By Noah Dalton
LOOGOOTEE — After snapping a 5-game losing streak in their previous outing with a win over Medora, Mitchell High School’s momentum was halted by Loogootee, who beat them 61-36 on Friday night.
The Lions led by double-digits for much of the night, holding the Bluejackets to just 36-points, just four more than their season-low point total of 32, which came against West Washington on Dec. 30.
Loogootee jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, due in large part to their free-throw shooting, knocking down a perfect 8/8 from the stripe in the period to take a 17-10 lead.
They pushed their advantage up to as much as 19 in the second quarter, outscoring by 10 in the perio to ultimately take a sizable 37-20 lead into the break.
Mitchell head coach Clint Roesler said the team’s early fouls, which led to key defenders having to sit for extended periods, were key in the team’s first half struggles.
Primarily, Kaden Mullis, who is often tasked with guarding the other team’s top scorer, was forced to sit for much of the second quarter due to early fouls.
In addition to that, the team’s top scorer, Gavin Robinson, was dealing with a leg injury throughout the night and was also forced to sit.
“They were calling the game pretty tight in the first half. We were victim of some of our better defensive players getting into foul trouble quickly. Gavin’s been pretty gimpy. He got knee’d twice, right in the same area,” explained Roesler.
“Obviously having your 1,000-point scorer not be able to play an entire game and be at his best is going to hurt us offensively. Not having your best defender on the court is going to hurt you defensively.”
The Bluejackets battled back early in the third, scoring seven unanswered points in the first two minutes of the quarter.
That momentum was short lived, with the Lions regaining control and holding Mitchell to just four points for the remainder of the quarter, increasing their lead to 19 points, 50-31.
Loogootee stayed out in front, with both sides emptying their benches in the fourth, on their way to a 15-point victory.
“We executed really well tonight, we just couldn’t finish. We talk about, we want process over focusing on results,” said Roesler.
Gavin Robinson was the leading scorer for the Bluejackets with 11 points. Behind him were Blake King (6 points) and Kaden Mullis (5 points).
Lions’ guard Will Lyon led all scorers for the night with 24 points. Also in double-figures for Loogootee were Cooper Vanhoy (15 points) and A.J. Foster (11 points)
Next, Mitchell will travel to Brown County for a battle against the Eagles the following night, 7:30 p.m. varsity tip-off.
Roesler said he’ll be looking for the team to improve in more detail-oriented areas, not just tomorrow night against Brown County, but in the remaining weeks of the regular season.
“It’s all about attention to detail for me. I think that’s really important, whether it’s showing up on time, whether it’s team meal on time, whether it’s scout on time, the amount of hours you’re putting in to watching some film,” said Roesler.
“We’re not quite there to the standard that I want to set in our program right now, so I’m hoping that we can continue to do that and work on that, and get guys in the right positions, and get guys to understand the importance of it.”
