Central boys struggle during 0-3 week
Dan McGreal takes the ball up the court in last week’s match-up with the Pirates. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Corey Weber snags a pass during Central’s narrow 44-40 loss to Postville.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Central boys basketball team suffered another tough week, dropping all three games.
The Warriors took on Central City in the first game, controlling the first half and even taking a 23-21 lead into halftime. It was a different story as the Wildcats came out of the locker room, however, as they quickly went on an 8-0 run and, by the end of the third period, led the Warriors 37-33. Central ended up losing 53-41.
Tate Berns fouling out in the fourth period hurt the team’s interior defense and rebounding ability, in addition to low shooting percentages across the board, contributed to the defeat.
“Central City capitalized on our inability to rebound, and hit more late game shots than we did. Our shooting percentages across the board were not good, but our half court defense kept us in the game for most the of the night. Unfortunately, rebounds and some untimely turnovers were too much to overcome,” said coach Brady Stramer.
The Warriors shot 31.4 percent from the floor, just 19 percent on three pointers and took only six free throws, compared to 19 for the Wildcats. It’s a disparity Stramer blamed on a lack of aggression on the offensive side of the ball.
“I felt like we settled for a lot of perimeter shots when there were opportunities to get the ball inside, whether by the pass or the dribble drive. We will continue to stress the importance of getting the ball inside the paint moving forward,” he added.
The offense was led by Dan McGreal, who scored 20 points and shot 44.4 percent from the field. McGreal also had five rebounds, one assist and one steal. Corey Weber was next with 11 points, shooting 27.8 percent, and finished with six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Two players, Seth Bena and Caden Erickson, both finished with five points.
In the second game of the week, the Warriors faced Midland, never scoring more than eight points in any period and losing 53-19.
Central was again undone by turnovers, finishing with 20, and only shot one free throw. The team was also 0-15 on three pointers and shot just 20.9 percent from the field.
McGreal led the team with eight points, while Bena added five and Berns four.
“Midland played an extended zone and we were unable to get paint touches, and didn’t capitalize often enough when we did. We were stagnant in the half court for the majority of the game, which made us very easy to guard,” Stramer said. “This was our lowest offensive output of the season and there are several reasons for that, but in general, we lacked the level of focus and execution on the offensive end that is required to be competitive.”
In the final game of the week, the Warriors had an opportunity to defeat Postville, but as Stramer explained it, “continued struggles to take care of the ball ended up costing us.”
He was referring to the team’s 25 turnovers, which has been an ongoing issue. On top of that, Stramer added, “shooting 33 percent from the field, 24 percent from three and 33 percent from the free throw line are all statistics that are hard to win with.”
So, despite taking a 34-32 lead into the fourth period, the Warriors ended up losing 44-40 and were held to just six points in the fourth period.
Four players scored eight points, including Weber, Erickson, McGreal and Berns. The Warriors finished with 39 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals.
The Warriors are now 1-10, with that win coming in the first game of the season in November. When asked about the team mentality, Stramer said, “Our mentality is to continue to improve both individually and collectively. We are certainly all disappointed with our win/loss column to this point in the season. We understand some of our troubles have been within our control and some have not, but feeling sorry for ourselves isn’t going to bring any solutions or improvements.”
“We have to continue to stress the importance of the process, and show up each day and get better until we have done it enough times that we see different results on the court,” he added. “Our guys have continued to remain coachable and that is a big testament to their character. We look forward to continuing to improve as the season continues to progress.”
The season continues with two games this week. First, the Warriors welcome West Central (2-7) on Jan. 11, then play at Kee (6-5) on Jan. 14.
