Wildcats battle but drop game at Dave Young Classic
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
SEAMAN — There are no excuses coming from the Whiteoak Wildcats as they continue to look for their first win of the season, and that is due in large part to WHS head coach Jeremy McGraw, who won't let his team get too down following tough losses.
For the Wildcats, they are mostly all playing varsity basketball at a consistent rate for the first time in their careers, and though they did gain the lead in the third quarter, the South Webster Jeeps managed to run away in the fourth quarter, with WHS falling by a 60-47 score.
"We just at times don't play very smart basketball, honestly," McGraw said. "We'll make a turnover or miss a couple shots, and we'll get flustered and go foul a kid because it is in our head. We were angered, and our body language is bad right now.
"There are no excuses when you are 0-12. You can't have mental mistakes and mental breakdowns. That clearly is what's happened. Teams will press us, and we'll go 100 miles per hour and try to dribble through the press when we should be looking to pass out of it. We have our heads down when we should be looking down the court."
WIth that said, McGraw credited South Webster for their play on Saturday afternoon in the 2015 Dave Young Classic at North Adams High School.
"Credit South Webster … they have some physical kids, and we struggled boxing out again. We have to be able to get in there and be close in the rebounding margin, and we are just not. That's been the difference in a lot of games.
"It was a tough one, and one I thought we could be close in, even with getting the lead in the third … we just can't seem to score, get a stop and score again. We score, and our opponents will bounce back and hit a three. In practice we work on score, stop, score."
As for the third frame where the Wildcats battled to take the lead, it began with Brandon Ashbaugh scoring two points near the start of the quarter, followed by him later scoring two more points on a put-back bucket.
Ashbaugh led the Wildcats with 19 points.
Later in the quarter, Chase Carraher, who totaled seven points, sank a basket to bring WHS to within six points of tying the score at 29-23. Those points began a string of scoring by the Wildcats (who were listed as the home team), as Kyle Marler scored two points on a layup, and Ashbaugh sank a 3-pointer to get to within one point of the Jeeps at 29-28.
Marler made it a 9-0 run in a span of nearly two minutes by scoring two more points in the paint for a WHS lead of 30-29 with 3:26 left in the third.
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The lead didn't last long with the Jeeps regaining the advantage with free throws. WHS did take the lead back, but not for long with the Jeeps sinking two consecutive 3-pointers, ending the final 3:15 of the third with a 15-4 run.
The Jeeps led 42-36 after three frames and never let go of the lead again, as they outscored the Wildcats, 18-11 in the final eight minutes.
Even in the loss, McGraw said some positives did stand out for the head coach.
"Brandon plays extremely hard … he'll make some mistakes, but the effort he brings is something you can't pass up," McGraw said. "Also, Jacob Burns stepped up and gave us some offense."
Burns finished with eight points.
As for the early stages of the game, WHS trailed 13-10 after the first quarter with Ashbaugh scoring all 10 points for WHS, and at halftime they trailed 23-17. At the end of the third, the Wildcats trailed 42-36.
For the Jeeps, Shane Zimmerman led with 21 points, followed by Sean Lockhart with 14 points and Alek Blevins with 10.
The free-throw shooting saw WHS finish 2-of-9.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
SWHS 13 10 18 19 — 60
WHS 10 07 19 11 — 47
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
WHITEOAK (47) — K.Adams 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Marler 3 (0) 0-0 6, C.McClure 1 (0) 2-2 4, C.Carraher 2 (1) 0-0 7, B.Ashbaugh 8 (1) 0-4 19, J.Burns 3 (1) 0-1 9, T.Yeager 0 (0) 0-2 0. TOTALS: 18 (3) 2-9 47.
For the Wildcats, they are mostly all playing varsity basketball at a consistent rate for the first time in their careers, and though they did gain the lead in the third quarter, the South Webster Jeeps managed to run away in the fourth quarter, with WHS falling by a 60-47 score.
"We just at times don't play very smart basketball, honestly," McGraw said. "We'll make a turnover or miss a couple shots, and we'll get flustered and go foul a kid because it is in our head. We were angered, and our body language is bad right now.
"There are no excuses when you are 0-12. You can't have mental mistakes and mental breakdowns. That clearly is what's happened. Teams will press us, and we'll go 100 miles per hour and try to dribble through the press when we should be looking to pass out of it. We have our heads down when we should be looking down the court."
WIth that said, McGraw credited South Webster for their play on Saturday afternoon in the 2015 Dave Young Classic at North Adams High School.
"Credit South Webster … they have some physical kids, and we struggled boxing out again. We have to be able to get in there and be close in the rebounding margin, and we are just not. That's been the difference in a lot of games.
"It was a tough one, and one I thought we could be close in, even with getting the lead in the third … we just can't seem to score, get a stop and score again. We score, and our opponents will bounce back and hit a three. In practice we work on score, stop, score."
As for the third frame where the Wildcats battled to take the lead, it began with Brandon Ashbaugh scoring two points near the start of the quarter, followed by him later scoring two more points on a put-back bucket.
Ashbaugh led the Wildcats with 19 points.
Later in the quarter, Chase Carraher, who totaled seven points, sank a basket to bring WHS to within six points of tying the score at 29-23. Those points began a string of scoring by the Wildcats (who were listed as the home team), as Kyle Marler scored two points on a layup, and Ashbaugh sank a 3-pointer to get to within one point of the Jeeps at 29-28.
Marler made it a 9-0 run in a span of nearly two minutes by scoring two more points in the paint for a WHS lead of 30-29 with 3:26 left in the third.
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The lead didn't last long with the Jeeps regaining the advantage with free throws. WHS did take the lead back, but not for long with the Jeeps sinking two consecutive 3-pointers, ending the final 3:15 of the third with a 15-4 run.
The Jeeps led 42-36 after three frames and never let go of the lead again, as they outscored the Wildcats, 18-11 in the final eight minutes.
Even in the loss, McGraw said some positives did stand out for the head coach.
"Brandon plays extremely hard … he'll make some mistakes, but the effort he brings is something you can't pass up," McGraw said. "Also, Jacob Burns stepped up and gave us some offense."
Burns finished with eight points.
As for the early stages of the game, WHS trailed 13-10 after the first quarter with Ashbaugh scoring all 10 points for WHS, and at halftime they trailed 23-17. At the end of the third, the Wildcats trailed 42-36.
For the Jeeps, Shane Zimmerman led with 21 points, followed by Sean Lockhart with 14 points and Alek Blevins with 10.
The free-throw shooting saw WHS finish 2-of-9.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
SWHS 13 10 18 19 — 60
WHS 10 07 19 11 — 47
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
WHITEOAK (47) — K.Adams 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Marler 3 (0) 0-0 6, C.McClure 1 (0) 2-2 4, C.Carraher 2 (1) 0-0 7, B.Ashbaugh 8 (1) 0-4 19, J.Burns 3 (1) 0-1 9, T.Yeager 0 (0) 0-2 0. TOTALS: 18 (3) 2-9 47.