By Dave Melton, For The Herald Bulletin
ALEXANDRIA — The Alexandria Tigers did everything they could to claw back into their game against Pendleton Heights, but their comeback ultimately fell short, as the Arabians won 69-61 in the season opener for both boys basketball teams.
After the game, Alexandria head coach Garth Cone talked about his team’s resiliency in the face of deficits that reached as high as 13 points in the third quarter.
“I learned that there’s no quit in us. We got down, but we came right back because we played solid basketball,” he said. “In the past, we’d get down by 10 points and our players would think one shot would be worth 10 points, and they’d take some bad shot. I learned that, at least in this situation, we’ve got some grit to us, and our kids will work.”
Sophomore Mitch Yeagy hit a 3-pointer with 3:34 remaining in the fourth quarter that tied the contest at 55, but Alexandria turned the ball over on its next two possessions, allowing the Arabians to put the game away. Pendleton hit 19 of its 23 free throws in the final two quarters, including an 11-for-12 stretch late in the fourth.
“That’s definitely a strength of ours,” Pendleton head coach Brian Hahn said after the game. “I have confidence in our kids to step up and make big free throws. That’s what they did in the fourth quarter.”
Pendleton took a 5-4 lead a few minutes into the contest and never trailed again. In the first half, the Arabians hit on nearly 58 percent of their shots, including 7-for-12 on 3-pointers. Sophomore Kellen Dunham made his first five shots, four of them from behind the arc, for 14 of Pendleton’s first 22 points.
“We didn’t want to give (Dunham) an open shot. We tried to be more alert and play him a bit closer,” said Cone. “Some of the shots he made ... they weren’t open shots, they were just good shots, even with a guy pressuring him. We didn’t have any answers for him early, but I thought (junior guard Chance) Morphew did a much better job after we found out that we needed to guard him closer.”
“We’re a perimeter-oriented team. That’s just who we are,” said Hahn. “We can score, we can make shots ... we can make it difficult on an opponent’s defense.”
The Tigers countered with quick ball movement that kept the Arabians defense on its heels for much of the first half.
“I thought our best offense was when we were willing to run it and take what they gave us,” said Cone. “When we tried to create something in two or three passes, then we got ourselves in trouble.”
Hahn credited the Tigers for their execution, but was frustrated with his defense’s inability to stop an offense it was expecting.
“We knew what they were going to run, and we weren’t alert, we didn’t react to cuts, we didn’t stay in passing lanes,” he said. “We just didn’t play very well, and they did a great job of taking advantage of that. They found the open man, they stayed patient, they worked the ball. Coach Cone and his players did a great job.”
Dunham finished with 26 points to lead all scorers. Sophomore Kendall Waters had 18, while senior Nathan Hendershot tallied 15 points. For the Tigers, senior Zach Yeagy led the way with 16 points, followed by Morphew’s 13 points and 12 from senior Matt Johnson.
