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Mississinawa
Valley senior Colyn Nelson hits for two of his game high
points Friday as the Blackhawks
pounded Ansonia 56-29 in Cross County
Conference action. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Ansonia no
match for visiting Blackhawks
Geesy a workhorse for MV
By George Starks
ANSONIA- When Mississinawa Valley and Ansonia hook up in any sport, it
usually becomes a battle.
Friday was not the case.
With both teams coming in to the Cross County Conference opener fresh
off losses (M-V a 61-47 loss to Union City and Ansonia losing to
Bradford, 55-44), the tale of the tape looked to be a pretty even match.
Coyln Nelson dropped in 21 points while Ethan Bowman added 11 to lead
the Blackhawks to a 56-29 victory over host Ansonia.
Even with two solid scoring performances, it was a typical Tim Barga
defense that turned the trick.
Holding the Tigers to 20 first half points and holding a 34-20 lead,
the Hawks allowed only nine points in the third frame then threw a
shutout in the fourth to record a 27 point victory.
“Our defense played well, there’s no doubt” said Barga after the game.
“We collapsed a couple of times in the second quarter. We explained to
them at half-time, not to go out so far. We played their game. They
wanted us to come out so they could get better passes and get more open
shots. So we backed in and that helped in the long run.”
In the first 16 minutes, the Hawks displayed good ball control with
solid passes, keeping the Tigers defense constantly moving.
We have a little experience out front. We have three seniors that are
very good with the ball,” said the Hawks coach. “They know each other
pretty well out there and that helps out all the more. They all seem to
know what the other one is going to do so they can pass the ball before
the other one gets to the spot.”
With Nelson and Bowman doing the bulk of the scoring, it was senior
Dalton Geesy that set the tone on both ends of the floor.
Acting like a bottle of Windex, Geesy kept the glass clean for the
Hawks.
Unofficially, Geesy pulled down 15 rebounds with seven on the offensive
glass and chipping in eight points in support.
“He got rebounds on offense, put them back up, miss it and put them
back up again, eventually scoring,” quipped Barga. “Last year, those
shots might have went over the backboard. He has come that far in a
year. He’s come a long way and he is a positive light for us on the
floor. We have a lot of confidence in him right now. He’s the muscle
inside for us. There’s no doubt about it.”
With the adage that offense wins games and defense wins championships,
Barga talked about the importance of rebounding.
“Rebounding is the key to winning a lot of games,” added Barga. “We
have severl kids out there that can jump and get key rebounds. Devon
Rinderle, Ethan (Bowman) and Colyn (Nelson) can all get up and I think
we all seen that. We got a lot of rebounds but they knocked a lot of
them out of our hands.”
Holding a 14 point lead at the break, the Hawks got a bit of a scare to
start the third.
Ansonia senior, Dane Wentworth caught fire, hitting three treys,
closing the gap from a 37-20 deficit to 37-29 with 4:12 left in the
frame.
At that point Barga had seen enough, calling for time and getting the
troops back on the same page.
“I try to tell the kids that a lot of games are decided in the first
three minutes of the third quarter,” Barga pointed out. “We made a lot
of mistakes to start the quarter and they took advantage of them. So
we’ve got to watch what we’re doing.”
The nine points by Wentworth would be the final points of the night for
Ansonia as the Hawks would shut the scoring door.
Even with the lopsided final score, Ansonia coach Chad Cramer had a lot
of good things to say about his team.
“We got up and down the floor well,” said Cramer. “Their zone really
caused us a lot of problems early but once we settled down, we did some
really nice things against that zone. We didn’t always finish with a
basket but we got a good shot. Overall, I thought it was a good night
for us. I thought defensively, we got better as the game went on. We’ve
got a long way to go but I think we took steps in the right direction
tonight. We’ve got to learn to defend every possession.”
Now 1-1, (1-0 CCC), the Hawks will host Tri-Village next Friday while
the Tigers (0-2) will Travel to Versailles Tuesday then go to Franklin
Monroe Friday for the Jets homecoming.
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MV
sophomore Ethan Bowman backed up Nelson with 11 points Friday.
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Ansonia's Dane Wentworth dives around Devan Rinderle during first
quarter action. Wentwortrh
accounted for 16 of the Tigers 29 points in
a losing effort.
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