Cosmos claim W in Townshend

Sloppy second-half play and apparent fatigue forced the Townshend boys basketball coach to use nine of his 11 players in the Rebels’ 60-53 loss to Springfield on Thursday.

http://www.reformer.com/ci_17091358

Cosmos claim W in Townshend

By DOMENICPOLI / Reformer Staff

Friday January 14, 2011

TOWNSHEND -- The message on Phil Davis’ dry erase board in the Leland & Gray weightroom was a simple one.

"Mistakes = bench time, hustle = playing time."

But sloppy second-half play and apparent fatigue forced the boys basketball coach to use nine of his 11 players in the Rebels’ 60-53 loss to Springfield on Thursday. After securing a 28-23 halftime lead, Leland & Gray fell apart and walked away with a 4-3 record on the season.

"I kind of got the same results with the nine players. I mean, that’s a lot of different players -- and we got the same results," Davis said in the weightroom after the game. "We have a lot of talent but we need to learn how to play as a team a little better ... Teams win games. Individuals usually don’t."

Both squads came out trading punches to start the contest and the Rebels had a 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Davis told his boys before the game and at halftime that defensive rebounding would lead to fast break offenses.

"We needed to finish and get some more rebounds and we did an OK job of that in the first half," he said. The Rebels finished the evening with 34 rebounds, which Davis said he was satisfied with.

Noah Chapin led the Rebels in points, with 12. Josh Fontaine tallied 11, Drew Barnum scored 10 and Nupp notched eight. Barnum led his squad with eight in the first half.

Leland & Gray kept up its intensity and displayed solid
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ball distribution in the second quarter. Selfless passing between Brandon Reilly and Billy Nupp produced a 21-16 Rebels lead when Nupp found the nylon for two points. The hosts later managed to go into the break with their 28-23 advantage.

"We didn’t look like the same team (after halftime). All our zone principles that we work on -- our offensive principles -- went out the window. It became chaos out there," he said. "It looked like a bunch of individuals out there on the court, instead of a team. Not a whole lot of bright spots in that second half. Our effort was low."

The Cosmos began their comeback early in the second half and tied the game at 37 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The two teams stayed neck and neck and went into the fourth frame at 45-all.

Missed shots plagued the Rebels throughout the second half as they notched just one basket in the fourth quarter’s first two minutes while Springfield scored seven points in that time. Leland & Gray couldn’t make up any lost ground and the scoreboard read 60-53 when the final buzzer sounded.

"For blocks of time, we’re great, and for other blocks of time, we’re non-existent," Davis said. "It’s a long season and 4-3 is not where we expected to be but we’re going to move on from here."

The Rebels are set to host Black River at 6 p.m. on Monday. The girls basketball team is slated to host Mount St. Joseph at 12:30 that afternoon. There is no school scheduled for Monday, as it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Note: Leland & Gray softball coach Tammy Claussen sang the national anthem before the game.