Late surge of scoring propels AL past Redskins

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

For three quarters Tuesday night, Sullivan’s boys basketball team went toe-to-toe with the No. 10 class 1A  Arthur-Lovington Knights. But a 23-point fourth quarter performance by the Knights along with going 17-of-27 from the field compared to Sullivan’s 1-of-10, proved too much, as AL defeated Sullivan in each team’s season opener, 72-55.

“They’re a tough matchup,” said Sullivan head coach Chester Reeder. “They are a very good basketball team; they have a lot of shooters. But we let our offense affect our defense tonight, and we weren’t very tough tonight, especially in that fourth. But hats off to them. They’re a great team. They’re going to be a force to reckon with this year.”

The two teams came out in the first, not bashful from the arc.

Sullivan’s Derek Stain drained two three-pointers in the first, part of the Redskins 5-of-13 for the half. The Knights too matched the shooting spectacle, as Clayton Honn hit a three in addition to teammate Tyler Schuring’s two. Schuring would also hit two more in the second quarter, part of the Knights’ 6-of-15 for the first half.

“One of the things we talked about before the game, I know this team has 3-point shooters. I know they like the three-point shot, but we can’t live out there and take every trip and shoot from the three, and that’s what the first half was,” said Knights’ head coach Dale Schuring. “We had nothing going to the rim, nothing going to the lane. Sullivan did a good job keeping us on the perimeter. That’s one of the things we’re going to have to be very aware of and take care of throughout the year, to not to fall in love with the 3-point shot. We probably took too many in the first half.”

The two team’s remained tied at 17 after the first, but thanks to consistent shooting in the second, the Knights managed to pull ahead 34-28, taking a lead Sullivan would never capture. AL went 7-of-14 in the second compared to Sullivan’s 4-of-12.

The Knights continued their solid shooting, outscoring Sullivan in the third 15-13, but nonetheless remaining vulnerable at 49-41 heading into the final period, where they would, however, strike the final blow to any chance of a Sullivan come back.

“I think the difference between the fourth quarter and the rest of the game is in the fourth we defended better– they weren’t driving down the lane with the ball or throwing it into the post and getting their offense from there,” said Schuring. “They were shooting outside jump shots. They didn’t make very many of them, and we rebounded, and that started our transition game. The first three quarters, it’s hard to rebound and run when they’re shooting the ball in the lane, and you’re scrambling, and they’re throwing it into the post and scoring. To me that was the difference.”

“We stopped doing what we’re good at, which is attacking the rim,” said Reeder. “We completely went away form that. But like I told them, we have to use this as a learning experience and understand how to fight through those times when they’re not knocking down those outside shots or you’re not scoring. You still have to get stops.”

“We also had a couple kids that were missing shots early who stepped up and made some shots later in the game,” added Schuring. That’s the good thing about our team. Tyler was hot early. Jeremy became hot later. Honn was pretty consistent throughout. Curtis does his usual thing for us. We have a lot of weapons and if they ever all go at once, we could be really dangerous. But at least we know that if one guy is off, we have other guys that can score.”

Tyler Schuring finished the game with 18 points, just one of three AL players to score in double digits, including Jeremy Plank who was 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter alone. Sullivan’s Stain also scored a team high of 18.

“Sullivan is a much improved team,” added Schuring. “I thought they scored the ball far better than they have in the past. We gave up 55. We have to hold people to less than that. First game, 55 is alright but overall we didn’t guard the ball that well, we didn’t rebound that well early, so defensively, we have to get better.”

Sullivan’s bright spot was free-throw shooting, which came to 12-of-14 on the night.

“All summer we shot and shot and shot, so they’ve really worked on it,” Reeder said. “We just have to take better shots.”

Sullivan also saw several JV players come into the variety matchup, including Layne McMahon, who had eight points and four rebounds.

“That’s stuff we have to have,” said Reeder. “I don’t know who it’s going to be night in and night out, so they just have to step up when it’s their turn.”

The Knights will next face travel Tuesday to face Stew-Stras, while Sullivan hosts St. Anthony the same night.

“The biggest takeaway, positively is we came out and competed,” added Reeder. “We came out and didn’t back down. There were moments in the second and third quarters where we really could have gone away. I think we were down 10 twice and cut it to four. So we stuck our nose in and kept at it, so hopefully we can use this as a learning experience.”

Stats for Sullivan: N. Frerichs 4-3-13, 4 rebounds; D. Stain 5-4-18, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; T. Molzen 6-0-12, 4 rebounds; Z. Britton 1-0-3, 2 rebounds; Z. Hrvol 0-1-1, 1 rebound; L. McMahon 2-4-8, 4 rebounds.

Stats for AL: T. Schuring 6-2-18, 2 rebounds; A. Schrock 2-1-5, 5 rebounds; J. Plank 6-0-14, 3 rebounds; C. Honn 4-0-9, 1 rebound ; T. Brewer 2-0-4, 2 rebounds; C. Plank 5-2-12, 4 rebounds; C. Schrock 5-0-10, 1 rebound.