The boys’ basketball team fell to 2-9 on the season with their 51-46 loss to Paint Branch last Friday.
In an extremely low-scoring contest, the game entered the fourth quarter tied at 29. Junior Mike Tedla made a 3-pointer to begin the quarter which was followed by a Panthers 12-0 run, the largest run by either team throughout the game. One enabler of the Paint Branch 12-0 run was the multiple forced turnovers due to the implementation of a full-court trap defense.
“They put on a lot more pressure,” senior guard Jordan Silverstein said. “They turned up the intensity and we just got careless.”
The Wildcats’ had a slow start to the third quarter with multiple turnovers and no scores until just after the halfway mark in the quarter.
“The only reason we were in the game was because of our defense,” junior forward Jake Forburger said. “We just need to get to the basket more.”
The Panthers began the second quarter with an 8-0 run that was eventually ended by a Silverstein 3-pointer. The Panthers entered halftime ahead by one.
Tedla and Silverstein led the Wildcats to a 16-13 first-quarter lead with the two carrying the scoring load as they combined for the first 13 Wildcat points. The other three came from freshman guard Max Raue at the buzzer.
The Cats were able to rattle off back-to-back wins against Northwood and Churchill, but have lost each of their other games aside from one during a holiday tournament that does not count towards the state standings.
The 2-9 start is the Wildcats’ worst in recent memory. After nearly all of its players from last year’s rotation graduated, this year’s team is relatively young.
The main struggle for the Wildcats this season has been closing out games. The Cats are 0-5 in games decided by five points or fewer including 0-3 in games decided by one score.
The Wildcats have their longest scheduled break of the season with their next game Friday Jan. 24 against the Einstein Titans (0-8) at 7:15 p.m.
“We have to bounce back better, play with more intensity, get to the basket more and stop shooting threes,” junior forward Corey Dooren said.
