Wildcats continue hot streak, roll Panthers
by Barb Krohn, Standard-Journal
MIFFLINBURG — As well as the Mifflinburg boys have been playing, coach Eldon Hoy wasn’t happy with one particular aspect of their game — defense.
So when Milton came to town Friday night he challenged his team to hold the Black Panthers to single figures each quarter.
And while the Wildcats fell one quarter short of their goal, the result was what Hoy was looking for, a complete game pressure defense that resulted in a 70-27 Heartland Athletic Conference Division I win.
Mifflinburg, now 9-1, 3-0 HAC-I, takes to the road today for an afternoon game against Towanda. Milton falls to 2-8, 0-3. The Black Panthers travel to Greenwood tonight.
“Coach has been harping on us to play defense,” said senior center Jim Sowers, who finished with a team-high nine boards and 13 points.
“Our goal was to stop them. We tried to keep them from scoring double digits each quarter,” he said. “After the first quarter we did.”
At the beginning of the game, the Wildcats built an 11-4 lead as a result of their defensive efforts but let the Black Panthers in at the end of the quarter with a seven-point run that evened things at 11. Mifflinburg freshman Michael Wiand hit a shot at the end of the stanza, however, to make it 13-11 going into the second quarter.
The Wildcats reeled off 13 unanswered points in the second period, many of them from foul shots, which had the result of benching many of the Black Panthers starters.
Milton went into the locker room down 31-17, but coach Walt Patynski felt his team was still in the game.
“A couple shots (to start off the third quarter) and you’re in there,” he said.
But that wasn’t what happened after the intermission.
Instead, Mifflinburg came out with 12 unanswered points.
“They’re so explosive and their press wears on you,” said Patynski. “They just need a 10-point run and its hard to find the energy to come back.”
Junior point guard Zac Hoy, who finished with a game-high 17 points as well as eight steals, had been particularly challenged to up his defense Friday night.
“My dad’s been telling me to step up my effort on defense,” said the point guard. “I was able to do that tonight.”
“He’s the one (the coaching staff) has been getting on for lack of aggressiveness on defense,” said Coach Hoy. “If a team takes him out offensively, he gets a little lax defensively.
“But on defense all five have to work as a unit.”
The entire unit was certainly operational Friday night.
“They did a nice job of pressure,” said the Wildcats coach. “It was a team concept. We were switching everything, it wasn’t just one person. If (Milton) set a screen to release somebody, we did a nice job of pressuring the ball.”
And Zac Hoy was reminded how much enjoyment can be had from putting on that pressure.
“I forgot how much fun it is just to annoy people like that.”
Posted: January 10th, 2010 under JV-Varsity.
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