Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Lindside – Trailing 50-47 in the final 90 seconds, consecutive possessions told the story of the night for Independence.
The Patriots turned the ball over three times in the final two minutes, falling 55-53 against James Monroe in Lindside Wednesday night.
The possessions were emblematic of a night where the visitors turned the ball over 19 times, offsetting what was otherwise a solid offensive night.
After shooting 62 percent from the field against PikeView on Tuesday, Indy maintained that efficiency firing at a 54 percent rate Wednesday but it couldn’t make up for the lack of ball security.
“There was a span there in the third quarter where we come down and we had three straight turnovers and I just felt like that was a killer,” Indy head coach Shawn Jenkins said. “That was hard. At that juncture in the game, I just thought that was a crucial point in the game and we just didn’t take care of the ball very good tonight. Nineteen turnovers, you can’t win with 19 turnovers, but yet we were still in the game to win, you know what I mean? Which is a good thing.
“ I’m super proud of them, though, because it’s a hard place to come and play. We had a hard game last night and then to come here and have another one, but I like it because that’s how they’re gonna learn how to win. Playing in those close games and being in those environments, that’s how you grow up. I like the direction our team’s going, man. I told them just now, I’ll go to fight with you any day, you know what I mean? Any day.”
For James Monroe’s cast of characters it was time for another to step into the spotlight in senior Brady Baker.
With Ryan Mann battling foul trouble and eventually fouling out with six minutes to play, Baker proved key as post player Independence struggled to defend. He netted 7 of 8 field goal attempts, finishing with a team-high 16 points.
“One thing I like about this team and what I tried to tell them in the post game when I was talking to them was it’s kind of neat every night we got to find a little life about that and like be happy for each other,” James Monroe head coach Kelly Mann said. “Ryan tonight, really poor game, just never got in the game with fouls and even when he was in there it wasn’t good, but I’m a believer we’re nine deep. Brady, the last game, he had a pretty good game up at Liberty last night. He started to get a little more – he’s actually pretty efficient. He just went through a spell there where he just couldn’t put it in the basket for whatever reason, but he’s getting a little more comfortable. and I think it’s a component for us. Sometimes it’s about how you’re matching up and we had a pretty good match up tonight in the post. And they weren’t really doubling because I think they knew we had shooters standing there if you do double.”
The game was a consistent battle between both teams with Indy jumping out to a 7-2 lead before James Monroe stormed back for a 13-7 advantage. Six points proved to be the largest margin for either team through the opening six minutes with Indy leading 15-13 after a quarter and 28-27 at the break.
After a 19-point first half on Tuesday, Indy junior Sylas Nelson picked up where he left off, netting 16 points in 7 of 10 shooting in the first half, breaking down the James Monroe defense in the paint.
“Nelson, he’s a much better player than I thought,” Mann said. “I watched film and the film didn’t do him justice. He’s a good player and he’s physical, he’s quick, he can get to the post and he gets in there on two feet so he’s a tough match up. You put a bigger kid on him, he’s and he’s gonna go by. Finally I finally put Wil Boggess on him and Will kind of likes to take that challenge. I thought he did a good job. (Nelson) made some shots on him, but I kept telling him those are tough shots, so if he makes those, that’s fine. We don’t wanna give no easy layups, like he was getting early.”
Little changed out of the break in regard to margins with James Monroe squeaking out a 44-41 advantage heading into the final quarter but the tide began to shift there.
A short jumper from Kadyn Hines was followed by a layup from Baker to push the host’s lead to 48-41. A free throw and a layup from Indy’s Brock Green trimmed the deficit to 50-45 and later to 50-47 after an Ashton Arthur layup.
But a pair of turnovers on errant passes across the lane took away from Indy’s opportunities to cut the deficit further or tie the game. Layton Dowdy came up with the first steal for the Mavericks but a turnover on the other side gave Indy life again.
This time it was Jayden Miller nabbing an errant pass, getting the ball to Boggess for a pair of free throws to make it 52-47.
With under 20 seconds to play Indy found life once more when Arthur nailed a 3 to make it 52-50 but Hines closed the game out by making three free throws in the waning seconds. A 30-foot heave from Kaden Bradbury accounted for the final points.
“My expectations are for kids to do certain things and sometimes you’re asking kids who haven’t done it a lot and I get frustrated and it’s probably on me a little bit because they really are executing,” Mann said. “I got two or three guys, there was a key moment there I think they got up three or four, early in the third quarter, and Layton Dowdy is one of those guys, that may not show up huge in the stats sometimes, but he’s an emotional guy when he starts to feel games and he knew that it was it was a critical moment.
“He made two or three plays right there that were big. I mean, and you can just feel him. He has a feel for those moments, and then we get late in the game in all honesty, I think one of our strengths is we got several guys that can handle the ball and we can kill clock pretty easily. It’s ugly at times, but when you have four or five guys, they have a hard time. We can find matchups that we like and then make some free throws.”
Baker led the Mavericks with 16 points while Hines added 15.
Nelson finished with 22 points for Indy while Arthur netted 13.
I: 15 13 13 12 – 53
JM: 13 14 17 11 – 55
Independence
Ashton Arthur 13, Sylas Nelson 22, Brock Green 9, Kaden Bradbury 9
James Monroe
Wil Boggess 4, Layton Dowdy 6, Kadyn Hines 15, Jayden Miller 2, Bryce Gardinier 8, Brady Baker 16
