(January 10th, 2015) – MONTPELIER: It was the turnovers that killed the Locos chances of winning against Ayersville.
Playing host to the Green Meadows Conference (GMC) power, Montpelier found their hands to be full as the Pilots landed onto the Locomotive court. The Locomotives never found their rhythm, falling to Ayersville 71-34.
Early in the contest, the home team was able to keep pace with their guests from Ayersville. Roughly midway through the first quarter, however, the Pilot boys began to pull away. By the end of the period, Montpelier was down 17-10. The second quarter saw Ayersville pick up where they left off, outscoring the Locos 17-8. This put the hometown boys behind 34-18 at the half, putting them in a 16 point deficit.
It was more of the same in the third period. Montpelier lost more ground on the Pilots as they suffered a 19-11 setback. Heading into the final period of play, the Locos were down 53-29. That gap continued to widen in last quarter, with the Locomotives putting up their lowest point total of any period in the game with 5. Ayersville didn’t slow up their scoring attack, adding another 18 points to their own points collective.
Pressure from the Pilot defense took a toll on the Montpelier boys. Though schematically, the Locos seemed to have figured out how to break the full court press set up by Ayersville, the players themselves were panicked when rushed by defenders. Montpelier routinely had the ball bounce out of their hands as they went to receive passes. They made off-target passes to open teammates to get rid of the ball before the Pilots could execute a trap. It appeared as though Ayersville had a psychological advantage before the contest had even begun.
Rebounding was an issue for Montpelier as well. While they did a respectable job of gathering offensive boards, they weren’t nearly as diligent rebounding on the defensive side of the court. Ayersville had a good many second chances at the basket. The Locomotive defense, while not perfect, played solidly while the Pilots ran their offense, but allowing their opponent so many extra attempts canceled out most of that effort.
Offensively, Nate McCord led the Locos with 10 points, which he earned by working within the paint. Sophomore standout Michael Blake put up 8 points on the evening, finding ways to get to the free throw line a few times along the way. Connecting on the only three-point field goal scored by Montpelier on the evening, Kyrin Schuman contributed 7 points to the Locomotive effort as well.
Ayersville is a strong opponent, currently holding a 6-2 record while playing in the very competitive GMC. Still, it was a lack of fundamentals that caused this match-up to be so one-sided. Regardless of talent level, it’s difficult to win when a team struggles with turnovers and gives the other team multiple attempts at the basket.