Preble Shawnee senior guard Brody Morton was leading scorer for Arrows but gets all ball on this block. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Lee Woolery)
Botkins missed a chance to prove it is a force to be reckoned with outside the SCAL, coughing up a double-digit halftime lead against Preble Shawnee on Saturday.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Botkins, OH — Fans packed the Botkins Athletic Complex on Saturday for a highly anticipated interconference clash between their beloved Trojans and the Arrows of Preble Shawnee.
Veteran columnist Marcus Freeman writes the Buckeyes and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
The parking lot was overflowing before halftime of the JV game.
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The pregame introductions were loud and enthusiastic with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blasting through the speakers and the “world famous” (according to the public address announcer) Trojan mascot leading the cheers.
The start was sublime, too, for the home team.
Really this game had everything an admirer of high school basketball could want to see — except the result the home fans hoped for.
Instead of a prove-it win, the Trojans fell short, as was the case earlier this month when they lost nonconference tests to Marion Local and Minster in back-to-back games. This time Shawnee rallied from a 27-16 halftime deficit to win 47-44.
Botkins sophomore guard Will Monnin scores on an easy layup.
The Arrows, who like the Trojans are unbeaten in their league, improved to 15-2 overall while the Trojans fell to 12-3.
It doesn’t mean anything in the league standings — Shawnee still leads the Western Ohio Athletic Conference, and Botkins is atop the Shelby County League — but pride was clearly on the line to anyone who was in the gym.
The raucous celebration by the Arrows confirmed it.
“They’re physical and big and nasty,” Shawnee coach Ryan Robinson said of a Botkins team that started 6-6 Owen Zimpfer in the middle, 6-4 James Steinke and 6-1 Tucker Hueslkamp at forward, and 6-3 Will Monnin and 6-0 Eli Pitts at guard. “Just not a team you always see and play. First time matchup for Botkins and Preble — that was awesome to hear in the pregame. I didn’t know that. So really cool win for us, but a cool game as well.”
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His team has considerable size, too, and that made for an intriguing matchup.
“They run 6-6, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, so they have a lot of height, and not only do they have a lot of height, but they’re athletic with it as well,” Botkins coach Phil Groves said. “They’re strong, and they’re a good team, and they’re very explosive, and they showed there in the second half, they can score a lot of points quick. I just wish we’d have done a better job defending them.”
Owen Zimpfer is clear for a jump shot.
Botkins scored the first eight points, though the Trojans were ahead only 10-9 after a quarter thanks to a late flurry by the visitors. Nonetheless, Monnin starred as Botkins used a long, methodical 15-0 run to open up a 25-9 lead with about two minutes left in the first half.
Shawnee junior guard Caleb Blankenship finally ended it with a bank shot at the 1:45 mark. That started a 7-2 finish to the half for Shawnee that gave the visitors some hope heading into the locker room down only 11.
Then they dominated the third quarter with 6-3 senior guard Brody Morton getting red hot to carry his team back to even. He had a fadeaway 3-pointer, a four-point play and two other baskets during a stanza the visitors won 21-10 to knot the score at 37.
Morton put the Arrows on top with a pair of free throws at the 6:51 mark, but Pitts gave the Trojans the lead again with a 3-pointer from the wing.
That was short-lived as Blankenship answered with a tough driving layup for Shawnee then scored the next basket, too, to give the Arrows a three-point lead.
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Braylon Dorrel, a 6-6 junior Shawnee forward, made it 45-40 with a bank shot that gave the visitors their first two-possession lead and forced Groves to call timeout with 2:57 left.
Monnin scored a second-chance basket to bring the Trojans back within three, and Pitts made a pair of free throws to make it 45-44 with 1:15 left, but Botkins did not score again.
Botkins senior forward James Steinke scores on a drive in the lane.
After another Blankenship layup, Botkins missed a 3 but got a reprieve by forcing a held ball with 13 seconds left, but Morton stepped up on the defensive end to prevent it from mattering.
He prevented Monnin from getting enough space to shoot a potential game-tying 3, forcing him to give it up to Pitts at the top of the key. With time ticking down, Pitts had to take a contested 3 that was off the target, and that was Botkins’ last chance as a final shot was waved off (and didn’t go in anyway).
Morton led all scorers with 24 points while Blankenship finished with 14 and Dorrel had five.
Monnin topped Botkins with 19 points, Pitts had 13 and Steinke tallied eight.
“We felt turnovers was the big bugaboo in the first quarter — their pressure and length was getting to us,” Robinson said. “Then we stopped turning the ball over and we couldn’t throw it into the ocean. So it felt like that first half was just a grind to get through. And we cleaned up our play in the second half, and that first four minutes in the third quarter was what we talked about all halftime. We got to come out respond. Can’t lay down and fold. So proud of the guys, man.”
Tucker Huelskamp grabs a big rebound late in the 4th quarter.
His team plays host to Mississinawa Valley next Friday and has a showdown with undefeated WOAC co-leader Tri-Village the week after that.
What’s next for Botkins?
The Trojans will have to wait again to prove they are more than just bullies of the SCAL this winter, but they also get a chance to prove they are STILL bullies of the SCAL this winter when Jackson Center comes to town Tuesday night.
The Tigers are two games behind the Trojans in the conference standings and at least one above everyone else, so it could be the game of the year in the conference.
“There’s a lot riding there on that game, and we got to focus on them and and turn the page and move forward,” Groves said.
That will require putting together two halves that look like the first one Groves saw Saturday.
“We preach all the time about having to stay comfortable with being uncomfortable, and we got complacent,” Groves said. “We got comfortable, and our defensive intensity in the second half, overall intensity in the second half, just was not there. We let them bring the fight to us in the second half, and we did not fight back.”
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