Paden City Boys Fall To Dragons
The Wildcats made the winding trip out Rt. 250 to Cameron on Thursday night, January 27, in hopes of upsetting the high powered Dragons, but the home team showed their power and overwelmed the visitors by the tune of 77-22.
The 55 point win was the wrong upsetting the Cat’s had hoped for as they couldn’t control the height advantage and experience of Cameron who had four players reach twin digits, including Lance Hartly who poured in a team and game high 22 points. He was joined in the effort by teammates Colson Wichterman with 14 including four from 3-point range. Cole Burkett and Trevor Beresford each connected for 12 markers.
Paden City didn’t have any one reach double figures, however seniors Brandon Hizer and Shane Anderson each hit for eight points in the losing effort. Paden City had multiple turnovers in the contest leading to several easy baskets for the hard pressing Dragons.
“Their press is tough,” Paden City coach Dave Riggle said. “They have 15 guys on their team and we have eight so it is hard to keep them sharp and focused when they are getting exhausted.”
“They are really great at playing passing lanes and we could have done a better job of playing passing lanes by getting our hands up.” “They are a physical team, too. A 6-foot-7 guy (Beresford) – you have to deny him the ball. They did a nice job when we paid him extra attention by sliding a guy in on the backside and they took advantage of that. They are good at seeing the floor and moving the ball around.”
The Dragons went up 9-0 and then went up big with several large runs to take a 53-12 lead heading into the locker room. By halftime the Dragons had three players in twin figures with Hartley leading the way with 19. The Dragons came out intiminating the Cat’s as their big man slam ducked a couple in the first half, and the defense accounted for 14 steals.
Going into the second half the Dragons scored seven straight points before going to the bench to even things up some. By the fourth quarter they were playing all bench players.
“We are a young team, but I have faith in these guys,” said coach Riggle. “Brandon Hizer played with a level of fire that we needed and I’m really proud of him for that. He did well on offense and defense. “Jeremiah Thomas is stepping into the point guard position and he does a nice job of seeing the floor. We have to do a better job of getting those guys in position to succeed.”
The Wildcats got four points from sophomore Joey Baker and two points from Thomas to round out the nights scoring for the Cat’s. Paden City only managed eight made shots from the floor, while also hitting on 4-8 from the free throw line. Cameron hit 23 field goals including six from 3-point land and added 5-8 free throws. The Dragons led in rebounding 35-19. While causing 27 turnovers and commiting just 11.