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Potentially vulnerable down the stretch after losing consecutive winnable games with poor fourth quarters, the Chillicothe High School basketball Hornets found themselves exposed to the same challenge – needing to finish strong to prevail – as they hosted the Maryville Spoofhounds in Midland Empire Conference play at home last night.
Instead of letting self-doubt undo them, the Hornets delivered several clutch plays to snap a 14-game MEC losing streak dating back to early February 2010, turning back the Spoofhounds 52-42 in front of another nice-sized turnout.
“I’m really, really happy for our guys,” Hornets head coach Tim Cool said of his players. “It’s big. …For them to bounce back after a tough loss, that shows a lot of character. They were ready to play and expected to do good things.”
In addition to squaring their league mark at 1-1, the victory also kept this year’s Hornets above .500 overall at 8-6.
“(Maryville’s) a good team,” the CHS coach insisted. “…I felt like we put four really good quarters together.”
Now the Chillicothe boys will try to again put four good periods together back to back, having a week to prepare for a road clash with Trenton next Tuesday as part of a varsity double-bill.
“That, by no means, is going to be anything easy,” Cool warned in post-game comments, noting THS’ Bulldogs have some upperclassmen who have played a lot for a year or two and are improved.
“We talked about being mentally ready after a tough loss, coming out and being ready to play tonight,” the coach recalled his pre-game charge to his squad. “Now our next challenge will be can we be ready after a big win.”
The Hornets and ’Hounds combined for six first-quarter 3-pointers, split evenly between them, but Maryville was a little hotter overall, producing a couple of extra deuces to lead 17-13. That matched its biggest lead of the game, a margin it had three times.
Chillicothe significantly sharpened its defense against the cutting, screening MHS offense in the second quarter and also improved its own ball security.
The combination meant extra scoring chances for the Hornets and they capitalized in a major way.
After netting the first four points of the second stanza to re-tie it, only to see the Spoofhounds counter with two point-blank baskets in 40 seconds, Chillicothe found a deep groove.
Beginning with two D.J. Gannan free throws at the 4:36 mark of the period, the Hornets went on a half-concluding 13-0 run.
Tyler Clampitt’s steal of an in-bounds pass and breakaway layup tied the score and Jacob McKiddy’s reverse layup off a penetrating Gannan’s pass put Chillicothe in front, 23-21, at the 2:55 mark.
David Hershberger then found trailer Tyler Midgyett on a fast break for a lay-in and, a minute later, Nic Voorhies fired to an open McKiddy above the key for his third 3-ball of the night. After yet another fruitless Maryville possession, Voorhies earned his second assist in a row and third of the half by finding Clampitt at the right block, where the sophomore hit a short turnaround 47 seconds before halftime. That made it 30-21, a lead Chillicothe took to the locker room.
“We got a couple of easy baskets – we got some stuff in transition – and I think, if you get an easy basket, you play a little better defense when you get back (to the other end). I think it adds a little bit to your step,” Cool assessed what
fueled the late-half charge.
“The guys really focused defensively. …Even if we hadn’t been scoring, the game would have still been okay because we were getting stops.”
Clampitt hit a fast-break layup off a Trevor Reger feed 29 seconds into the third quarter to push the gap to twin figures. A couple of minutes later, David Hershberger’s persistence in tracking the ball after it was tapped away from him at the high post led to him not only coming away with the ball, but in a position in the lane where he could step toward the bucket and hit a short shot for the game’s biggest lead yet, 36-24, with 5:40 on the third-period clock.
Maryville then gave the Hornets’ mental mettle, strained by consecutive dismal fourth quarters that led to wide losses, a test.
The Spoofhounds scored on three consecutive possessions while blanking the Hornets for three minutes. That halved the lead, but Chillicothe didn’t panic. Instead, it came up with the first of several pivotal plays which kept its focus positive.
After Jonathan Baker hit for the ’Hounds from the left wing, the Hornets in-bounded the ball quickly to Voorhies, who spied Clampitt having zipped ahead of the pack to the other end. A long pass allowed Clampitt an uncontested, left-side lay-in only seven seconds after Baker’s bucket, a quick turnaround Maryville had pulled on the Hornets a couple of times.
Had CHS not scored on that possession, subsequent hoops by Baker and Tyler Walter would have meant a 10-0 spurt by the visitors and a 2-point game in the final minute of the third stanza. Instead, the slight interruption of the run dulled some of its impact and meant it was still a multi-possession lead as the Hornets ran the clock down in the period.
Then came a series of clutch plays which put Maryville right back behind the 8-ball.
Potentially vulnerable down the stretch after losing consecutive winnable games with poor fourth quarters, the Chillicothe High School basketball Hornets found themselves exposed to the same challenge – needing to finish strong to prevail – as they hosted the Maryville Spoofhounds in Midland Empire Conference play at home last night.
Instead of letting self-doubt undo them, the Hornets delivered several clutch plays to snap a 14-game MEC losing streak dating back to early February 2010, turning back the Spoofhounds 52-42 in front of another nice-sized turnout.
“I’m really, really happy for our guys,” Hornets head coach Tim Cool said of his players. “It’s big. …For them to bounce back after a tough loss, that shows a lot of character. They were ready to play and expected to do good things.”
In addition to squaring their league mark at 1-1, the victory also kept this year’s Hornets above .500 overall at 8-6.
“(Maryville’s) a good team,” the CHS coach insisted. “…I felt like we put four really good quarters together.”
Now the Chillicothe boys will try to again put four good periods together back to back, having a week to prepare for a road clash with Trenton next Tuesday as part of a varsity double-bill.
“That, by no means, is going to be anything easy,” Cool warned in post-game comments, noting THS’ Bulldogs have some upperclassmen who have played a lot for a year or two and are improved.
“We talked about being mentally ready after a tough loss, coming out and being ready to play tonight,” the coach recalled his pre-game charge to his squad. “Now our next challenge will be can we be ready after a big win.”
The Hornets and ’Hounds combined for six first-quarter 3-pointers, split evenly between them, but Maryville was a little hotter overall, producing a couple of extra deuces to lead 17-13. That matched its biggest lead of the game, a margin it had three times.
Chillicothe significantly sharpened its defense against the cutting, screening MHS offense in the second quarter and also improved its own ball security.
The combination meant extra scoring chances for the Hornets and they capitalized in a major way.
After netting the first four points of the second stanza to re-tie it, only to see the Spoofhounds counter with two point-blank baskets in 40 seconds, Chillicothe found a deep groove.
Beginning with two D.J. Gannan free throws at the 4:36 mark of the period, the Hornets went on a half-concluding 13-0 run.
Tyler Clampitt’s steal of an in-bounds pass and breakaway layup tied the score and Jacob McKiddy’s reverse layup off a penetrating Gannan’s pass put Chillicothe in front, 23-21, at the 2:55 mark.
David Hershberger then found trailer Tyler Midgyett on a fast break for a lay-in and, a minute later, Nic Voorhies fired to an open McKiddy above the key for his third 3-ball of the night. After yet another fruitless Maryville possession, Voorhies earned his second assist in a row and third of the half by finding Clampitt at the right block, where the sophomore hit a short turnaround 47 seconds before halftime. That made it 30-21, a lead Chillicothe took to the locker room.
“We got a couple of easy baskets – we got some stuff in transition – and I think, if you get an easy basket, you play a little better defense when you get back (to the other end). I think it adds a little bit to your step,” Cool assessed what
fueled the late-half charge.
“The guys really focused defensively. …Even if we hadn’t been scoring, the game would have still been okay because we were getting stops.”
Clampitt hit a fast-break layup off a Trevor Reger feed 29 seconds into the third quarter to push the gap to twin figures. A couple of minutes later, David Hershberger’s persistence in tracking the ball after it was tapped away from him at the high post led to him not only coming away with the ball, but in a position in the lane where he could step toward the bucket and hit a short shot for the game’s biggest lead yet, 36-24, with 5:40 on the third-period clock.
Maryville then gave the Hornets’ mental mettle, strained by consecutive dismal fourth quarters that led to wide losses, a test.
The Spoofhounds scored on three consecutive possessions while blanking the Hornets for three minutes. That halved the lead, but Chillicothe didn’t panic. Instead, it came up with the first of several pivotal plays which kept its focus positive.
After Jonathan Baker hit for the ’Hounds from the left wing, the Hornets in-bounded the ball quickly to Voorhies, who spied Clampitt having zipped ahead of the pack to the other end. A long pass allowed Clampitt an uncontested, left-side lay-in only seven seconds after Baker’s bucket, a quick turnaround Maryville had pulled on the Hornets a couple of times.
Had CHS not scored on that possession, subsequent hoops by Baker and Tyler Walter would have meant a 10-0 spurt by the visitors and a 2-point game in the final minute of the third stanza. Instead, the slight interruption of the run dulled some of its impact and meant it was still a multi-possession lead as the Hornets ran the clock down in the period.
Then came a series of clutch plays which put Maryville right back behind the 8-ball.
