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ReprintPleasant Hill took down Warrensburg 65-58 in the non-conference but rival game Dec. 4. But the final score doesn’t reflect just how close the battle was and how hard the Roosters had to fight to get the victory.
“That’s just a typical game between us and Warrensburg,” Pleasant Hill head coach Ryan Messinger said. “We know each other really well...It’s early in the year, so it’s hard to really know what each team was going to have.”
Despite the effort of senior center Brad Smith in the first quarter, (he put in eight points for the Roosters) Pleasant Hill only had a 14-13 advantage. In the second quarter, with Pleasant Hill ahead at 16-15, the Roosters finally went on a 7-0 run, with two buckets from Smith, a basket from senior Dillan Findley and a free throw from senior Christian Martin to put Pleasant Hill up 23-15.
But Warrensburg put in two baskets in a row to edge closer at 23-19. After a shot from Pleasant Hill junior Josh Shewmaker, the Tigers put in two more baskets to make the score 25-23. The score was still close with the Roosters just ahead at 27-25 at halftime.
“We need to work on defense,” Pleasant Hill Matt Townsend said. “But we played as a team and we came back.”
In the third quarter, with the score knotted at 29-29, the Roosters went on a 14-0 run, with two three-pointers and a bucket from Townsend, a basket each from Smith, Findley and senior Nick Shore and two free throws from Shewmaker. Pleasant Hill then led 45-29.
“I just wanted to help the team out and go get a win,” Townsend said of his effort. “That’s all I really wanted at that point.”
“We are a very streak team and more so than we have been in the last few years,” Messinger added. “Matt can really get hot and Josh hasn’t been really shooting very well and he really came on tonight and made some big shots.”
In the fourth quarter, with the Roosters ahead at 59-42, Warrensburg hit three three-pointers in a row to close the gap to 59-51. But with less than a minute left in the game, the Tigers get fouling Pleasant Hill, who sunk seven of eight free throws to seal the victory.
“I thought overall, we did a good job executing what we wanted to do,” Messinger said. “Offensively we really focused on getting good possessions tonight and we did a good job of keeping the ball moving and got it inside to Brad early like we need to. For us to be successful we have to play inside out.”
The Roosters were led in scoring by Smith with 21 points, followed by Townsend with 16 points and Shewmaker with 10 points. Findley had eight points, Shore had six points, Martin had three points and Brandon Uebele had two points.
Pleasant Hill improves their record to 2-1.
