What we learned: 3 takeaways from Mosley's 72-58 win over Rutherford

LYNN HAVEN — Through the first 16 minutes of play, it appeared as though the season's first meeting between Mosley and Rutherford at Jim Redfern Gymnasium might go down to the wire.

Then the third quarter happened.

A 21-1 Dolphins run to start the second half blew open a six-point game en route to a 72-58 victory, as Mosley improved to 10-10 on the season and Rutherford fell to 12-7.

Mosley made three 3-pointers in the first 2:25 of the third quarter to spark a run that pushed the margin to as much as 26 points. The Rams cut it to 13 by the end of the quarter, but the Dolphins quickly pushed the lead back up to 20 with a 7-0 run to start the fourth.

Dolphins coach Darin Ford said there were no big adjustments coming out of halftime, but he wasn't surprised at his team's performance given the way they prepared in the two days since Tuesday's 56-54 road win over South Walton.

"We arguably had our best practice of the year yesterday," he said. "It's really good right now. I'm super impressed with our focus. We're excited to see where it takes us. This is an exciting win because Rutherford is really, really good."

The Rams may not feel like an especially good team at the moment having now lost four of their last five games, with the season taking a sharp turn in the wrong direction following a stretch in which they had won eight out of nine.

With just over two weeks until the start of district tournaments, Rutherford doesn't have a whole lot of time left to right the ship.

"To me it's just about playing winning basketball," Rams coach Rhondie Ross said. "We're not playing winning basketball right now. It's getting timely stops, taking care of the basketball and getting quality looks. If you're getting quality looks on offense it's gonna help your transition defense, but we're not doing that right now."

A much-needed win

The victory had to feel especially gratifying for the Dolphins following a run of four consecutive losses in games against Bay County opponents. Three of those losses had come in the last two weeks, falling to Arnold by three, North Bay Haven by seven, and Bay High by 12.

Suffice it to say, there was plenty of motivation for the Dolphins on Friday.

"Ever since the last few ones we took some losses so it feels good to get back on track and get on the winning side again," Mosley senior point guard Josiah McCall said. "It was a big motivation because it was a big statement game. We needed one of those big wins to finally turn the season around. We've been losing a lot, so we felt like it was a real needed win tonight."

Ford has drawn a parallel for his team to last year's group that hovered around .500 before making a late push and winning a district championship and a playoff game.

Friday's win gives the Dolphins two in a row following a three-game losing skid, and with four more games remaining on the regular season schedule they can match their season-best six-game winning streak from December.

"We rode that six-game win streak through momentum and now we've got to recapture that same momentum," Ford said. "I think we're starting to feel good right now. Obviously the skid at the Christmas tournament was tough and then losing some close games after, but I'm super proud of our resolve to win two in a row with a tough South Walton game on the road and then to come out tonight and play as well as we did on offense and at times the way we played on defense was very encouraging."

Spreading the wealth

Perhaps no better explanation for the outcome can be found than in the disparity of the scoring distribution among the teams.

While only four Rutherford players scored, with Antonio Morgan (29 points), Zac Edwards (16), and Janorian Allen (11) combining for 56 of the Rams' 58 points, the Dolphins had a far more balanced attack.

KJ Kyle led four Mosley players in double figures with 18 points, followed by Jakian Taylor with 14 points, McCall with 13 points, Raedyn Bruens with 10 points, EJ Reddice with eight points, and Randy Pittman with seven points.

After Kyle exploded for 13 points in the first half, it was Taylor, McCall, and Bruens who led the charge in the second half with 10, nine, and eight points, respectively, with Reddice helping close it out with seven points in the fourth quarter.

For a team that has been inconsistent on offense this season, that kind of balance was more than welcome.

"Oh for sure," Ford said. "We played really well. We did a good job of controlling the tempo tonight. When we had opporutnities tos core we did that, when we had opportunities to slow it down and take care of it and move the ball around and find cutters and stuff like that we did. That's exciting because we've struggled to score at times, but it looks good right now and we're excited about that."

Rams' third quarter blues

Friday's game followed a very similar script to the last outing for the Rams against a county foe on Jan. 7 against Bay when the Tornadoes turned a 31-24 halftime lead into a 22-point margin thanks to a dominating 23-8 third quarter run.

Even with a 15-2 run to close the third quarter on Friday, Rutherford still ended up getting outscored once again in the third by Mosley 23-16. That's how disastrous the first five minutes of the second half were for the Rams.

"For some reason we're not a very good third quarter team," Ross said. "Every game that's gotten away from us it's been in the third quarter. If you go back and look at our stats I'm pretty sure we've won most fourth quarters, we just get killed in the third quarter.

"We got down like that against Bay too. I don't have the answer right now, we've got to find away to get it done in the third quarter. You get down and then you fight back, but then you run out of time. You can't keep falling behind like that. It's easy to play when you're behind because you're playing hard and you can't think about the clock. We have to know how to manage games and get stops."

The stops would be easier to come by if the Rams were able to get more buckets at the other end, allowing them to set up their defense instead of rushing back to stop the opponent's transition game after misses and turnovers.

That's been easier said than done for the Rams, who are averaging just 51 points per game in their losses this season and have been held under 50 points on five different occasions.

"We're not scoring enough points," Ross said. "To win games you've got to average being in the 60s. I think we had a six-point first quarter tonight, so we're getting off to slow starts too. We had to fight and claw to get back in the game, but then they hit us with another (run) in the third."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: 3 takeaways from the Dolphins' 72-58 win over Rutherford