By Noah Dalton
Mitchell High School welcomed undefeated Indiana Basketball Coaches Association No. 16 ranked Linton-Stockton to The Hive on Friday, in what would prove to be a difficult matchup for the Bluejackets, as they were ultimately defeated 71-34.
Heading into what was perhaps the most difficult matchup of their season on paper, Mitchell head coach Jackson Ryan encouraged his team to focus more on learning from this game instead of the final score.
“You just tell the kids don’t worry about the score, worry about us and getting better. That’s all you can do,” he said.
The Miners started the game off scoring almost at will, knocking down 11/13 in the first quarter, on their way to outscoring the Bluejackets 24-9. Leading the charge early for Linton-Stockton was Universiry of Central Florida commit Joey Hart, who scored 14 points in the first quarter, shooting a perfect 7/7 from the floor.
Hart, who is currently ranked as the 25th best shooting guard in the country in the 2023 graduating class by 247sports, finished the game with 23 points on 84% shooting from the field.
On offense for Mitchell, their only scorer in the first was Ben Seitzinger, who knocked down three of his four shot attempts and hit both of his free-throw attempts.
Both offenses slowed in the second, but the Miners were able to continue extending their lead heading into halftime, entering the locker room up 59-22 over Mitchell. Brendan Tolliver and Dawson Irwin both got on the board in the quarter, each knocking down a shot, which accounted for the Bluejackets’ only points in the quarter.
Nearing the end of the third quarter, the IHSAA mercy rule was initiated, after Linton-Stockton’s lead surpassed the 35-point threshold, effectively ending the game, by forcing a non-stop clock until the final buzzer.
This is not the only matchup against one the top individual players in the country that the Bluejackets will have this season. On Dec. 17, Mitchell will take on Brownstown-Central, with Purdue commit Jack Benter, ranked as the 6th best shooting guard in the state in the 2024 class according to 247sports.
Looking ahead at that matchup, one of the lessons Ryan hopes his team learned from playing against Love and the Miners is to not let a team’s record or skill-level get into their head before a game, as he felt they seemed intimidated at points.
“The most frustrating thing was the intimidation factor. You look at the start of the game, we were down 11 to two, I think the lead got up to maybe 14, but just in warmups, you know, they’re dunking the ball and we’re standing at the other end looking down at them watching and intimidated and scared to death,” Ryan said.
“So that’s probably what I’m most disappointed in. We just we had to go play, regardless of the name on the front of the other team’s jersey. We’ve got to be ready and we want the mentality that no matter who’s coming in, it’s gonna be fine. And especially early on. We didn’t do that tonight,” he continued.
With this loss, Mitchell’s record on the year falls to 1-4, with a 1-1 record in Patoka Lake Athletic Conference play. They will take the floor again the next night, when they travel to Salem to take on the winless Lions (0-3).
“Two teams that are going to be very, very hungry to try to get that win. And we’ll see. Hopefully, I felt like we had a good week of practice. We’ll see if that that pays off tomorrow,” said Ryan. “I think that we’ll have a lead in the fourth quarter. And the question is, can we do what we need to do to sustain that this time around? So really excited to see if we’ve grown as much as I would like to think we have this week.”
In two of the team’s four losses this season, the Bluejackets carried leads into the second half of the games that they were not able to hold on to, eventually being defeated by both Springs Valley and Eastern Greene, due to late game comebacks.
Ryan said the team has focused on watching film, simulating late game scenarios and avoiding turnovers in practice throughout the week, in an effort to correct the errors that led to losses in those games.
Stats
Mitchell
- Brendan Tolliver – 4 points, 2/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Kale England – 4 points, 2/6 shooting, 0/1 FT, 1 rebound
- Ben Seitzinger – 11 points, 4/9 shooting, 2/2 FT, 2 rebounds
- Dawson Irwin – 3 points, 1/6 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Austin Mosier – 0 points, 0/4 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Bryson Shoults – 3 points, 1/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Austin Pridemore – 5 points, 2/7 shooting, 1/3 FT, 1 rebound
- Owen Modglin – 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Dawson Snow – 2 points, 1/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
Linton-Stockton
- Braden Walters – 4 points, 1/1 shooting, 2/2 FT, 4 rebounds
- Jackson Miller – 3 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Jamison Fields – 3 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Wrigley Franklin – 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 5 rebounds
- Hunter Gennicks – 3 points, 1/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Jaxon Walker – 0 points, 0/4 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Logan Webb – 15 points, 6/8 shooting, 1/4 FT, 5 rebounds
- Paul Oliver – 11 points, 4/7 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Joey Hart – 23 points, 11/13 shooting, 1/4 FT, 4 rebounds
- Hayden Feltner – 2 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Nathan Frady – 7 points, 3/4 shooting, 1/2 FT, 3 rebounds
