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A dejected bunch from Versailles walks off the floor at the University
of Dayton Arena Tuesday after
falling to Purcell Marion in the district
final of boys basketball, 68-54. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
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Purcell Marion
too much for Versailles
By George Starks
DAYTON- There are times when giving it you all and playing the best
possible game just isn’t enough.
Such was the case for the Versailles Tigers Tuesday at the University
of Dayton Arena.
Trailing by a 47-37 score with eight minutes left on the clock, the
Tigers did everything they could to pull a rabbit out of their hat.
On this night, it wasn’t to be as Versailles fell 68-54 in the District
Championship to Purcell Marion.
Trailing 33-25 at the break, Things went from bad to worse for the
Tigers in the second half.
“It was like the tale of two halves,” said Versailles coach Scott
McEldowney. “I thought besides a little bit of defense we could have
shored up in the first half, I thought we played pretty well. We just
couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”
Staring at a 10 point deficit heading into the final frame, Versailles
scratched and clawed its way back into it, closing the gap to 47-41
with 6:49 left in the game after senior Kyle Ahrens (33 points/11
rebounds) hit two foul shots.
The bottom line for the Tigers was the Purcell Marion pressure defense
that caused 15 Tiger turnovers, leading to quick points in transition
for the Cavaliers.
I thought we handled ourselves pretty well against their pressure in
the first half. I think we had only six turnovers and I thought that
was pretty good,” said McEldowney. “This team is not made to go
chasing. We are long, we’re lanky and we’re good jumpers but we’re not
physically strong to pound on you and we’re not laterally quick. We
just did a great job of fighting and trying to stay in it.”
With one quarter in the books, the Tigers trailed 13-12 and things were
well within reach.
Then, the light switch was turned off for the Tigers and turned on for
the Cavaliers.
Purcell Marion put on an offensive spurt that no one could have seen
coming.
The Cavaliers went on an 11-0 run by the 4:31 mark of the half to open
up a 24-12 advantage over Versailles.
The Tigers wouldn’t see their first points of the half until the 4:01
mark when senior Jace Barga would hit in the paint to break the four
minute scoring drought.
At that point, Versailles would start to show signs of life and
would close to within six at 31-25 on a trey from Kyle Rutschilling
with 26 seconds remaining.
But, in the final 26 seconds, the Cavaliers would score four quick
points to build a 10 point lead at the break.
“We were always right there,” said McEldowney. “We could never get that
big rebound or grab that loose ball or get that big shot that would put
the pressure on them where we wouldn’t have to chase them so much.”
In the end, it all boiled down to the Purcell Marion defense.
“It took us out of a lot of our offensive sets,” said McEldowney. “We
got some great shots in the first half. Shots that we like to take and
shots that we usually hit but tonight, they didn’t go in. In the second
half we were chasing them on offense and their pressure on defense
started to wear us down. We had more turnovers and weren’t able to
capitalize.”
Struggling on offense the whole night, the Tigers took a big blow when
freshman Justin Ahrens went down with a severe ankle injury.
“That just added to things,” McEldowney said. “You really need to try
to stay as fresh as you can and when you go one less deep to do that,
then it does add to the problems. He’s one of our better athletes and
yes, it took its toll on us.”
Versailles finishes the 2014-15 season with a 16-7 record.
It was the final game in a Versailles uniform for five seniors in Kyle
Ahrens, Jace Barga, Kyle Rutschilling, Justin Marshall and Zach
Stienbrunner.
Watch CNO for an exclusive interview with Ahrens as he will head for
Michigan State in the fall to play for Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
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Junior Jared Niekamp will help lead the charge a year from now.
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