By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School took on Patoka Lake Athletic Conference opponent and the #8 ranked team in the state at 2A, Paoli, on Friday in a tense matchup at The Hive.
The matchup came down to the wire before a loud crowd from both sides, with the Rams ultimately squeezing out the win, 58-54.
The first points of the game went to the Rams via guard Fletcher Cole nailing two attempts at the free throw line. They held significance beyond giving Paoli an early lead, as they marked the junior’s 1,000th career point for the program.
The Rams pushed their advantage as high as seven during the first quarter, which was the most either team would lead by for the rest of the game.
The Bluejackets battled back in the second quarter, at one point scoring five straight to even up the score at 16 each. After a basket from each side in the final few minutes, the teams were tied 18-18 at the half.
Early in the third, Mitchell took their first lead of the game after Austin Mosier was able to sink a jumper for two. The two sides traded baskets before the Bluejackets caught a bit of momentum, scoring three straight baskets to take a 30-24 lead.
Following that run and a Bluejackets timeout, the Rams stormed back into the game, scoring seven unanswered points in just over a minute to reclaim the advantage and the momentum of the ballgame. They’d go on to finish the third with a four-point lead.
Ryan said his timeout was a crucial swing in the quarter, crediting Paoli for taking advantage of what he considered a mistake of his.
“I’m gonna be honest, I’m really going to beat myself up about that one. The timeout that I called when we went on that 6-0 run, maybe the dumbest timeout of my career,” Ryan said. “So that was on me. And, credit to them. They came out and punched us in the mouth after that and took the momentum back.”
The Rams held on to their lead for the remainder of play, thanks to a huge second half from Cole and some lights-out free-throw shooting late.
Cole finished the game with 21 points to lead all scorers, dropping 17 of those in the second half. He finished the night 9/9 from the line, making four in the fourth.
As a team, Paoli shot 10/13 from the stripe in the fourth to keep the rallying Bluejackets at bay.
The Bluejackets were led in scoring by Mosier, who netted 13 on the night, with eight of those coming in the fourth. Kale England, 10 points, and Gavin Robinson, 11 points, each scored in double figures as well for Mitchell.
“Great game, great atmosphere. The biggest group of people I want to give kudos to is our fans. I thought our gym was just rockin’ tonight and when we had momentum at times, you could just feel the energy in the gym. So, I just absolutely loved that environment that we played in tonight. It’s just a great game,” said Ryan. “You gotta give Fletcher Cole credit, he stepped up. He had some big free throws and I think kind of pulled them away a little bit. We can sit here and nitpick this possession or that possession, but bottom line, we competed and had a chance to try to win the game and unfortunately just fell short tonight.”
A little over halfway through their season at this point, the Bluejackets have shown promise against many of the tougher opponents on their schedule. In games against top 2A and 1A squads like Orleans, Linton-Stockton, Bloomfield and now Paoli, Mitchell has managed to hold their own for much of the matchups, though they’ve fallen in the end in each.
Comparing that to last season, where they lost to each of those teams by more than 30, it’s easy to see improvement, though Ryan said they’ll need to learn from the result of this one if they want to take the next step.
“We just competed and I feel like that’s what kept us in the game. We didn’t execute very well down the stretch there in the fourth. Our scouting report, we take a lot of pride in our scouting, we’re trying to keep Fletcher Cole off his left hand and I think there were three straight possessions where he got to the rim with his left hand and either finished a layup or got fouled, or maybe both,” he said.
“Again, I can sit here and nitpick this and that, but we competed hard enough to give us a chance. If we just execute a play here or there. I mean, that’s the difference in the ballgame. Luckily this is January 5, that we’re having this and hopefully by the time March rolls around and we’re in this game against that team in that environment, we learn our lessons and we execute a little better.”
Ryan also gave a nod to senior Ethan Turner, who he credited for his leadership and the impact it has had on the team, both in this game and in practices leading up to it.
“Ethan Turner did not play a single minute tonight, but I put him in as a team captain tonight because of his leadership and the energy that he gives us at practice. And even throughout the game, he didn’t play a single minute tonight, but every timeout he’s picking guys up and talking and leading,” said Ryan.
“That stuff doesn’t show up in the scorebook, but it’s just a huge thing for our program and it’s contagious. So, I really appreciate what he does for us.”
Stats
Mitchell
- Austin Mosier: 13 points, 4/9 shooting, 5/6 FT, 3 rebounds
- Dawson Irwin: 7 points, 2/5 shooting, 2/2 FT, 2 rebounds
- Ben Seitzinger: 7 points, 2/2 shooting, 3/4 FT, 2 rebounds
- Kale England: 10 points, 3/7 shooting, 1/1 FT, 2 rebounds
- Gavin Robinson: 11 points, 5/10 shooting, 1/1 FT, 7 rebounds
- Bryson Shoults: 4 points, 2/6 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Aiden Pridemore: 2 points, 1/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 1 rebound
- Nate Robertson: 0 points, 0/1 shooting, 0/0 FT, 2 rebounds
Paoli
- Wilson Windhorst: 3 points, 1/4 shooting, 0/0 FT, 0 rebounds
- Fletcher Cole: 21 points, 6/16 shooting, 9/9 FT, 1 rebound
- Cooper Spires: 4 points, 2/4 shooting, 1/2 FT, 3 rebounds
- Treighlin Minton: 6 points, 1/3 shooting, 4/5 FT, 3 rebounds
- Chad Sullivan: 2 points, 1/6 shooting, 0/0 FT, 3 rebounds
- Trey Rominger: 17 points, 8/14 shooting, 1/1 FT, 4 rebounds
- Andrew Kumpf: 4 points, 1/6 shooting, 2/3 FT, 3 rebounds
