Defense buries Monarchs, force 29 turnovers

Scott City senior Alex Swan drives the lane for a basket during Friday's 86-38 rout of TMP.

By Rod Haxton, editor

When you don’t get many looks at the basket you aren’t going to score very often.

The Scott Community High School boys taught that lesson to the TMP-Marian Monarchs with an 86-38 thumping before a Homecoming crowd on Friday.

Scott City’s full-court pressure took a toll on the Monarchs, forcing 29 turnovers and limiting TMP to just 16 field goal attempts from two-point range in the first half while rolling along to a 49-18 cushion.

“We emphasize to the boys that when you press you play the passing lanes. Get a hand on the ball and cause a deflection,” says head coach Glenn O’Neil. “We did a good job of that.”

The Monarchs (2-7, 0-4) have struggled this season against pressing defenses and the Beavers took advantage with a 17-2 scoring run in the second period that broke open an early 6-4 SCHS lead.

Sophomore guard Braeden Robinson scored on a fastbreak layup during that first quarter stretch and the Beavers added steals and layups by Jorden Funk and Alex Swan that put them on top, 23-6.

SCHS followed that with a 9-0 scoring run that extended into the second period, giving them a 30-8 lead and erasing any hopes TMP had of climbing back into the game.

SCHS forced 20 first half turnovers before settling back into a half-court game.

Scott City has also continued excellent ball movement that has been typical of their three-game win streak that also included Goodland and Leoti earlier in the week. The Beavers dished out 24 assists, including a game high eight by junior guard Ron Baker.

“In this past week we’ve done a better job of making the extra pass and finishing it off by making the basket, which we weren’t doing earlier,” O’Neil says.

The assist-to-turnover ratio has turned around dramatically, from a 60-to-79 ratio through the first five games to a 52-to-29 ratio during the current three game win streak.

SCHS is still struggling somewhat with their perimeter shooting, hitting 3-of-10 from beyond the three-point line against TMP. However, they are doing a better job of pounding the ball into the middle where senior pivot Jorden Funk was 7-of-7 on his way to a game high 16 points while Austin Davis was 6-of-10 for a career high 14 points.

“We told Austin that his offensive production before Christmas was unacceptable and he’s responded. He’s working hard on post drills and he’s gaining more confidence with his shooting,” O’Neil says.

Senior guard Alex Swan was effective in slashing to the basket while hitting 5-of-5 from the field for 11 points. In addition to his eight assists, Baker also scored eight points and had a team high 10 steals in only about 16 minutes of play.

While the Beavers held a 40-35 edge in rebounding that doesn’t reflect the way Scott City controlled the boards. TMP was able to close the rebounding margin in the final 1-1/2 quarters when the Beavers’ JV and freshmen were on the floor.

“Winning all three games last week gives us some momentum for the (Orange and Black) tournament,” adds O’Neil. “If we can have a good tournament we could get on a roll during the next nine games to finish out the season.”