Woodridge boys basketball suffers two close losses
It was a tough week for the Woodridge boys basketball team.
The Bulldogs lost an overtime game and a one-point contest to slip to 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the Metro Athletic Conference.
The overtime defeat was Jan. 21 at MAC rival Coventry by a score of 67-59. The one-point loss was Jan. 25 at home to conference rival Cloverleaf by a 55-54 count.
In the loss to Coventry, Woodridge led 16-12 after one quarter and extended its lead to 33-23 at halftime. The Bulldogs fell behind, though, 43-41 after three quarters before forcing overtime with the score tied 56-56 at the end of regulation.
“We got out to a fast start and did some good things but kind of struggled to get in at the half. I think we were up 16 and Coventry cut it to 10 at halftime,” Woodridge head coach Ric Blevins said. “We came out in the third quarter and just went really flat. Coventry scored a few baskets and we got some great looks but couldn’t finish.
“We really struggled in overtime to score the basketball. In overtime games, one or two possessions make all the difference in the world, and Coventry scored on their possessions and we got good looks but couldn’t score on ours. That was pretty much the game. It was a good basketball game. We just came up on the wrong side.”
Leading the way for Woodridge was senior point guard Ben Kiser, who scored 21 points, including four three-pointers.
Junior shooting guard Owen Snyder scored 12 points, including 10 free throws.
“Owen did a nice job hitting some big free throws that got us into overtime,” said Blevins. “He plays hard at both ends of the floor.”
In the loss to Cloverleaf, Woodridge trailed 13-7 after the first quarter before cutting its deficit to 29-24 at the half and then 39-35 after the third quarter.
“We were tentative on the offensive end of the floor. We turned the ball over way too much,” Blevins said. “Defensively, we didn’t do a very good job in man. At the end of the game Cloverleaf was able to get up 10 or 12 on us with about five minutes to go, but we were able to get it to a one-possession game.”
The visitors got the ball back with about 15 seconds left with no timeouts.
“We kind of forced the ball up the floor and were fortunate to have the ball go out of bounds off of Cloverleaf,” said the coach. “We had it out of bounds with three seconds left but just did not execute our play very well and ended up with a very mediocre shot, and unfortunately it did not go in.”
Snyder scored 18 points, including two three-pointers. Senior power forward Esseck Bryant scored 10 points, including two three-pointers, while sophomore small forward Evan Duve had eight points.
“Evan did a nice job for us,” Blevins said. “Cloverleaf has a 6-7 sophomore who is a pretty good post player, and Evan held him in check. Defensively he did a great job, and rebounding he did a great job.”
According to Blevins, his team is in a bad spot right now.
“We’re struggling for anything positive to happen,” he said. “I’ll own my share of it. I’m not doing a very good job as a coach. Hopefully, that’ll change.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Woodridge boys basketball suffers two close losses
