By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL — On Friday, Mitchell High School played host to the opening of the second-ever Cement City Classic, a two-day tournament hosted at The Hive.
Competing in this year’s event are Pike Central, Franklin County, Shoals, White River Valley and the Bluejackets, who were last year’s champions.
At that event, Mitchell earned the trophy with an unbeaten run through the bracket. This time around, things are a bit different. For this year, the tournament has moved away from a bracket system, instead opting to have each of the team’s play three times, with the winner being the team with the best record in those games.
Regardless, the Bluejackets have set themselves up for success in their pursuit of a repeat, taking both of their games on Friday to begin play 2-0, toppling both Pike Central and Franklin County on the day.
They started their day with a 75-47 win over Pike Central, a game in which they managed to control the lead for nearly the entire duration of play, aside from the Chargers getting ahead in the early minutes as the sides exchanged first baskets.
Shortly after that, Mitchell returned to the court for their battle against the Wildcats, another game that they won with a convincing final score, this time 78-62, though things weren’t nearly as comfortable for them the second time around.
After getting down by double digits in the first quarter, Franklin County caught fire in the closing minutes of the period, knocking down five threes in that short span. Led by Ezra Kolb, who was a perfect 4/4 beyond the arc in the quarter, they managed to take the lead down to just one point heading into the second.
From there, the Bluejackets managed to regain breathing room after scoring 12 unanswered points to start the quarter, ultimately closing the first half once again up double digits, 44-33.
Down but not quite yet out, the Wildcats made another run in the third, reducing the lead down to two points, but once again, Mitchell regained their composure and went on a run of their own to close the third with a healthy lead, which they maintained through the fourth to close it out.
After watching film to prepare for the tournament, Bluejackets head coach Clint Roesler said he was expecting Franklin County to come in and shoot the ball well from outside, something they did particularly well during their first and third quarter runs that kept the game within reach for them.
They finished the night 12/38 from deep, knocking down eight threes combined in the first and third periods.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was a little worried coming into this game. They’re athletic, they’re long. Obviously, everybody knows now they shoot the ball really, really well. We knew they had some shooters on the team and they shot lights out against us,” said Roesler.
“They just kept fighting and kept fighting. That’s a quality basketball team that we just beat and I thought it was closer than it should have been just because of their ability to shoot the ball.”
Offensively for Mitchell, the two games served as some of the best showcases of their potential on that side of the ball this season, with the 78 points scored against the Wildcats being their season-high thus far.
They not only scored in volume in both games, but they did so efficiently, shooting 54% as a team for the day.
Roesler felt the team’s recent loss to Salem exposed a weakness in their game, that being their ability to score against certain defensive schemes.
He felt their high-scoring performances against Pike Central and Franklin County showed their improvement in the couple of weeks that followed that loss to the Lions.
“As much as we want to forget about the Salem game, it exists on film and people have it and when they want to know what happened in that game, they see Salem ran a 2-3 zone. So, teams that maybe don’t match up well against us or teams that maybe are trying to look for some sort of an edge, they’re like, hey, let’s try this 2-3 zone,” he said.
“Now this is on film. Go ahead and run that 2-3 zone, we can score against that. Go ahead and run a 3-2, we can score against that. Go ahead and run a 1-3-1, we can score against that. It makes us really tough to scout and credit to our guys for everything that we try to do as a program.”
The Bluejackets will be back early Saturday for an 11:00 a.m. tip-off against Shoals, before they’ll close the event at 2:00 p.m. against White River Valley. In between those games, Franklin County will take on Pike Central at 12:30 p.m.
The game between the Bluejackets and White River Valley to close the event will not count toward the tournament standings.
With their 2-0 record after the first day, Mitchell is in the lead, with Pike Central, White River Valley and Franklin County sitting behind them at 1-1 and Shoals at 0-2.
Box Scores
Vs Pike Central
Mitchell Stats
Points: 75 | FGM: 32/65 | FG%: 49.23% | 3PM: 7/17 | 3P%: 41.18% | FTM: 4/11 | FT%: 36.36% | Rebounds: 42 | Team Turnovers:
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 6 | FGM: 3/4 | FG%: 75.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 6
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/4 | FG%: 25.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/2 | FT%: 0.00% | Rebounds: 7
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 23 | FGM: 10/19 | FG%: 52.63% | 3PM: 2/7 | 3P%: 28.57% | FTM: 1/1 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 7
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 8 | FGM: 3/9 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 1/2 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 4
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 12 | FGM: 5/12 | FG%: 41.67% | 3PM: 2/4 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 5
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 12 | FGM: 6/8 | FG%: 75.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/1 | FT%: 0.00% | Rebounds: 6
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: 5 | FGM: 2/2 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 1/3 | FT%: 33.33% | Rebounds: 1
#21 Garrett Floerke – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: 1/2 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
#30 Blake King – Points: 1 | FGM: 0/2 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 4
#11 Logan Kender – Points: 3 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 1/2 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
Pike Central stats
Points: 47 | FGM: 18/52 | FG%: 34.62% | 3PM: 7/23 | 3P%: 30.43% | FTM: 4/8 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 22 | Team Turnovers: 11
Individual Player Stats for Pike Central:
#10 Conner Loveless – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/3 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/2 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#22 Jiles Mason – Points: 17 | FGM: 7/18 | FG%: 38.89% | 3PM: 3/10 | 3P%: 30.00% | FTM: 0/2 | FT%: 0.00% | Rebounds: 10
#40 Caden Fausnaugh – Points: | FGM: / | FG%: 0% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 2
#1 Lane Fredrick – Points: 9 | FGM: 4/8 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 1/2 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 0
#5 Nate Davis – Points: 10 | FGM: 3/13 | FG%: 23.08% | 3PM: 1/5 | 3P%: 20.00% | FTM: 3/4 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 6
#0 Braxton Maxey – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/2 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/2 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#2 Eli Keeker – Points: 9 | FGM: 3/6 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 2/2 | 3P%: 100.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 0
#13 Kody Carter – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
Vs Franklin County
Mitchell Stats
Points: 78 | FGM: 30/50 | FG%: 60.00% | 3PM: 3/12 | 3P%: 25.00% | FTM: 15/22 | FT%: 68.18% | Rebounds: 37 | Team Turnovers: 10
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 17 | FGM: 7/11 | FG%: 63.64% | 3PM: /0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 3/4 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 5
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 17 | FGM: 7/13 | FG%: 53.85% | 3PM: 3/9 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 5
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 7 | FGM: 3/4 | FG%: 75.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 6
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 6 | FGM: 1/4 | FG%: 25.00% | 3PM: /1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 4/4 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 5
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 27 | FGM: 10/14 | FG%: 71.43% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 7/12 | FT%: 58.33% | Rebounds: 15
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/3 | FG%: 33.33% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
Franklin County stats:
Points: 62 | FGM: 23/72 | FG%: 31.94% | 3PM: 12/38 | 3P%: 31.58% | FTM: 2/3 | FT%: 66.67% | Rebounds: 28 | Team Turnovers: 10
Individual Player Stats for Franklin County:
#5 Landon Johnson – Points: 17 | FGM: 6/12 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 4/8 | 3P%: 50.00% | FTM: 1/1 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 2
#10 Isaiah Kemp – Points: 9 | FGM: 3/12 | FG%: 25.00% | 3PM: 1/8 | 3P%: 12.50% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#12 Quinn Gillman – Points: | FGM: / | FG%: 0% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 8
#22 Nick Vanoven – Points: 10 | FGM: 4/15 | FG%: 26.67% | 3PM: 1/8 | 3P%: 12.50% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 4
#23 Brady Foster – Points: 4 | FGM: 2/7 | FG%: 28.57% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 6
#25 Carson Allen – Points: 10 | FGM: 4/17 | FG%: 23.53% | 3PM: 2/7 | 3P%: 28.57% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#30 Ezra Kolb – Points: 12 | FGM: 4/7 | FG%: 57.14% | 3PM: 4/7 | 3P%: 57.14% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4
#33 Evan Flaspohler – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/2 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
