UNION CITY – It was a physical basketball game between Mississinawa and St. Henry, and the game could have gone either way, but turnovers by the Hawks led to St. Henry leaving town with a hard-fought 57-49 win.
Mississinawa was the aggressor on defense in the opening quarter, and in one stretch senior Devin Rinderle stole the ball three straight times, as he led the Hawks with 10 points to give them a 13-12 lead over St. Henry after one quarter of play.
St. Henry though turned the tables on MV applying man-to-man full court ball pressure that slowed down the home team only scoring seven points in the second frame while the Redskins went for 16 and took a 28-20 lead at the half.
In the third quarter St. Henry’s Mitchell Stammen took over, scoring 13 of his game-high 23 points as the Redskins built a lead of 44-32. The Hawks’ Ethan Bowman had six points as he began to heat up.
In the final stanza Bowman scored another nine points for Mississinawa as the Blackhawks tried cut into the deficit, but they could only get as close as six points. Every time they made a play the Redskins answered, picking up the 57-49 win.
“I thought we out-played them tonight,” Mississinawa Valley boys basketball coach Tim Barga said. “I’m happy with that part … but I’m not happy with the turnovers and getting some rebounds taken away from us.
“They (St. Henry) played a good game, but I thought we out-played and out-hustled them tonight,” Barga added.
“I told our boys afterwards if we cut our turnovers by half then they are chasing us in the fourth quarter, instead of us chasing them,” Barga said.
“Devan Rinderle played a great game tonight and Ethan Bowman made some big plays at in the second half as well,” Barga concluded.
Mississinawa Valley was led by Rinderle with 19 points, and Bowman added 18.
The Hawks fall to 1-2 on the year and will prepare to host Tri-Village Friday in what will be a key early Cross County Conference matchup.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
MV … 13 … 07 … 12 … 17 – 49
SH … 12 … 16 … 16 … 13 – 57
Individual scoring:
MV (1-2, 1-0) – Ethan Bowman 18, Trent Perkins 2, Colyn Nelson 4, Devin Rinderle 19, Andrew Johns 2, Dalton Geesey 4 – Totals 1-18-10/17 – 49
SH – Evan Lefeld 7, Paul Stammen 2, Ryan Luttmer 3, Mitchel Stammen 23, Mitch Schwieterman 3, Ryan Bruening 5, Jesse Niekamp 14 – Totals 6-17-7/12 – 57
3-pointers
MV 1 (Bowman)
SH 6 (Stammen 2, Lefeld 1, Luttmer 1, Schwieterman 1, Bruening 1)
