Prep Hoops: Turnovers plague Eagles in loss to Anna-Jonesboro
The problems that plagued Eldorado the last couple of games at the West Frankfort Mid-Winter Tournament came full circle Friday night against Anna-Jonesboro.
Turnovers, 26 of them and 14 in the first half, were the Eagles' Achilles heel in a 50-42 loss to Anna-Jonesboro.
From the get-go, the Wildcats' (12-8) full-court pressure forced Eldorado (12-10) into nine first quarter miscues. The first five possessions for the Eagles resulted in just two shots and three turnovers as A-J got out to a 7-0 lead with 5:15 to play.
Still, Eldorado found themselves down by as many 13, 34-21 in the third quarter, before turning it on offensively and getting back into the ballgame.
The Eagles closed the quarter out, outscoring A-J 14-7 and getting to within five at 38-33.
In the final eight minutes, got as close as three points, 39-36 after a jumper by Max Kasiar, but the Wildcats would knock down 10-of-13 foul shots in the final eight minutes to escape with the win.
Eldorado head coach Josh Bradley said the problems handling the rock Friday has been a microcosm of the last three or four games.
"It's like I told our guys, if you just take care of the basketball and make half the shot attempts you could have got off the turnovers, maybe you win the game by six or eight points instead of losing by six or eight. Ultimately that was the difference in the game.
"I thought in the second half, we did a much better job of taking care of the basketball and because we did, we didn't allow the pressure to both us. We just have to do a better job early in the game, not turning it over."
Eldorado was held to 7-of-15 shooting in the first half and trailed 31-19 at the break.
The pressure applied early was part of Anna-Jonesboro's head coach Mike Chamness' game plan coming in and said it helped early as his Wildcats struggled to score in the second half.
"We thought we could speed the up a little bit and force them into some things," Chamness said. "The first half I think we did that. That was the game plan, get them in a full court game and get them in a tempo they're not used to or comfortable with and in the first half we wanted to push it, where as in the second half, they kind of took us out of that a little bit and it showed because we didn't score very many points."
Trailing 34-25 in the third, Eldorado's Braden Attebury popped a pair of 3-pointers to get the Eagles to 34-31 with 2:03 to play, but A-J closed out the quarter up 38-33 after a buzzer shot by Garrett Nimmo.
" feel a little bit better about the second half," Bradley said. "I thought our kids, defensively, played better and our rotation was better. We played harder for 32 minutes than what we have been playing the past couple of games.
"Right now, we''re at a re-learning curve. Guys have got to get used to playing together and we have to get the confidence back up. If we can do that, we have a chance to make a run late in the season. As long as we can fix some things and keep working everyday and by the next couple of weeks here figure it out, we'll be okay. We have to get the confidence back in it and it mainly comes with our guard play. They have to do a better job of handling the basketball and get some confidence back in knocking down some outside shots. Attebury finally hit some outside shots tonight and then he rolls his ankle. The difference is right now, we turning it over a little bit, but we're not making anything from the outside either and when you're not making the shots from the outside and turning it over, one thing leads to another."
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Anna-Jonesboro 50
Eldorado 42
Score by quarters:
Eldorado 10 09 14 09 - 42
Anna-Jonesboro 16 15 07 12 - 50
3pt
Eldorado (10-12) FG FG FT R PF TP
Clay Boulds 2-3 0-0 1-1 6 3 5
Max Kasiar 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 2
Kale Oglesby 2-4 2-2 0-1 2 3 6
Ethan Partridge 4-11 0-1 4-6 7 4 13
Braden Attebury 5-8 2-3 1-1 2 2 13
John Meredith 0-6 0-3 0-0 4 0 0
Jacob Traxler 2-2 0-0 0-1 2 3 6
Adam Ninness 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 5 0
Payton Price 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Total: 16-37 4-10 6-10 23 20 42
3pt
Anna-Jonesboro (12-8) FG FG FT R PF TP
Ryan Star 1-3 0-1 6-6 0 2 8
Hunter Garver 3-6 2-5 2-3 2 3 10
Dakota Earnhart 2-9 0-0 6-8 6 2 10
Sheldon McGrath 3-6 0-0 1-1 1 1 7
Jake Parr 4-6 0-0 2-2 4 4 10
Collin Prather 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 0
Garett Nimmo 2-6 0-0 0-0 2 1 4
Wyatt Smith 0-0 0-0 1-2 3 2 1
Total: 15-37 2-7 18-22 18 17 50
Turnovers: Eldorado 26, Anna-Jonesboro 12
Technical Fouls: None