Taking advantage of a timeout, Medora coach Mark Morin talks to his team during the 72-39 sectional loss against West Washington played at Edinburgh March 4, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
After coming up with the loose ball, Eli Sturgill, right, looks to pass during the 72-39 sectional loss against West Washington played at Edinburgh March 4, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Medora’s Shepard Earl squares up for the shot during the 72-39 sectional loss against West Washington played at Edinburgh March 4, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Medora’s Eli Sturgill readies the bounce pass to the inside during the 72-39 sectional loss against West Washington played at Edinburgh March 4, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
Taking advantage of being open, Dawson Cornett takes a shot from outside the key during the 72-39 sectional loss against West Washington played at Edinburgh March 4, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
EDINBURGH — For the first 17 minutes of Friday’s Medora-West Washington clash in the Edinburgh Class 1A sectional, the Hornets gave the Senators all they could handle.
When Medora’s Braxton McCory hit a 3-pointer early in the third period, it cut the Senators’ lead to 31-28.
Hornets Coach Mark Morin said the first half was one of the Hornets’ best halves of the season as they shot 11-for-19 from the floor, and had it not been for seven turnovers, they could have had a lead at the break.
After McCory’s basket, the Senators raised their level of play at both ends of the floor as they went on a 14-0 run to take a 45-28 lead, then extended the margin to 56-31 at the end of the period and coasted to a 72-39 win.
The Hornets had one of their best opening periods of the season as they held a 12-6 lead on a 3-pointer by McCory with 1:26 left in the opening period.
Shepard Earl was strong inside throughout the first half as he had three baskets and a free throw, to go along with four rebounds in the first period, and he shot 4-for-4 from the floor in the second period.
Morin said his team played good basketball for 17 minutes “then old habits started raising their heads. We’re bad about we make one mistake and then it multiplies and we don’t go onto the next play.
“They were jump-trapping and we would pick the ball up when we weren’t across half-court. West Washington got more aggressive with their traps in the second half, and we don’t handle that very well. West Washington was shooting the ball well and I didn’t feel like we could ‘man’ them.”
The Senators shot 25-for-58 from the floor and the Hornets were 15-for-40. The Senators held a 26-21 advantage in rebounds.
The Hornets cooled off to 1-for-10 shooting from the floor in the third period and had six of their 17 turnovers in the third period.
The Senators found holes in the Hornets’ 2-3 zone and made 12 3-pointers and the Hornets finished with four shots from beyond the arch.
Lane Hoefler and Kaden Zink both made two 3-pointers, Jaxson Cambron made one three and Kenton Chase made two baskets when the Senators outscored the Hornets 25-8 in the third period.
Eli Sturgill hit a free throw at the 4:06 mark of the third to end West Washington’s run, and McCory added a basket at the 1:02-mark.
The Hornets (4-20) were led in scoring by Earl with 16 points and McCory with 10. Earl was high rebounder for the Hornets with nine.
The Senators adjusted their defense in the second half and limited Earl to two field goal attempts after he was 7-for-7 in the first half.
The Senators were led by Cambron and Hoefler as both hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points.
“I’m proud of them,” Morin said of his team. “I told them all I wanted was for them to play hard. They played hard so I can’t ask for much more than that.
“We talked about we’re going to meet next week. We’ve got some kids coming up that will be freshmen that are going to help us. I asked them which feeling they liked the most: the feeling we had at halftime or the feeling we had at the end of the game? Lets shoot for that good feeling that we had at halftime.”
There weren’t any seniors on Medora’s sectional roster.
The Senators (11-12) will play Edinburgh at 7 p.m. tonight for the championship.