(December 11th, 2014) – PETTISVILLE: Going into the fourth quarter, the Blackbirds led the Bombers 48-25. Edon outscored Pettisville 12-6 in that final stanza, making the final score a more respectable 54-37.
Josh Liechty put up 14 points, the most by any Blackbird in the game. He connected on both of his three-point attempts, and made 3 assists and 3 steals as well. Caleb Rychener scored 6 points to compliment his 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Tate Kauffman, who led Pettisville in scoring in all of their previous games this season, only had 3 points on the evening, making 1 of his 3 three-point shots.
Edon’s Alex Kirkingburg also put up 14 points, successfully placing 1 of his 3 three-point attempts through the bottom of the net. Teammate Braden Miller scored 8 points, making 2 three-pointers of his own. Jim Peckham contributed 5 points to the Bomber effort.
Where Edon really stumbled was in the turnover department. The Bomber boys committed 19 such errors, nine of which were steals by Pettisville. These turnovers not only take away from the offending team’s chances to get a shot off, they actually add opportunities to the other team, too. In contrast, Pettisville limited their own turnovers to 8.
Pettisville won the rebounding battle as well. The Blackbirds pulled in 27 boards. Edon, on the other hand, had 22 rebounds in the game.
The Blackbirds also shot a little better from the floor than Edon. While overall field goal percentages between the two teams were similar, with the Bombers edging out Pettisville 45% to 44%, the hometown Blackbirds were more accurate from the three-point line. Pettisville hit on 50% of their long range shots, as opposed to Edon’s 41%.
But it was the number of shots put up that makes those percentages have meaning. Edon shot the ball 31 times, while Pettisville did so 49 times. So making a similar percentage of shots to the Bombers actually netted the blackbirds significantly more points.
Both of these teams have struggled early into the season, and both needed a win in this game. Pettisville took the win, and is hoping to springboard a successful Buckeye Border Conference campaign from it. Edon, meanwhile, is still searching for that elusive first win.