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| Piper uses strong fourth quarter to topple Osawatomie |
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| Sports | |||
| Written by David Wolman | |||
| Friday, 23 January 2009 09:00 | |||
Osawatomie boys’ basketball coach Darren Soucie slapped his hands together as the teams lined up for the postgame handshake following Tuesday’s game against the Piper Pirates. He felt that his team let one slip away. Up 35-29 after three quarters, the Trojan defense had prevented the Pirates from developing any type of consistency on the offensive end.Confidence, however, is a big key to winning basketball games. Maintaining it for the entire 32 minutes is crucial. Soucie felt like his team lost its edge in the fourth quarter. That allowed Piper’s quick-strike offense to get going. As a result, the Pirates turned a six-point deficit into a 51-39 win in the first round of the Spring Hill Invitational. “That’s what happens when you’re not the aggressor,” Soucie said. “The key is for the kids to have confidence. Kids will make mistakes, but I’d rather have kids that make them and learn from them and play hard the whole game. If we’re going to grow up and get to the next level as a team, this was one of the teams that we have to beat.” Good free-throw shooting enabled Osawatomie (4-5) to get out to a 28-18 halftime lead. The Trojans made 11 of 13 free throws, compared to just three of eight for the Pirates in what otherwise proved to be a sloppy first half. “We’ve shot more free throws in practice than we have in any other year,” Soucie said. It was a reversal of fortune in the second half. Osawatomie made just two free throws, including zero of five in the fourth quarter, compared to 10 of 13 for Piper. Seth Jones led the Trojans with 11 points, in addition to seven rebounds. Brendan Soucie was still battling an ankle injury, which he suffered in last Friday’s win against Wellsville, but he battled hard on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds, in addition to seven points. Dylon Needham added six points and Brandon Oakes five points. Travis Marsh was forced to exit the game in the third quarter after suffering a broken nose. He had to be taken back to the locker room. The game was delayed several minutes so crews could clean up the blood on the floor. Marsh is expected to miss the remainder of the tournament. Jacob Vail missed the game due to an illness. Piper took the lead for good, 38-37, when Duane Smith took the ball to the rim for a layup following a steal with 4 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the contest. That was just part of 24-4 run to close out the game for the Pirates. “They’re a very talented and athletic team,” Soucie said of Piper. Osawatomie returns to the court tonight for a 5 p.m. tip-off in the semifinal round against Spring Hill.
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