity stripe.
“In the past they might not have been in the position to win but I
wasn’t here,” Barga pointed out. “I’m here now. We’ve got three seniors
on the team and they’re not going to understand that next year. We need
them this year. I’m here to win. I don’t have a lot of patience. My
wife will tell you that. I want it there and I want it there now! We
took bad, ill-advised shots down the stretch. We needed to work the
clock. Once the pressure’s on us, we fold and that’s where our seniors
have to come in at. We don’t have a true point guard and we don’t have
one this year. We don’t have that true leadership on the court. I can’t
make the decisions on the sidelines all the time. Someone has got to
step up.”
Brookville took control early, going up 13-5 at one point but the Hawks
battled back to close the opening stanza, down 13-10 on an old
fashioned three point play by Colyn Nelson.
It took three pointers from Rinderle and Trent Perkins to get the Hawks
blood flowing for the tie at the break.
Nelson led the Hawks with 17 while Perkins added 14 and Rinderle 10.
It all comes down to one word for Barga.
Maturity.
“I said yesterday after our win over Franklin Monroe that we
would find out if we have matured as a team, because we had yet put
together two good games in a row,” Barga said. “It’s getting pretty
old. We lost to St. Henry in a game we should have won. We had a couple
other games like this as well. We can’t keep doing that. Pretty soon we
are going to lose fans so we have to find a way to win. “
The Hawks will tip off at FM Friday in a Cross County Conference battle.
See more photos at Facebook Empowering Darke County Youth
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All
tournament team L to R: Ethan Conley (FM), Dalton Rinderle Ethan
Bowman (MV),
Devon Cook, Tyler Scherer and MVP Dalton Stewart
(Brookville)
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