Tale of two halfs. Birds were lethargic and getting pushed around by the much bigger and stronger Dixie players in the first half. Getting out hustled and multiple senseless turnovers took them into the locker room down 26 to 12 with low heads. Something happened at the beginning of the second half and Cain's energy seemed to be contagious and the Birds rallied to post a 48 to 42 victory. Cain led the birds with 21 points seven steals and 9 floor burns. Bo Hebel provided some great post play in the second half as he shakes off the football blues. Dougherty had some nice assists and New and Kendell's scrappiness helped get them back in the game. Some nice minutes from Zigler and Walkenhorst helped fill the gap of the missing Heragott.

Nice win for the Baby Birds.

Halftime score was 22-12 after a horrific 12 minutes of play. Final score was 48-41 as the Birds had 2 18 point quarters in a row. Game had nothing to do with getting pushed around early and Dixie certainly was not stronger. This team stands around way too much and has kids playing out of position and others not playing enough IMO. In the second half the coach decides to go to an uptempo style and lets a swarming defense create a lot of offensive opportunities. This team has a lot of athletes that can play the game of basketball and when you force them to stand around to run an offensive set good things do not happen. Sets can still be run, but opportunities should be taken when they arise. There were numerous nice passes made in the second half for open looks around the basket as well as out on the perimeter, all the result of kids understanding that one extra pass may lead to an easier opportunity for others. Second half was very impressive and now they have to see if they can keep the momentum going on Friday at Brossart and on Saturday at Bracken County.

Can someone post the HHS roster?

Can someone post the HHS roster?

 

Geoffrey Mearns

Austin Mayhew

Nick Kendall

Jordan Johnson

Mark Walkenhorst

Austin Hergott

Mitchell Cain

Jared Dougherty

Bo Hebel

Chandler New

Conner Kreeger

Ben Ziegler

Benny Towles

 

Many names should be familiar to those that follow the football program. All but 3 are footballers and all are multi-sport athletes. I believe most if not all will continue to play hoops in the future and many have played together for numerous years on the AAU circuit. Cain and Kreeger actually play baseball as well. If Ben Weyer stays at HHS rather than going to the hill this would be a pretty special class IMO, however they still can be pretty good when "they" decide they want to play rather than just go through the motions.

How Long has Caín been in Ft Thomas?

How Long has Caín been in Ft Thomas?

 

He came in 7th grade after playing AAU basketball with this bunch the prior spring. His mom is an HHS alum so it was a pretty easy sell.

Most points from JAOT are on the money with the exception of the fact that the Birds were getting beat up in the first half and the refs were letting them play. Which they did on both ends so it wasn't an excuse. Matter of fact it was probably the best ref'd game the Birds have been in this year. The hacks caused many an errant shot that didn't come close to going in. I guess stronger wasn't the right term but the play looked that way. Totally right on too much standing around. Especially on inbounds against the press. In a couple minute stretch the were 2 five second calls and a desperate pass out of bounds due to the count running down. Ball handling out of the 1 and 2 needs to improve. The 3 4 and 5 seems to play well in their roles until the lineup gets jumbled. There could be more bench play but this team doesn't go but about 8 or 9 deep. But again it's Frosh so kids are still trying to define themselves and find their role. Sorry about the scoring mix up but they were close guesses...

He came in 7th grade after playing AAU basketball with this bunch the prior spring. His mom is an HHS alum so it was a pretty easy sell.

 

Got it, I used to work with his Dad downtown. I was trying to piece it together. Thanks