Trinity Lutheran’s Mitchell Hackman looks for a teammate while being guarded by Crothersville’s Zachary Helt (22) and another Tiger during the first half of their game Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Trinity Lutheran’s Jacob Sabotin shoots over Crothersville’s Damian Bowman as Tigers Zachary Helt (22) and Adam Turner look on during the first half of their game Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Preston West has his shot blocked by Trinity Lutheran’s Caleb Williams as Levi Pottschmidt also applies defensive pressure during their game Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Trinity head coach Brad Dickey liked a lot of what he saw on the basketball floor Friday night as Trinity defeated Crothersville 72-48.
The Cougars used a big fourth quarter, outscoring Crothersville 23-10, to really extend their lead and secure the win.
“I liked a lot of things tonight,” Dickey said. “We worked together, we made shots, we made post passes, we cut, those are things that we’re trying to improve on every game.”
As for Crothersville, this was the Tigers first game since Jan. 8.
Despite the loss, they were happy to be back on the court.
“It was nice to knock that rust off,” Crothersville head coach Bryant Layman said. “We got some new pieces. We’re missing one of our best players (Devin Morgan), but it was good to just get out and play.”
Trinity started off the game hot, scoring 19 first-quarter points and taking a 19-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Cougars were able to find Jacob Sabotin for some easy looks in the paint, and Mitchell Hackman came in off the bench and provided a spark as well.
“We just wanted to make sure we touched it in multiple spots,” Dickey said. “Today we did. Our practices have been improved dramatically, and tonight our team play was much better during the game.”
Crothersville was a little rusty as expected.
But the Tigers shook the rust off in the second quarter, outscoring Trinity 22-17 in the quarter to cut the deficit to just eight, 36-28, at halftime.
“We did good,” Layman said. “We put the pressure on Trinity. That’s what our strength is, getting to the rim.”
Damian Bowman hit three 3-pointers in the first half and had eight points at halftime. Preston West also took advantage of Crothersville being in the bonus as he got to the free-throw line six times, made all of them, and also added an athletic layup to score eight points of his own.
“It was phenomenal,” Layman said of West’s ability to get to the hoop. “If he makes a few more around the rim it’s a whole other basketball game. We left 14 points on the floor just missing layups. It’s a whole other basketball game if you score 14 points and it’s tied going into the fourth.”
Sabotin and Hackman both had 10 points at the half to lead Trinity.
Trinity extended its lead out to 11 after the third quarter before running away with it in the fourth.
Hackman led the Cougars in scoring with 21 points, Jacob Conrad scored 15, Sabotin had 13 and Sage Broughton scored 12 to round out Trinity’s double-digit scorers. That quartet of players really dominated inside the paint on Friday.
“We’d like to have them convert even more than they do,” Dickey said. “The team did a good job seeing spaces in the zone and bouncing the ball in a little more often. Those guys caught it nice and made shots.”
As for Crothersville, West and Bowman both scored 14 points, Zachary Helt added nine, Adam Turner eight and Matthew Clouse three.
Both teams will back in action later today.
Crothersville (1-10) will be playing at Columbus Christian at 7:30 p.m. while Trinity (7-9) will stay home for Jac-Cen-Del at the same time.
“Today we were able to see more fruits of our labor and hopefully we can be in a competitive game again tomorrow,” Dickey said.
“We’re hoping to pick up a win Saturday, pick up a win Tuesday and pick up a win Wednesday,” Layman said. “We feel like the next three games are finally winnable on our schedule, and try to get on a roll before sectionals.”