Weekend Roundup: Alder’s cold shooting continues
By Chris Miles
Sports Editor
You can’t win if you can’t score.
The Jonathan Alder boys basketball team is finding this reality out first hand this season.
The Pioneers (2-9) scored 45 points Saturday in a home date with Groveport, which was one of their better scoring outputs of the season, but still was not enough to secure a victory as they fell 52-45.
“The offense is a big concern,” coach Brent Cahill said. “We’re still playing a lot of younger guys who are fighting and scrapping and getting better, but it’s not going to get better overnight.”
The Pioneers are shooting a woeful 32 percent from the floor on the season and without being able to generate points, the Alder coaches know that no game is going to come easy.
“It’s a challenge every day,” Cahill said. “It’s a grind and we’ve got to keep at it. I think you’ll see us as a better offensive team a year from now, but it’s a slow gradual process. We’re not going to come out on Wednesday and score 70 points.
“As we get older and more experienced you’re going to see us improve on offense.”
On this particular evening it was a six-point first quarter which doomed the team. The visiting Cruisers outscored the Pioneers 21-6 in the game’s first eight minutes and never looked back.
The game was pretty much even after the initial start, which does give the Alder coaches reason to be optimistic.
“We’re keeping our heads up,” the coach said. “What we need is some type of success and preferably at the start of games.”
Alder was led in scoring by senior Mason Will, who finished with a game-high 19 points. No other player reached double figures, Hayden Hess was the closest with nine.
“The goal for us is to continue to get better every day,” Cahill said. “We’ve got to keep grinding and keep working hard.
“We can’t afford any low-effort days. Last year if we had one of those days we’d be able to bounce back. But we’re not skilled enough or talented enough right now to be able to do that. Every day is going to be a grind.”
Alder will be back in action again on Wednesday when they play host to a talented Beechcroft squad.
Shekinah Christian 66,
Granville Christian 48
The Flames (5-2) blazed their way to victory behind balanced scoring.
Tyler Headings and Michael Gingerich both finished with 15 points, Mitchell Yoder added 14 and Brock Youtzy chipped in 10. Joel Showalter just missed the mark with eight.
The team will return to the court Tuesday at home against Fairfield Christian.
Girls basketball
Clinton-Massie 59,
Madison-Plains 38
The Golden Eagles entered the contest with Clinton-Massie with hopes of proving they belong among the top teams in the South Central Ohio League.
Plains (10-2, 4-2) however suffered a 21-point defeat and now must regroup for the rest of the season.
The only two losses have come at the hands of Massie and fellow league-leader Miami Trace.
The team will get another chance against those two later this month.
“I thought we played with all heart, but just came up a little short,” Madison-Plains coach Chris Laslo said. “Our girls were clearly disappointed but we’ve got to turn the page and move forward.”
The loss was eerily similar to the team’s loss against Miami Trace. Shots weren’t falling and that had a little to do with the Golden Eagles as well as the team on the other end of the court.
“We’re still very excited about the rest of the year,” he said. “We’ve just got to do things better next time around.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well at all. Some of it was the competition and the defense we were facing, but we’ve also got to make some of those shots.”
The team will host McClain on Wednesday and will welcome in Washington on Saturday.
McClain 58,
London 26
The Lady Red Raiders (3-8, 0-6) failed to pick up their first SCOL victory of the season Saturday as they fell to the visiting Tigers Saturday.
Jonathan Alder 57,
Fairbanks 34
The victories have been few and far between for the Lady Pioneers this season.
It was a rare good night Saturday as Alder easily topped neighboring Fairbanks.
The victory was just the third on the season for Pioneers to go along with their nine loses.
