Ronan slips past Mission
<p>Mission's Stuart Grant steps back to gain seperation from Ronan's Dallas Jore in the Chiefs win Thursday. </p>
RONAN – The Ronan Chiefs battled back from a 12-point deficit to stun the visiting Mission Bulldogs on Thursday 57-40, the comeback win was a testament to the effervescent style of play Ronan has been showcasing all year.
The Bulldogs started the game scorching hot, blistering Ronan’s defense with 35 first half points. Nikko Alexander hit four first half three’s for Mission and Stuart Grant was dominate inside against the undersized Warriors. But Ronan senior Zach Wagner kept the Warriors close with his own display of 3-point shooting and Ronan was just down six at the break. Adjustments needed to be made if the Warriors expected to survive against St. Ignatius’ hot shooting.
“[At the break] we talked about not losing Nikko, he hit four three’s on us and we had to locate him and Grant,” said Chiefs coach Steve Woll. “We needed to execute better the second half and give better help defensively.”
In the first half, Mission was able to control the paint and get easy inside layups. When the Chiefs defense collapsed, the Bulldogs were able to find the open man outside the arc, usually Nikko Alexander for an open three. In the second half, the Chiefs turned up the intensity and did a great job contesting outside jumpers and limiting the Bulldogs to one-shot.
“We’re not a good rebounding team and that’s always an issue, but we rebounded well [against Mission] and our bench gave us great energy,” said Coach Woll.
In particular, Zeke Webster came off the bench to score 12 huge points as well as provide a presence down low. What started off as a hot shooting night for the Bulldogs, ended with Mission’s world quickly transforming into Brick city as the Bulldogs only managed 12 second half points. Credit to the Chiefs defense containing the hot shooting Alexander, who scored just two of his 14 points in the second half.
Despite being dramatically out played in the second half, the Bulldogs still found themselves in a position to win the game. As both teams were playing not to lose rather than playing to win, the fourth quarter was riddled with costly turnovers, along with unconverted field goals and foul shots. With ample opportunities to seal the deal, Ronan missed the front ends of several one-and-one chances and kept giving the Bulldogs new life. However, the Bulldog team continued to unravel and as missed shots piled up, Mission found themselves in a corner they couldn’t shoot their way out of. First, a missed layup by Grant ended with him arguing for a foul call he didn’t get. A technical was assessed to Grant, which gave Ronan free throws and the ball. With a three point lead and only seconds remaining, Ronan defended a last second Mission 3-pointer and held on for the dramatic come from behind win.
Zach Wagner, who turned in a gutsy 18 point, 10 rebound performance for the Chiefs, sparked praise from his head coach.
“He is kind of the heart and soul of our team, he really gets after it and does whatever it takes to win,” said Coach Woll.
The emotional win Thursday night didn’t carry over for the Chiefs 1-7, 6-12 who got overmatched Friday against Columbia Falls 84-52. The bigger and more athletic Wildcats jumped all over the Chiefs 32-6 in the first quarter.
“We ran into a buzzsaw. We forgot to get off the bus and play the first quarter,” said Coach Woll. “We just didn’t have the size to match up against them.”
Mission was able to bounce back nicely from their disappointing win Thursday by defeating Troy 44-31. Grant led the way with 15 for the Bulldogs and Jarred Brown had 11. St. Ignatius improved to 3-6, 6-12.