Tigers boys basketball have answered the challenge
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Once upon a time … OK, this story of the 2010-11 McClain Tigers boys basketball team isn't going to start out like a fairy tale, for the simple fact their season didn't start out like one, either.
The Tigers had a nightmare of a start in terms of wins and losses. They were 0-7 overall until they gained their first win against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs on Dec. 23.
They followed that with wins against Adena and Fairfield, then had a three-game skid against Washington, Hillsboro and Clinton-Massie.
But since then, the Tigers have become an all-around better team. They not only use their defense to their advantage, but they have improved tremendously on the offensive side with their overall shot selection, not relying on a 3-pointer to save them, but playing physically by going to the lane.
The season for the Tigers can be split up in three different sections. For the sake of not confusing myself, there are beginning, middle and end sections. The first one consists of the first seven games of the season. The second section is a six-game stretch in the middle of the season during late December and the middle of January. The final section is the last four games the Tigers have played, starting on Jan. 25.
At the start of the year, McClain allowed 364 points (the first seven games) and scored 280 for a difference of 84 points. Those games included Goshen, Piketon, CM, Madison-Plains, London, Miami Trace and Hillsboro. For any team, that is a tough slate of games, but for a team that was in rebuilding mode, playing with players who had little-to-no varsity experience ... well, nobody is going to win many or any games until they can learn to gel as one.
That is exactly what happened to MHS. In their second game of the year, they lost 65-28 to Piketon. Right now, PHS is No. 7 in the Associated Press Div. III poll at 15-1 overall.
In those first seven games, MHS had a five-point loss to MP, a four-point loss to LHS and a six-point loss to HHS.
Then MHS gained its first win of the season, which began a stretch of six games where they went 3-3, seeing improvement in their play but still having trouble getting over the elusive hump in some games. In this stretch, MHS beat LC, Adena and Fairfield (all non-league) but lost three straight SCOL games to Washington, HHS and CM. The difference in scoring was 255 in favor for the Tigers and 265 against for a difference of 10 points.
If anyone watched any of the games, you could see that the Tigers were improving but still were a couple steps away from not only making things tough on the league opponents, but getting their first league win. After their first eight SCOL games, MHS was 0-8, being outscored 342-316. MHS was just 26 points away from being in the mix of the SCOL standings, instead of at the bottom, looking up.
Then we have the end section – well, almost the end … how about we call it the current section of the season. This is a four-game stretch where the Tigers have won all four games, including three straight SCOL games. In this span, they have scored 222 points and allowed 206, for +16. One of the wins was an overtime win against LHS, and their most recent win was against the first-place Miami Trace Panthers, who defeated MHS early in the season 69-56 at MTHS. In this current stretch, MHS has three games remaining in Zane Trace, Washington and Southeastern.
McClain head coach Brent Eaton knows his team is improving as he talked about it following the win over Miami Trace.
"I think this is a simple credit to our kids and our coaching staff," Eaton said. "Our coaches put the players in the right place, and they have prepared the kids to do the right things and put them in a successful position. Our kids have followed, and it is fun to watch."
Eaton went into more detail about just how his players have responded this season, after struggling earlier on: "Our kids … it's obvious our kids are getting better," Eaton said. "The reason why we are starting to play better offensively is because we took just two threes tonight. In our last game against London, we took just four threes. We aren't shooting a lot of jump shots; even when people zone us, we are getting it in the paint, and our shot selection is getting much better."
Seeing improvement like this is why high school basketball is so great to follow all season long. Though the stands weren't near as full as they have been in the past, the team has represented their community and school well in not only this past stretch of games with their wins, but they have represented their school well since game one.
At the start of the season, the headline I had for the Tigers' season preview was "Tigers looking to make own mark." At the time, they had lost nine players from the previous team, their top five scorers, and one of their top rebounders. Eaton said at the start of the year: "Our strengths will be our defense, and we work hard. We can rebound with people, and we have good senior leadership."
He was right on the money. The Tigers are rarely out-rebounded, they have quality seniors, and yes, they work hard. Watch them play: no matter the score, they are out there playing with all they have.
Take, for example, their game with CM at MHS in late January. It was no secret the Tigers were struggling in the first half, trailing 29-18 after two quarters. In the second, they were held to four points. Eaton said following the game: "I thought we were a little lax in the first half. I was disappointed with the energy and enthusiasm level. At halftime, I challenged the seniors to improve or we were going to go in a different direction. We need to find five guys who want to leave everything on the floor, and if you saw the guys on the floor in the second half, they did that. In the second half, the guys played as hard as they could and didn't quit."
That is the game that sticks out to me more than any game this season. He was right: if you saw those five players on the court following the 49-44 loss to CM at MHS, they were completely spent, and that game showed me and hopefully others, they had high character and drive for their team. By the way, McClain outscored CM 26-20 in the second half of that game.
This season has taken longer than some for the results to show in the standings, but the important thing is they have shown improvement on the court, while playing with class, whether they have left the court with or without the highest score.
They have definitely answered the challenge.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
The Tigers had a nightmare of a start in terms of wins and losses. They were 0-7 overall until they gained their first win against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs on Dec. 23.
They followed that with wins against Adena and Fairfield, then had a three-game skid against Washington, Hillsboro and Clinton-Massie.
But since then, the Tigers have become an all-around better team. They not only use their defense to their advantage, but they have improved tremendously on the offensive side with their overall shot selection, not relying on a 3-pointer to save them, but playing physically by going to the lane.
The season for the Tigers can be split up in three different sections. For the sake of not confusing myself, there are beginning, middle and end sections. The first one consists of the first seven games of the season. The second section is a six-game stretch in the middle of the season during late December and the middle of January. The final section is the last four games the Tigers have played, starting on Jan. 25.
At the start of the year, McClain allowed 364 points (the first seven games) and scored 280 for a difference of 84 points. Those games included Goshen, Piketon, CM, Madison-Plains, London, Miami Trace and Hillsboro. For any team, that is a tough slate of games, but for a team that was in rebuilding mode, playing with players who had little-to-no varsity experience ... well, nobody is going to win many or any games until they can learn to gel as one.
That is exactly what happened to MHS. In their second game of the year, they lost 65-28 to Piketon. Right now, PHS is No. 7 in the Associated Press Div. III poll at 15-1 overall.
In those first seven games, MHS had a five-point loss to MP, a four-point loss to LHS and a six-point loss to HHS.
Then MHS gained its first win of the season, which began a stretch of six games where they went 3-3, seeing improvement in their play but still having trouble getting over the elusive hump in some games. In this stretch, MHS beat LC, Adena and Fairfield (all non-league) but lost three straight SCOL games to Washington, HHS and CM. The difference in scoring was 255 in favor for the Tigers and 265 against for a difference of 10 points.
If anyone watched any of the games, you could see that the Tigers were improving but still were a couple steps away from not only making things tough on the league opponents, but getting their first league win. After their first eight SCOL games, MHS was 0-8, being outscored 342-316. MHS was just 26 points away from being in the mix of the SCOL standings, instead of at the bottom, looking up.
Then we have the end section – well, almost the end … how about we call it the current section of the season. This is a four-game stretch where the Tigers have won all four games, including three straight SCOL games. In this span, they have scored 222 points and allowed 206, for +16. One of the wins was an overtime win against LHS, and their most recent win was against the first-place Miami Trace Panthers, who defeated MHS early in the season 69-56 at MTHS. In this current stretch, MHS has three games remaining in Zane Trace, Washington and Southeastern.
McClain head coach Brent Eaton knows his team is improving as he talked about it following the win over Miami Trace.
"I think this is a simple credit to our kids and our coaching staff," Eaton said. "Our coaches put the players in the right place, and they have prepared the kids to do the right things and put them in a successful position. Our kids have followed, and it is fun to watch."
Eaton went into more detail about just how his players have responded this season, after struggling earlier on: "Our kids … it's obvious our kids are getting better," Eaton said. "The reason why we are starting to play better offensively is because we took just two threes tonight. In our last game against London, we took just four threes. We aren't shooting a lot of jump shots; even when people zone us, we are getting it in the paint, and our shot selection is getting much better."
Seeing improvement like this is why high school basketball is so great to follow all season long. Though the stands weren't near as full as they have been in the past, the team has represented their community and school well in not only this past stretch of games with their wins, but they have represented their school well since game one.
At the start of the season, the headline I had for the Tigers' season preview was "Tigers looking to make own mark." At the time, they had lost nine players from the previous team, their top five scorers, and one of their top rebounders. Eaton said at the start of the year: "Our strengths will be our defense, and we work hard. We can rebound with people, and we have good senior leadership."
He was right on the money. The Tigers are rarely out-rebounded, they have quality seniors, and yes, they work hard. Watch them play: no matter the score, they are out there playing with all they have.
Take, for example, their game with CM at MHS in late January. It was no secret the Tigers were struggling in the first half, trailing 29-18 after two quarters. In the second, they were held to four points. Eaton said following the game: "I thought we were a little lax in the first half. I was disappointed with the energy and enthusiasm level. At halftime, I challenged the seniors to improve or we were going to go in a different direction. We need to find five guys who want to leave everything on the floor, and if you saw the guys on the floor in the second half, they did that. In the second half, the guys played as hard as they could and didn't quit."
That is the game that sticks out to me more than any game this season. He was right: if you saw those five players on the court following the 49-44 loss to CM at MHS, they were completely spent, and that game showed me and hopefully others, they had high character and drive for their team. By the way, McClain outscored CM 26-20 in the second half of that game.
This season has taken longer than some for the results to show in the standings, but the important thing is they have shown improvement on the court, while playing with class, whether they have left the court with or without the highest score.
They have definitely answered the challenge.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]