Turnovers were an issue for both teams…New Bremen’s Gavin Dicke watches possession of the ball and potential points roll away during Friday’s loss to Versailles. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It was not what Dr. Naismith had in mind, but somehow Versailles played through 33 total turnovers by both teams, erratic shooting, poor game flow…and still won over New Bremen, 54-36.
Former NBA coach Hubie Brown once claimed that if you can play through 20 turnovers, erratic shooting, and still win…you might be a pretty good basketball team.
And when Versailles basketball coach Travis Swank was reminded of Brown’s quote Friday night he broke into a broad smile. Because, it exactly described how Swank’s Tigers had played, or played through, to win their fourth game in five starts, 54-36, over the New Bremen Cardinals.
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“That sounds about right,” he said, laughing the laugh of a winner. “We kept telling the boys if we can just take care of the ball we’re getting good looks [at the rim]. And credit New Bremen for the way they play their zone defense. They’re active with their hands and they led the conference in steals last year, or they were near the top.”
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But good teams survive ugly basketball games, and this one was ugly.
The two teams combined for 33 turnovers, 21 by Versailles, and 12 by New Bremen.
New Bremen shot a horrendous percentage in the first half…22%, overall, and 2 of 12 from three-point range.
Versailles’ defense had something to do with it…scrappy, relentless, pressuring the basketball and fresh legs from the bench on the floor at all times.
Ultimately, Versailles got enough offense out of leading scorer Drake Ahrens (18 pts.), and 18 points in transition throughout the game off Cardinal turnovers to turn a 6-point halftime lead into the eventual 18-point blow-by. And they did it all while getting to the free throw line just two times for the game, and that came late in the fourth quarter.
At times it was just tough to score…Versailles’ Reed Raterman blocks the shot attempt of New Bremen’s Gavin Quellhorst.
Crazy basketball?
“I don’t know,” said Drake Ahrens, post-game. “We turned it over more than we wanted to. We’ve got to step that up a little bit, obviously. But we played pretty good defensively and our defense provides points for our offense. Our favorite thing to do is to score in transition.”
Bremen’s 2-3 zone stymied Versailles at the outset, forcing the Tigers to stand and pass the ball around the perimeter of the zone. But, somehow 6’8″ Maddox Stonebraker wandered away from the paint long enough to hit two three-point shots from the wing, Drake Ahrens hit another, and that carried Versailles to an 11-9 lead by the end of the quarter. But only because New Bremen couldn’t buy a shot from outside five feet from the rim. The Cardinals would end up hitting just 2 of 12 behind the arc for the half.
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But like Versailles, the Cardinals ability to defend, tip and deflect balls, and come up with steals kept them in the game…despite scoring just 6 points in the second quarter. By halftime they’d forced Versailles to turn the ball over 12 times…and still led, 21-15.
Physical, of course…New Bremen’s Jaylen Powell shuts off the route to the rim for Drake Ahrens.
“We practice against the zone,” added Swank. “But it’s hard to replicate that in practice, at least the way they do it here at New Bremen. Sometimes they almost have four guys around the perimeter. And they’re long, they’ve got some athletes, and when we work against the zone we’re going against our JV guys. And New Bremen practices it every day, and we don’t, and that makes a huge difference when you’re trying to figure it out at game speed.”
The opening moments of the third quarter it became a run-and-shoot fest for the Tigers as defensive rebounds became transition buckets and Versailles built their lead to as much as 16 points.
But suddenly New Bremen’s Gavin Quellhorst got hot as a rat running in wool socks…hitting three shots in a row to propel a 10-4 Cardinal run, cutting the lead to ten.
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Then an equal Versailles run fueled by defensive rebounds and transition buckets left New Bremen trailing 41-27 by the end of the third quarter.
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The physical wear took its toll on the Cardinals to start the fourth, as well as the mental toll of fighting against both the scoreboard and mistakes. Versailles quickly scored 6 points off turnovers , outscored New Bremen 13-9 in the closing minutes, and cruised to the 54-36 final. The scoreboard went dark before people in the stands could reach for their coats. Over and done, the Cardinals went off to prepare for Anna on Saturday night.
Drake Ahrens led all scorers with 18 points, while teammate Blake Monnin chipped in 13 and Maddox Stonebraker had 8. The Tigers shot 44% from the floor.
For New Bremen, the Cardinals dropped to 2-2 on the season, and as bad as they started, they actually came back to 34% from the floor, despite just 18% from three-point range.
“It’s hard to play in a game when there’s no flow to it,” said Swank, referring to the streaks and skips of the game. “And that’s where our strong suit comes in, because if we can get into transition with our defense we live on those easy baskets. The struggle was real here tonight, and a lot of people don’t like the struggle. But sometimes you have to go through it to get better…to get yourself where you want to be.
“We want to be challenged and that’s why we’re going down to Cincinnati tomorrow night to challenge ourselves (Cincinnati College Prep). And hopefully we can learn from our mistakes here tonight and come out with a win on Saturday.”
Sometimes the toughest challenge is not beating yourself. Somewhere there’s a basketball math guy who’s figured out that if you cut your turnovers in half…and score the same number of transition buckets from turnovers by the other team…your shooting percentage increases another five percent.
And think about Versailles shooting 49% with nine different players, while holding opponents to 40% or less with their defense. And doing both while getting to the foul line just once for the whole game for one point.
Hubie would say…that’s a pretty good basketball team!
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