MTZ basketball starts season 3-1

By superadmin | November 29, 2022 |

Sam Driscoll defends the ball-handler in a 36-27 win against Lincoln at the 2022 Lincoln/Easton Thanksgiving Tournament.

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

The Mt. Zion boys basketball team finished 3-1 to start its season and finished in second place after a 63-62 loss to Belleville West in the championship game of the Lincoln/Easton Thanksgiving tournament. Lyncoln Koester and Grant McAtee earned all-tournament team honors.

“We competed hard and we experienced something that we needed to experience: a team that’s more athletic than us and getting up in our face and, and they took Lyncoln away and we certainly had people step up,” Head coach Dale Schuring said.

“It’s pretty simple. They executed the last two to three minutes of the game and we didn’t’. That’s why they won, that’s why they came back.“

Going into the second half of the Belleville West game, the Braves took a 28-25 lead. Braves’ point guard Sam Driscoll scored 12 first half points burying one wing three-pointer and four corner three-pointers.

In the third quarter, it was McAtee who led the Braves. McAtee came into the second half with eight points. In the opening minutes, McAtee made a steal and then got the ball from Koester on the wing. McAtee made the three-pointer to give the Braves a 31-25 lead.

Belleville West narrowed that lead after Daylen Byrd made a layup and then Brandon Scott nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to 31-30.

Driscoll found McAtee once again on the wing as McAtee bailed his second three-pointer of the night to give the Braves a 34-40 lead. The Maroons responded with Scott finding an open Byrd who nailed the wing three-pointer to make the score 34-33.

McAtee went on to score four more points to give him -8 total points going into the fourth quarter. The Braves scored on their last possession of the third quarter when Koester found Jc Anderson at the rim who made his layup. With seconds left,

Scott nailed the wing three-pointer to tie the game at 42-42.

The Braves’ took the early momentum in the fourth quarter. Anderson went one of two from the line, McAtee and Driscoll nailed a three-pointer each and Koester drove coast to coast, making the finish and a three-point play to give the Braves a 52-44 lead with 5:37 left.

With 1:22 left in the game, Driscoll made a pass to Owen Owens’ who banked in the corner three-pointer to give the Braves a 60-64 lead. The Maroons responded with a Jordan Lacey three-pointer and a Byrd layup to narrow the Braves’ lead to 60-59. Byrd finished with 20 points.

Koester made another assist for what would be the Braves’ final score to Kam Clark to give the Braves a 62-59 lead. Lacey was fouled and made two free-throws with 34.3 seconds left. The Maroons forced a Braves’ turnover and gave the Maroons possession. The Maroons moved the ball and Scott drove to the lane and finished with 3.7 seconds left on the clock which would give the Maroons a 63-62 win.

“Generally, you have to fail before you can succeed,” Coach Schuring said. “And we haven’t been in a situation like this this year, we didn’t do great at it, hence the lack of execution. Their execution was better. We learn from it and we get better next time we encounter it. It’s a learning experience and as much as we would’ve liked to win this, it’s still not about today. It’s about three months down the road.”

The Braves improve to 3-1 overall with wins against Lincoln, Cahokia and Althoff Catholic and 1-0 in Apollo Conference play. The Braves will face Charleston and Mahomet-Seymour this week.

“We just have to look at what we didn’t do well and what definitely needs improving,” Coach Schuring said. “Our half court man offense wasn’t very good this week. we just have to work on that hard. Charleston’s got a new coach, so we don’t know what to expect as far as that and they’re opening up their season against us, so we don’t know what we’re getting into. We certainly have an advantage in terms of game experience and competition level is good here. So we’ll just work on the things that need improving and hopefully come out next week, ready to go.”