Young Versailles team falls to Celina

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CELINA – The young and inexperienced Versailles Tigers struggled with the Celina Bulldogs after a strong start in the team’s 53-43 season opening loss.

“We just have one guy coming back with any varsity experience from a team that won 20 plus games,” said Versailles coach, Travis Swank. “We are all learning and we will all continue to get better.”

Versailles jumped out to an 11-3 lead at 4:04 in the opening period and closed out the first quarter play with a 15-10 advantage.

“We started off well,” Swank noted. “It was good to see especially from an inexperienced team.”

The Bulldogs battled back to take the second quarter 15-9 and go to the halftime break with a one point 25-24 lead.

“Troy Jones really lifted us up tonight,” Swank said of his point guard. “He went out in the first half with some foul trouble and the wheels kind of fell off for us.”

Period No. 3 mirrored the second frame with Celina once again taking the quarter by a 15-9 score pushing its lead to 40-33 with one period to play.

“We have guys that need to learn and they need to get better in a hurry, but we knew that coming in that it was going to be this way,” Swank stated. “I am not going to fault our kid’s toughness and determination. We just have to execute a little bit better and that is going to come with time in the experience department at the varsity level.”

The Bulldogs extended its lead to 48-35 with 4:28 on the fourth quarter board before Versailles hustled its way back to trail by five. Celina outscore the Tigers by five over the final minutes to earn the 10 point non-conference win.

“Our kids battled the whole time,” said Coach Swank. “We got down as many as 10-12 late in the game and we cut it down to five. We had the ball with around two minutes left to go and just couldn’t finish it off and sometimes that happens with an inexperienced team.”

Troy Jones led Versailles with 13 points.

“Troy knocked down some shots,” Swank said. “He has learned his craft at the JV level. He’s been behind a really good point guard in Michael Stammen for a long time. Now it’s his time to shine a little bit and he was able to go out there and do what we expect out of our point guard. We would like some other guys to step up and help him out because if they do, we’re going to be a tough out for a lot of people.”

Celina sophomore Josh Rasawehr led all scorers with a game high 22 points. Nick Adams, another Bulldogs sophomore added nine points.

BOXSCORE:

CELINA 53, VERSAILLES 43

CELINA – J. Rasawehr 22, N. Adams 9, Q. Gilmore 7, R. Black 5, Q. Andrew 5, C. Nuding 3, D. Feister 2 – TOTALS 13 18-23 3 53

VERSAILLES – T. Jones 13, J. Litten 9, E. McEldowney 8, C. McEldowney 4, C. Hamilton 4, J. Litten 3, J. DeMange 2 – TOTALS 12 7-9 4 43

3-POINTERS

Celina 3 (Q. Gilmore 1, C. Nuding 1, Q. Andrew 1)

Versailles 4 (T. Jones 3, J. Litten 1)

SCORE by QUARTERS:

10-15-15-13 53 Celina

15-09-09-10 43 Versailles

Troy Jones brings the ball upcourt for Versailles in the Tigers season opener at Celina.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Troy-Jones-1-2.jpgTroy Jones brings the ball upcourt for Versailles in the Tigers season opener at Celina. Gaylen Blosser | Darke County Media

Eli McEldowney drives to the hoop for the Versailles Tigers in the team’s game with the Celina Bulldogs.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Eli-McEldowney-1-2.jpgEli McEldowney drives to the hoop for the Versailles Tigers in the team’s game with the Celina Bulldogs. Gaylen Blosser | Darke County Media

Jayden Litten drives the lane for Versailles in the Tigers non-conference matchup with Celina.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Jayden-Litten-1-2.jpgJayden Litten drives the lane for Versailles in the Tigers non-conference matchup with Celina. Gaylen Blosser | Darke County Media

By Gaylen Blosser

DarkeCountyMedia.com

Contact Darke County Media Sports Editor Gaylen Blosser at [email protected] or 937-569-0122

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