By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School picked up a win on Wednesday afternoon, beating White River Valley in the opening round of the first-ever Cement City Classic, a tournament hosted at The Hive.
The Bluejackets bested the Wolverines 51-44 thanks to a comeback effort in the second half, which saw them erase a deficit of as many as 20 points before eventually pulling away in the end.
White River Valley were able to stack up their lead with a dominant first quarter, where they finished the period with a 19-6 lead after scoring 11 unanswered points by the buzzer.
Their momentum continued into the second quarter, where they increased their lead to 20 points, 26-6, before Mitchell’s Bryson Shoults finally stopped the bleeding, putting his team on the board with a transition layup midway through the quarter.
The Bluejackets went on a run of their own, outscoring their opponents 13-5 to close out the half, though it paled in comparison to the Wolverine’s first-half showcase, where they shot a near-perfect 13/15 from the floor on their way to a commanding advantage.
Entering the locker room at halftime trailing by 15 was the outcome of a slow, low-energy start from Mitchell, according to head coach Jackson Ryan.
Ryan turned to his bench in the second quarter, finding the energy the team desperately needed in some unfamiliar faces. The shift in momentum was most clear on the defensive end for the Bluejackets, as they forced nine turnovers in the second quarter after earning just one in the first.
“Very frustrating when you come out flat, not ready to play, and that’s the bottom line. What happened first half was they knocked down shots, you know they were 13 of 15 from the field in the first half, but defensively we didn’t do anything to alter that. That’s just what happens when you come out, and you’re not ready to play,” Ryan said.
“We put some guys on from the bench, really just looking for effort and credit to kids like Connor Teague, Carl Chenault, Tate Woods and Aiden Pridemore for going in there and mixing it up and making stuff happen. And, it really gave us a big spark there, mid to late second quarter to try to chip away at things and really turn the tide of the momentum for the game.”
That shift in momentum carried into the third, with Mitchell chopping the lead down to eight by the end of the quarter.
In the fourth, the Bluejackets ripped off five more baskets to make it a one-possession game, after Wolverines’ senior Kobe Morehouse interrupted their push by scoring his team’s first field goal since around two minutes were remaining in the third.
A steal and transition layup from Shoults evened up the score for Mitchell at 41-41, before he hit a three on their next possession to give them their first lead of the game. That shot, along with another long-range make from Shoults later in the fourth, were the team’s only made three-pointers in the matchup on what was a tough night for the team from beyond the arc, where they shot just 13%.
Shoults, who led the team in scoring with 14, tallied 10 points in the fourth, as the Bluejackets managed to outscore White River Valley 20-5 in the final quarter to close out their comeback win.
“Bryson’s two threes in the fourth quarter, I mean, we could not throw a rock in the ocean today, and for him to step up and hit those two threes, finally taking the lid off of the basket for us was huge,” said Ryan. “And, we also started to finish inside a little bit more as well.”
Averting a difficult loss and emerging victorious in this first-round matchup was big for the Bluejackets, though they won’t have much time to digest this one, as they’ll return to the court at 7:30 p.m. the same night to take on New Washington.
Ryan feels his team’s depth, which was on full display this afternoon with 13 players entering the game for Mitchell at various points, will be the key for them in their second of two games on the day.
“I think a big strength of our team is depth, especially on a day like today with two games. I think you saw that depth in game one. Connor Teague, Carl Chenault, guys that maybe don’t normally get as many minutes got some pretty big minutes. So, just knowing that we have those guys that we can depend on if we need to and they already had those minutes today, so hopefully, our normal starters or normal rotation should be well-rested compared to what a normal game would look like,” Ryan said.
“But we’re gonna lean on our depth and we told the kids coming into today, that we’re going to try to give everyone an opportunity. And credit to, again, Connor Teague, Tate Woods, and Carl Chenault, for coming in and taking full advantage of that. Now I’ve got all the confidence in the world to throw them a bone tonight if we need to and it’s just a great luxury we have with our depth.”
Stats
Mitchell
- Austin Mosier: 4 points, 1/3 shooting, 2/2 FT, 1 rebound
- Dawson Irwin: 2 points, 1/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Ben Seitzinger: 12 points, 4/4 shooting, 4/4 FT, 7 rebounds
- Kale England: 4 points, 1/7 shooting, 2/2 FT, 4 rebounds
- Gavin Robinson: 7 points, 3/7 shooting, 1/2 FT, 2 rebounds
- Bryson Shoults: 14 points, 6/12 shooting, 0/2 FT, 1 rebound
- Aiden Pridemore: 4 points, 2/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Nate Robertson: 2 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Connor Teague: 2 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Tate Woods: 0 points, 0/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
White River Valley
- Trey Greenlee: 0 points, 0/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 6 rebounds
- Max Hostetter: 11 points, 5/9 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Lane Davis: 6 points, 2/3 shooting, 1/2 FT, 4 rebounds
- Kobe Morehouse: 16 points, 5/10 shooting, 4/6 FT, 5 rebounds
- Briar English: 7 points, 2/5 shooting, 2/6 FT, 2 rebounds
- Eli Noel: 2 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 4 rebounds
