Rebounding and offensive struggles derailed Cardington when the Pirates took on Danville Friday night in a battle of KMAC foes.
The host Pirates (2-10, 1-8 in league play) battled back in the second quarter to turn a six-point deficit into a 26-26 tie, but could only score 17 points over the final 16 minutes of action in suffering a 54-43 loss.
While the team’s defense did its part to ensure Danville equally struggled to hit shots, they weren’t able to keep the Blue Devils off the boards.
“We had a lot of chaos going on defensively,” said head coach Ryan Treese. “We forced them into bad shots, but they got offensive rebounds.”
The coach noted that Danville’s Walker Weckesser, who led the team with 20 points, really hurt his squad under the basket.
“He went off tonight,” said Treese. “He had two the first time we played them and went off for 20 and probably had 10 offensive rebounds.”
The Pirates got off to a slow start in the game. While A.J. Brehm had four points and Journey Williamson added a three-pointer, the team was held to seven points and found themselves in a 13-7 hole after eight minutes. Treese felt his team’s shot selection wasn’t bad — they just weren’t able to make those shots fall.
“I looked at our shot chart and we had more looks in the paint, but weren’t finishing them. We were expecting to get blocked or fouled, so we were altering our shots.”
Cardington would rally in the second quarter. Trailing 18-9, the team got a three from Connor Mcle that was followed by a free throw from Nate Hickman, who made his return from an injury that cost him a handful of weeks, and another Mcle three to make it a two-point game.
The teams would trade scores the rest of the period, but Cardington would get the last laugh when a last-second Brehm three-pointer tied the game at 26.
Unfortunately, they would not be able to hold the momentum into the third quarter. After the teams traded baskets to open the period, Danville scored six straight to regain the lead and would not relinquish it the rest of the game.
The score was 39-33 going into the fourth. After a Weckesser free throw opened the period, Cardington got a bucket from Brehm to get within five at 40-35, but wouldn’t get any closer.
Five straight points by Danville made it a 10-point margin. With the score 47-37, Williamson scored four straight to make it a six-point game with 4:13 remaining, but the Pirates only could muster two points the rest of the way in falling by 11.
Treese noted the game was closer than the final score due to his team’s late struggles, as well as having to foul Danville to extend the contest.
“Tonight was a 10-point game, but not really a 10-point game,” he said. “We had to play the foul game, so it was more like six points.”
Cardington got 15 points from Brehm, while Williamson scored 11 and Mcle added 10. While Hickman was still limited and didn’t see much court time, Treese is looking forward to re-integrating his most experienced varsity player with a team mostly consisting of underclassmen.
“He’s still not there — he’s a little timid catching the ball,” said Treese. “But his presence helped us. He was getting face guarded. I think the kids look up to him a lot and believe when he’s on the court that they’re better.”
