By Noah Dalton
After their last game, a 31-point loss to conference opponent Paoli, it felt as though things almost had to get to better for Mitchell High School.
Sitting with 10 losses in 13 games this season heading into Saturday’s matchup against South Central (Elizabeth), it was vital for The Bluejackets to, at the very least, look like an improved team in this game.
And though by the end of things, Mitchell added another loss to their record on the year, it would be hard to come away from the game saying they didn’t at least look like a better team then what they showed against the Rams on Friday.
Starting the fourth quarter trailing by 10, the Bluejackets fought back hard to bring it within two with around a minute left to play, before ultimately falling 60-56 when all was said and done.
“We really challenged the kids today. Not that we didn’t compete last night, but I thought it wasn’t up to our standard or what our standard should be with Mitchell basketball, and we just really challenged the kids to set the tone defensively and physically and trying to get into them and speed them up. And I thought we did that,” Mitchell head coach Jackson Ryan said of his team’s performance after the game.
South Central’s Cole Thomas kicked things off, knocking down a three in the first quarter to put up the first points of the game. Mitchell responded quickly though, going on a 6-0 to early control of the game.
Though the Rebels would find a few more buckets before the end of the quarter, the Bluejackets matched them for each one to carry a 12-8 lead into the second.
Both teams shot a similar field goal percentage in the period, though Mitchell’s was just a notch better at 44% to South Central’s 33%.
It was turnovers that were the difference maker in favor of the Bluejackets this time around. Coming off their most recent game against Paoli where they turned the ball over eight time in the first quarter, Mitchell did a much better job securing ball in this matchup, giving the ball up just three times in the first, while forcing six takeaways from the Rebels.
South Central got hot from three early in the second quarter, hitting each of their three deep attempts, including back-to-back triples from Tanner Smith. Smith was also fouled on another three-point attempt, where he converted two of his tries from the stripe.
The Rebels had taken the lead after those threes, but the Bluejackets kept the game close, with a three of their own from Kale England, along with baskets from Ben Seitzinger and Aiden Pridemore. At the half, Mitchell trailed 27-23.
Thomas led all scorers with 12 at halftime. Seitzinger was the top scorer for Mitchell after two with nine.
South Central came out of the locker room for the second half hot, going on a quick 7-0 run to start the third quarter, propelling them to a double-digit lead. Christian Kiper was huge for the Rebels in the third, scoring 11 points in the quarter, while missing just one of his five field goal attempts.
The Bluejackets would break their scoreless run with around five minutes left in the period thanks to a layup from England. They got a big third quarter from Pridemore, who scored seven points while knocking down each of his three shots. It simply just wasn’t enough to keep up with Kiper and the Rebels, who shot an impressive 63% from the floor as a team in the third to bring a 10-point lead into final quarter.
Mitchell battled back in the fourth, with a quick four points from Dawson Irwin to kick things off, reducing South Central’s lead to four.
The Rebels then got back-to-back baskets, a mid-range jumper from Kiper and a transition layup from Caden Bogan to once again put them back up double digits.
The Bluejackets were not yet out of the game though, with two big consecutive buckets from Bryson Shoults bringing the game back within two possessions with close to six minutes left to play.
Next, Thomas, who ended the night the game’s leading scorer with 23, finished a layup for South Central, but momentum was on Mitchell’s side, as they managed to swing a 6-0 run in the next minute-and-a-half with a three from Brendan Tolliver, a made free-throw from Austin Mosier and a steal by Pridemore leading to a transition layup by Tolliver.
With the score at 52-50 with just around 1:50 left to play and the home crowd behind them, the Bluejackets were in position to potentially take the lead late in the game.
After a made free-throw from Thomas, Mitchell had an opportunity to tie the game; an open three from Pridemore, who had come up big for the team throughout the game. Unfortunately, the shot, which would have blown the roof off The Hive had it gone in, barely rimmed out and South Central grabbed the board, with Thomas once again making the trip to the line after an intentional foul, where he made both shots.
With the lead at four and 54 seconds left on the clock, a comeback was still possible, though difficult. Their next possession, Mitchell turned the ball over after a costly travel.’
Though Mitchell got two three-pointers in the final minute from Irwin, they were not enough to counteract the need to intentionally foul to stop the clock and the free-throws that came along with that, which gave the Rebels six points down the stretch to match them.
Ryan was pleased with his team’s effort on the night and their ability to keep the game close down the stretch, especially with them having trailed by more than 10 at points in the third.
“You know, unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way a couple times. And you could go back to the beginning of the third quarter and say, coulda, shoulda, woulda when they went on a little run and bumped it up to 15. But, credit to our guys for sticking together and riding the storm and competing until the very end. And the one thing that we wanted to have as a goal tonight was to play with passion. And I thought that that we did that tonight for 32 minutes,” said Ryan.
For them to remain in this game, the Bluejackets needed multiple members of the team to step up tonight. This game saw a variety of guys rise to the occasion and help keep things close.
Whether it was clutch points in the fourth from Tolliver and Shoults, threes down the stretch from Irwin, forced turnovers late and a big third quarter from Pridemore or crucial early game points from Seitzinger, this game displayed a team effort.
“Again, really challenged our guys. Whether it was individually or as a whole, and you know, Bryson Shoults was one of them that didn’t play his best game at Paoli last night, but came in and with a chip on his shoulder and played aggressive and with confidence and that’s what we need out of him because he’s a very capable kid. I thought Brendan Tolliver, same thing. We really challenged him and he did a great job defensively on (Thomas) and (Kiper), when he was on him, and offensively just played within himself. And that’s exactly what we need from him,” Ryan said.
“But I could go up and down the line about every one of our kids tonight. And I thought that everybody battled and it’s something that hopefully we can we can build on. I think that we now know how to play, it’s just now learning how to win ballgames. And once we do that, we can turn the corner and we’re going to be a pretty good ballclub. It’s just going to take time,” he continued.
With their record now at 3-11 on the season, Mitchell will make the short trip to Bedford for the next game, where they will take on county rival Bedford North Lawrence (5-4). When the two played last year, the Stars thumped the Bluejackets by a huge margin of 65-31.
This time around, Ryan hopes to see his team keep improving and carry this momentum forward into against BNL, hopefully keeps things a bit closer between the two teams.
“I mean, obviously, for the kids, it’s one that they look forward to every year. What they did to us here on our home floor last year was embarrassing, but credit to them and I’m sure they’re going to be fired up and ready for us to come and play on their home floor. And bottom line, we’ve just got to get better this week. If we compete and play with the same effort and energy that we had tonight and carry that into that game, that atmosphere, that rivalry that’s all I can ask for,” he said.
“They’re gonna be they’re a tough matchup with the (Colten) Leach kid and with (Colton) Staggs as well that’s a huge one, two punch and as we found out last year, you surround those guys with shooters and if you pack the paint like we did, they make you pay for it, so it’s definitely a pick your poison for them. But luckily, we’ve got a week to prepare and hopefully figure some some things out and continue this momentum, this positivity that we have right now into the next game.”
Stats
Mitchell
- Dawson Irwin – 8 points, 3/5 shooting, 2/2 FT, 1 rebound
- Austin Mosier – 1 point, 0/6 shooting, 1/2 FT, 1 rebound
- Ben Seitzinger – 13 points, 5/14 shooting, 2/3 FT, 3 rebounds
- Kale England – 7 points, 3/7 shooting, 0/0 FT, 4 rebounds
- Bryson Shoults – 5 points, 2/2 shooting, 1/3 FT, 2 rebounds
- Brendan Tolliver – 7 points, 3/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Aiden Pridemore – 11 points, 5/8 shooting, 0/2 FT, 2 rebounds
- Gavin Robinson – 2 points, 1/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
South Central (Elizabeth)
- Jarrett Ferree – 2 points, 0/1 shooting, 2/2 FT, 4 rebounds
- Christian Kiper – 15 points, 5/9 shooting, 4/6 FT, 3 rebounds
- Ty Jones – 3 points, 1/1 shooting, 1/2 FT, 5 rebounds
- Cole Thomas – 23 points, 6/11 shooting, 9/11 FT, 5 rebounds
- Ethan Hedden – 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Tanner Smith – 13 points, 4/5 shooting, 2/3 FT, 0 rebounds
- Caden Bogan – 4 points, 2/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Kole Stewart – 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
