NEW BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The Jamestown Eagles boys basketball team played some tough defense in its 48-22 win over the New Bloomfield Wildcats on Dec. 21. With the win, the Eagles improve to 3-4 on the season.
The most points the Eagles gave up in a single quarter was nine points, which came in the third quarter.
Head coach Jay Thompson said the team tried to make New Bloomfield uncomfortable by putting pressure on the ball.
"I thought that especially when our offense wasn't going, we did things defensively that tried to get us going," Thompson said. "We scored some points from our transition. We really put emphasis coming into this game that we were going to pressure the basketball and try to make things happen defensively."
The defensive performance can give the team something to build on, he said.
"It tells the team there are multiple ways to win," Thompson said. "We are going to have games where we don't hit shots from the outside, and you (have) to find a different way to win. We did that - one thing is defense always travels."
Jamestown fell behind early on in the game, as the Eagles trailed 3-0 early in the first quarter. The Eagles responded well, with a 7-0 run to take a 7-3 lead with just over 6 minutes left in the quarter. With under 3:30 left to go in the quarter, Clark Rohrbach hit a three-pointer that made it a 11-3 game. The Eagles ended the quarter up 15-6.
Jamestown led by 11 points at 19-8 with less than 7 minutes left before halftime. The Eagles expanded their lead to 23-9 with under 2 minutes left, and New Bloomfield tacked on another point, making it 23-10 with under 1:30 to go. Rohrbach scored off an offensive rebound with 2.3 seconds left to make it a 15-point game at 25-10 right before halftime.
Jamestown slowly pulled away in the third quarter as the team led 31-14 with 4:30 left in the quarter. A basket by Christian Snyder made it 33-14 with under 1:30 left. New Bloomfield closed the gap ever so slightly as they ended the quarter on a 5-2 run to make it a 35-19 game.
In the fourth quarter, both teams struggled to score against their opponents' defense. The first points of the quarter were not scored until there was under 5 minutes left. It was Jamestown that finally got on the board first, as the Eagles made it a 37-19 game. Jamestown outscored New Bloomfield 13-3 in the final quarter. Five of the Eagles' 13 points in the final quarter came from free throws, as the team went 5-7 from the line.
Thompson said when the team is going through some scoring droughts, patience is key.
"Thing one is patience," Thompson said. "We want to be fast, but we do not want to be in a rush, and we were in a rush a lot of times tonight. We did not let guys get to spots before we moved the basketball. We passed it in tough situations where guys are not going to score. I think just patience goes a long way - make the right pass, and you are going to start making open shots."
Turnovers were an issue for the Eagles, as they gave up the ball 17 times in the game. Thompson said the turnovers were due to the team not being patient and New Bloomfield being scrappy.
"Instead of playing quick, we were just rushing," he said.
Clark Rohrbach led Jamestown with 16 points, followed by Tristan Jones with 12 points and Christian Snyder with eight points.
The team's next game is Dec. 28 as the fifth seeded Eagles play the fourth seeded Green Ridge Tigers in the first round of the Stover Tournament. The tournament goes from Dec. 28-Jan. 4.