Senior Aron Hunt led the team with nine points and earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Freshman Cing Scott gets the ball up the court against the Brookville press. Overall, the team struggled against it in the game.
By Drew Terhall
DailyAdvocate.com
ARCANUM — The Mississinawa Valley boys basketball team was blitzed from the start. They lost 79-18 to Brookville in the consolation game in the Jet Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28 at Franklin Monroe.
Head coach Cole Hamilton said in a game like this, he wants the team to keep working and keep up the effort throughout. They did just that in this game.
“We kind of struggled against Franklin Monroe, effort wise, a little bit last night. Tonight, I thought the effort was there. We dove after some loose balls, got after it a little bit. Some of our shots didn’t fall, some of our easy shots didn’t fall,” Hamilton said.
The speed from the Blue Devils doomed the Blackhawks. Whenever Mississinawa Valley had a missed shot or a turnover, Brookville was able to sprint down the court and score in transition.
Along with hitting a few outside shots, Brookville was up 39-10 at halftime. The Blue Devils just sped up the game and left the Blackhawks in the dust.
The press from Brookville gave Mississinawa Valley problems. Hamilton said the pressure led to Brookville getting easy buckets in transition.
“They put pretty good ball pressure on us. Couldn’t really handle it. We worked on it, I showed the guys a couple things. We watched Brookville play last night against Maumee,” Hamilton said. “Just got to handle the ball in tough situations. Take care of the rock and see if we can score on the offensive end.”
At times, Mississinawa Valley was able to get up court and move the ball around for a good shot. They couldn’t capitalize on those chances to cut into the deficit.
Brookville came out at halftime and scored 24 points in the third quarter. Twelve players for Brookville scored with four getting double-digit points.
Hamilton switched the lineups around to try and find a combination that worked. No matter who was on the floor, the Blackhawks continued to give it their all.
Senior Aron Hunt led the Blackhawks with nine points. He was named to the all-tournament team. Sophomore Wyatt Stump had three points while freshman Jaxin Beanblossom, senior Bryson Gower and freshman Cing Scott each had two points.
Senior Jace Wood led Brookville with 16 points and was named to the all-tournament team.
Mississinawa Valley is now 1-8 on the season with a 0-4 conference record. They will be at Ansonia next on Jan. 2 for their next game.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]
