Cold Shooting Dooms Cagers
December 12, 2023
It was a trip to Grafton that the Cagers want to forget. The visitors could not get anything going en route to a 69-33 drubbing at the hands of Christian Community School (CCS).
Fresh off their first practice of the year, the Cagers (0-2) found themselves in a hole very quickly in the first quarter. On the offensive end, nothing was falling. It was as if there was a lid on the rim. On the defensive end, they couldn’t stop a red-hot shooting CCS team. If not for a late 3-pointer by Matt Smotherman, the Cagers would have been blanked in the frame. At the end of 8 minutes, it was 20-3.
The second quarter the Cagers started to wake up a little bit on the offensive side of the court thanks to Alex Schroer. The ultra-athletic 6-3 wing fired in 8 points in the frame. “Alex is an exceptional athlete. He has the ability to rise up over people to get his shot off,” said Head Coach Doug Hamsher. Daylan Nussbaum and Smotherman would add a hoop a piece with Trent Roe canning 2 foul shots to round out the scoring in the quarter. According to Hamsher, scoring 14 points in a quarter isn’t all that bad, unless you give up 27 to your opponent. “CCS was absolutely on fire. We had no answer for them.” At the half, the route was on as CCS held a commanding 47-17.
The second half was much the same as CCS scored at will and the Cagers looked like a team that was just formed. As a matter of fact, the Cagers had been together for 7 days, played 2 games, but only had one practice. Add three freshman and a sophomore to the roster and this is the youngest, most inexperienced team the Cagers have ever fielded. “This team is unlike any Cager team I have coached. It is going to be a process, but I think we can come together and be competitive,” said Hamsher.
For the game, Schroer led the Cagers with 16 points, Smotherman had 11, Roe had 4 and Nussbaum added a bucket.
