Eagles' season ends at Flora
For the second straight year, the NCHS Eagles were bounced out of 2A regional play by the Robinson Maroons last Tuesday at Conley Gym 72-54 in semifinal action. A year earlier, the Eagles fell to the Maroons in the Olney Regionals 69-57.
In this game, the Eagles trailed 14-10 after the first quarter as Japheth Bear scored 6 points on a pair of field goals, one of which came from the arc, and added a foul shot. Bear closed out his high school career eventually with 14 points on the night. Jake Pilman scored the other four points in the opening period on a couple of field goals. Pilman, the team's leading scorer for the game, had 15 in closing out his varsity career.
However, in the second quarter, Robinson swished the nets for 24 points while holding the Eagles to just 8 forcing the Eagles to overcome a huge obstacle and a 38-18 deficit. After that the Eagles played the Maroons fairly even being outscored 14-13 in the third, but holding a 23-20 edge in the final quarter of the year in a no quit situation. "We tried to hold down (Ben) Jones and (Meyers) Leonard early, but we could not do it. Jones made his shots and we didn't box out well and that gave them a lot of second chances that shouldn't have happened," said Eagle Coach Doug Mammoser as his team finished 14-13 for the season.
"We just dug ourselves a hole that we couldn't climb out of even though we battled hard and had a decent second half." The Eagles actually outscored Robinson 36-34 in the half with the second quarter the big difference. In the second half, the Eagles made 12 field goals including a pair of treys. They converted 10 of 13-second half foul shots as Robinson was whistled for ten-second half fouls.
The Eagles ended 12 of 19 from the charity stripe along with 19 field goals of which four came from downtown. No other Eagle reached double figures after Pilman's 15 and Bear's 14. Alex Frohning finished his playing career with 8 points on three baskets and two foul shots. Sophomore Peyton Wyatt also had 8 points, all coming in the second half. Junior Taylor Kerner knocked down three baskets in the fourth quarter to add spark to the attack. Senior Jerry Howze closed out with a three-pointer. Also seeing playing time were Brian Emmerich, Scott Jansen and Dylan Davidson for the Eagles.
