Turnover struggles leave Central boys basketball team 1-2
Ashton Burroughs finished with a game-high 23 points in Central’s win over West Central. He drained five of 13 shots from three-point range and nine of 18 from the floor, while adding seven rebounds, a block and two steals. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Corey Weber defends a Kee player in Central’s 66-57 loss to the Hawks.
Parker Vaughn skirts around a Kee defender in last week’s home game.
Dan McGreal contributed seven points in the Warriors' win over West Central.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Central boys basketball team started the season off with a win last week, before dropping back to back games due to slow starts and failing to find a rhythm at either end of the court.
In the season opener against West Central, the Warriors came out flat and found themselves down 19-13 heading into the half. But, according to coach Brady Stramer, the team “reset mentally at half” to overcome the slow start and prospered after making some defensive adjustments and because of the shooting of senior Ashton Burroughs, who finished with a game-high 23 points.
While the rest of the team struggled from the field, Burroughs drained five of 13 shots from three-point range and nine of 18 from the floor, while adding seven rebounds, one block and two steals in the Warriors’ 39-29 victory.
“Ashton brings us a spark off of the bench that is extremely important to our success. In our first two games, he showed great confidence and willingness to shoot the basketball, which is what we want, and him to do. However, his defensive quickness and overall activity has been just as valuable, even though that doesn’t always show up in the stats,” Stramer said.
The game was also won with a collective effort on the defensive side of the ball, which held the Blue Devils to just 10 points in the second half. The Warriors finished with 27 defensive rebounds, 11 steals and one block and forced 23 turnovers.
Leading the way was Elliot Kelly with 14 rebounds and three steals, while Dan McGreal had five rebounds and one steal and Parker Vaughn finished with five rebounds and one steal.
Central also held the Blue Devils to just 23.5 percent shooting from the field and kept West Central’s deep ball in check, allowing just one three pointer on 17 attempts.
Offensively, Burroughs led the way, but Kelly added seven points on 3-6 shooting, while McGreal also had seven points, going 3-12 from the field.
Despite the victory, the team shot just 21.4 percent from the free throw line, going 3-14, and was only 28.8 percent from the field. The Warriors also turned the ball over 24 times.
Heading into the next game versus Kee, the Warriors knew they needed to improve some of those statistics and, for the most part they did. However, another flat start and better free throw shooting from the Hawks had Central losing 66-57.
“While the results don’t suggest it, I felt our overall performance against Kee was a big step forward from our opener,” Stramer said.
Even though the Warriors lost, they remained competitive against Kee’s senior heavy lineup, putting in “great effort and executed well,” noted Stramer. After starting the game down 8-2, Central was within one point, at 58-57, with two minutes remaining in the game, but the Hawks made the pressure shots. The Warriors were forced to start fouling to stop the clock, and the Hawks knocked the free throws, ending Central’s hopes of victory.
“Our guys showed resilience all game long. It seemed like every time Kee made a couple of baskets in a row, we were able to respond with a bucket of our own. It was truly a back and forth battle throughout the game. Unfortunately for us, Kee was able to execute better down the stretch, which turned out to be the difference in the game,” Stramer said.
McGreal led the Warrior offense with 22 points, going 8-13 shooting with a 61.5 percent clip from the floor. McGreal, who has embraced the leadership role this season, also had 10 rebounds, one assist and one block. Vaughn finished the game with nine points, four rebounds and two assists, while Burroughs had seven points and three assists.
As a team, the Warriors shot 38.5 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from the free throw line, both improvements over the season opener.
The defense, while not as successful at holding the Hawks in check, forced six turnovers, one block and three steals.
One area where the Warriors continued to struggle was turnovers, committing 15.
The final game of the week, an 81-40 loss to Springville, was highlighted by the turnover struggle. The Warriors fell victim to the Orioles’ extended 2-3 defense, which forced 29 Central turnovers, an amount Stramer said was “too high of a rate…to remain competitive.”
“We struggled to execute on both ends of the court, and Springville shot an excellent percentage from the field because of it. While we never truly got into a rhythm on the offensive end, we did do a better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, which was good to see. We will continue to focus on not turning the ball over as we move into our next games,” Stramer added.
The Warriors, playing without leading scorer Burroughs, were quickly overwhelmed by the Orioles. They were down 45-18 at the half and never recovered.
The Central offense was held to just 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 16.7 percent on three pointers, finishing 2-12. Leading the offense in scoring was Kelly with 17 points, followed by Seth Bena with 11 and McGreal with 10.
On defense, the Warriors finished with six steals and one block and forced 16 turnovers, but couldn’t slow down the Orioles offense, which made 34 of 73 total shots. For contrast, the Warriors shot the ball just 40 times, making 15 of them.
The 1-2 Warriors, who won’t have practice this week, now face a difficult three-game stretch that starts at home on Dec. 6 against 2-0 Maquoketa Valley. They will then head to 1-1 Clayton Ridge on Dec. 7, before returning home for a Dec. 10 game versus 0-2 North Fayette Valley.
