By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School suffered their first home loss, as well as their first Patoka Lake Athletic Conference loss of the season on Thursday, falling 63-49 to neighboring Orleans, the #10 ranked 1A team in the state.
After a back-and-forth first half where the two sides either evened the score or traded the lead 10 times, Rylan Crocher scored for the Bulldogs as time expired in the second quarter to give his team a 21-19 lead at the buzzer. The largest lead generated by either team in the first half was just four points, which Orleans achieved midway through the second quarter.
Things took a turn for the worst for the Bluejackets in the third, where they turned the ball over seven times in the period, compared to just two in the entire first half, on their way to being outscored 22-10.
The Bulldogs made the most of Mitchell’s mistakes, scoring 10 unanswered points off consecutive steals to gain a commanding lead that led them to the win.
“Very proud of our effort defensively in the half court tonight. I feel like we did a great job, especially in the first half and most of the third quarter, and then rolling into that stretch, we had, I think four or five live ball turnovers. When you make a mistake, they’re going to capitalize on it,” said Bluejackets’ head coach Jackson Ryan.
“Not only did they capitalize on those live ball turnovers, they saw some shots go in and then that helps them get rolling in the halfcourt. So, that two or three-minute stretch for us offensively, really shot us in the foot.”
This game was a bit familiar for the Bluejackets, almost mirroring their Dec. 8 loss to 2A #7 ranked Linton-Stockton.
In both matchups, Mitchell played an impressive first half against a strong opponent, only to give up some untimely turnovers in the third quarter that turned into easy offense for their opponent, leading to them falling behind by a wide margin and losing.
Ryan said the team’s difficult schedule in December played a role in those losses, as well as some stagnation from their offense, which has made it difficult for them to find baskets down the stretch against better teams.
“Our schedule in December is tough. Especially down the stretch, we’ve played every Friday and Saturday in the month of December and then followed that up on a Tuesday before Christmas we’ve got Orleans. I kind of sensed last week in practice that our guys were just dead and it’s it’s just a tough situation, especially as a coach, but I think we really need good quality practice time just to work on our game and correct some things,” he said.
“Offensively. I think things are just a little bit stale right now. It’s really easy when you’re making shots, when Austin Mosier is coming out and shooting 60%, 70% from the field. But when that’s not happening, what do we do? Where do we go? How do we compensate for losing that scoring? And I think the Brownstown game and tonight is a great example of that. When we’re not making shots. What do we do? And that’s being physical, going to the rim and attacking and hopefully also getting to the free throw line. We shot three free throws tonight. You’re not going to beat a good Orleans team shooting three free throws like that. So, offensively we need to make some adjustments, change some things up, fine-tune some things defensively, keep plugging away and doing what we’re doing.”
Nate Robertson, Dawson Irwin and Gavin Robinson each scored eight to lead Mitchell on the night. Xavier Alston and Ian Hall were the top scorers for the Bulldogs, both with 17.
Ryan commended the performances of Robinson and Robertson, both of whom he said have taken time to get going this season with Robertson not playing last year and Robinson coming off a grueling football season, where he was the school’s leading rusher.
“Gavin Robinson and Nate Robertson played really well tonight. Gavin, man, he just makes stuff happen on both ends of the floor and I love the little three or four-minute spurt there in the fourth quarter where he just took over the game on both ends of the floor. We’ve got to figure out ways to keep him from getting in foul trouble. He just plays so hard and unfortunately sometimes there’s a bang-bang play that he unfortunately gets a foul call but he’s playing so hard and it’s just so much fun to watch,” said Ryan. “Then, Nate Robertson, for someone who didn’t play last year, I think the rust from that is slowly starting to come off which is great to see and hopefully it continues to do so.”
Now 5-4 on the year after suffering back-to-back losses for the first time all season, Mitchell will take the court again on Dec. 27 as they’ll host the first-ever Clay City Classic tournament at The Hive.
Mitchell will face both White River Valley (1 p.m.) and New Washington (7:30 p.m.) on night one of the event, with their performances in those games determining when they’ll play the following evening. Other teams in the tournament are Salem, Shoals and Franklin County.
“Our guys should be hungry. Again, we’re just coming off a couple of losses here. Should be ready to kind of turn the tide. My biggest thing that I want for them is to have a trophy that sits in the trophy case so that 10, 15, 20 years down the road, when they come back here with their family they can say ‘I did that, I put that there,'” said Ryan “That’s something that I think would be very special for them, so hopefully we come ready to play. We’ve got five other teams that are going to be very hungry and looking for wins as well.”
Stats
Mitchell
- Austin Mosier: 5 points, 2/13 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Dawson Irwin: 8 points, 3/9 shooting, 1/1 FT, 3 rebounds
- Ben Seitzinger: 6 points, 3/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
- Kale England: 2 points, 1/4 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Gavin Robinson: 8 points, 4/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Bryson Shoults: 2 points, 1/3 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Aiden Pridemore: 4 points, 2/4 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Nate Robertson: 8 points, 4/5 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Carl Chenault: 2 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 4 rebounds
- Garrett Floerke: 2 points, 1/2 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Tate Woods: 2 points, 0/0 shooting, 2/2 FT, 0 rebounds
