By Noah Dalton
SCOTTSBURG – Friday was Mitchell High School’s last game of the regular season, as the Bluejackets traveled to Scottsburg to take on the Warriors, the state’s top-ranked team at the 3A level.
On paper, this appeared to be one of the tougher matchups of the season for Mitchell and it proved to be on the court, as Scottsburg were victorious 67-29.
The Warriors took an early seven-point lead, holding the Bluejackets scoreless for the first four minutes of play until an inside look from senior Ben Seitzinger gave Mitchell their first points of the game.
Things proceeded slowly in the first, with Scottsburg’s defense closing off all available options, as the Bluejackets played patiently through long possessions waiting for daylight and rarely getting it. They scored six in the quarter, all coming from Seitzinger, but trailed by nine thanks to a nearly-perfect 5/6 period from the field for the Warriors, who quickly took advantage of any opportunity.
It was the second quarter where Scottsburg ascended, further tightening their already smothering defense to force eight turnovers after they earned just one in the first and going on a 21-2 run that encompassed much of the period.
They took a 27-point lead into the half, which became a 35-point lead just a few minutes into the third, triggering a running clock for the remainder of the game.
With sectionals and their opening-round matchup with South Knox looming on Feb. 28, Bluejackets’ head coach Jackson Ryan was looking for this matchup to help them prepare by giving them one final look at top-level competition.
In the loss, he said he was pleased with the way the team executed offensively early on, showing patience as they waited for the right looks at the basket.
“Offensively, I know people are gonna look at the score and think I’m crazy, but I was very proud. We challenged them to show poise and to execute and make them guard until we got a great look for us, and I thought we did that. Unfortunately, we had a couple of shots in the middle of a zone, a couple wide open threes from the guard stepping in that we just missed in the first half, making those would have cut into that lead a little bit. So, it was good to see,” Ryan said.
Ryan also gave credit to the Warriors, who made it all the way to the semi-state championship last year with largely the same group, saying he thinks they could go even further into the tournament this time around.
“You’ve got to give a ton of credit to Scottsburg, that’s a special group. They made a trip to semi-state last year and returned everybody back and they’re looking to make a deep run to Indianapolis, and from what I saw tonight, they’re very capable of doing that,” said Ryan.
Mitchell ends their regular season with a 12-11 record, a noticeable improvement from their 6-17 efforts last season.
Last season the Bluejackets managed to win the program’s first postseason game in 12 years, beating North Knox in the opening round of sectional play before ultimately falling to 2A state runners-up Linton-Stockton in the next round.
Looking to build off that improvement and make a deeper run in the tournament this year, Ryan said the team will need to rebound from this loss and prepare to take on a tough Spartans team next week.
“We take it one step at a time. Tonight on, we’re gonna turn the page after this loss tonight and we’re looking to take step one. And, South Knox is a very tough, physical, disciplined team. They’re going to grind out possessions, and they’re gonna throw the ball inside and really challenge us physically and from I’ve seen from us, playing teams like that like a Shoals, Like a Perry (Central), I think we can win possession-by-possession ballgames like that,” he said.
“I would love to be able to push the pace as much as we can because I think depth-wise and skill-wise, there’s an advantage there for us. So, if we can capitalize on that, I think I think we’ve got a great opportunity Wednesday to start our road to a sectional on a very high note.”
Stats
Mitchell
- Austin Mosier: 5 points, 2/8 shooting, 0/0 FT, 4 rebounds
- Dawson Irwin: 4 points, 2/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Ben Seitzinger: 6 points, 3/8 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Kale England: 2 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Gavin Robinson: 4 points, 1/4 shooting, 2/4 FT, 1 rebound
- Bryson Shoults: 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Aiden Pridemore: 2 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/1 FT, 1 rebound
- Nate Robertson: 2 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Carl Chenault: 1 point, 0/0 shooting, 1/2 FT, 0 rebounds
- Connor Teague: 3 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
Scottsburg
- Caden Richardson: 4 points, 2/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Jack Miller: 16 points, 5/8 shooting, 4/4 FT, 3 rebounds
- Wyatt Zellers: 10 points, 4/7 shooting, 1/2 FT, 6 rebounds
- Kody Clancey: 14 points, 6/8 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Dare Bowles: 14 points, 5/11 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Caden Howell: 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Garrett Boling: 8 points, 3/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Matthew Wickey: 1 point, 0/1 shooting, 1/2 FT, 0 rebounds
- Braden Cox: 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
