Coach Ryan Benz thought he had his opponent figured out, recognizing the potential threats and who to lock down on defense.
He was willing to let his Wright City boys basketball team take its …
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Coach Ryan Benz thought he had his opponent figured out, recognizing the potential threats and who to lock down on defense.
He was willing to let his Wright City boys basketball team take its chances against California during the seventh-place contest at the Hermann Tournament on Saturday.
“We knew they were going to shoot a bunch of threes,” said Benz. “What worried me is that they had a couple of big sized kids.”
Turns out he underestimated the Pintos’ perimeter accuracy.
“I thought we could just take our chances on them not making as many threes as they did today,” said Benz.
He never expected the 14 treys California rained in during a 93-64 rout that saw the Pintos flirting with the century mark during the final moments.
“It’s frustrating, because the one guy I thought could light us up didn’t really and then one I thought we didn’t have to key on goes for 17 points in the first quarter,” said Benz.
The damage was done early, and the Wildcats were never able to recover.
“They came out and hit their first four 3s,” said Benz. “It was hard to come back from there.”
California established a 27-17 lead after one quarter.
“Offensively, in the beginning I thought we did some good things,” said Benz. “Although we missed some shots, we were getting good looks.”
He felt his team responded to the initial scoring onslaught with improved defensive effort.
“We played a nice second quarter overall and finally got up on their shooters a little better,” said Benz.
Ultimately, the Pintos’ persistent uptempo offense took its toll on the Wildcats, following a 50-29 deficit at halftime.
“Them getting up and down the floor wore us out,” said Benz. “If you get worn out physically, you’re also going to probably mentally. We made some poor choices during that time that really hurt us.”
Wright City prevented the Pintos from extending the margin in the third period, trailing 71-50 after matching California offensively during that stretch.
Pressure intensified in the final period, as the opposition also began scoring in transition.
“We stayed in the 2-3 zone just to try to get a hand up on their shooters,” said Benz. “They rebounded really well offensively. Ultimately, we lived by the 2-3 and ended up dying by it.”
Senior J.J. McRoberts led the Wildcats with 24 points, while sophomore Kyle Johnson added 14 points. Also leading among the seven Wright City players to score was sophomore Hayden Beck with 10 points.
Wright City was without Dillon Seabaugh, who sat out with an injury sustained earlier in the week.
The Wildcats are slated to host Silex on Friday.
With a few weeks remaining in the regular season, McRoberts is leading the way with 14.9 points, while Seabaugh has been averaging 12.9 and Branden Contrares is adding 9.2 per game.
