North Union jumped out to a 15-2 lead and never looked back, beating Shawnee 60-46 in a key Mad River Division game in Springfield.
“(North Union) came out ready to play and executed,” said Braves coach Chris McGuire. “They just kind of put it to us right from the get-go. They got a lot of open shots, we had a lot of breakdowns defensively that led to their open shots. We knew they could shoot it. They’ve got some skilled guys. They got a lot of open shots and were able to hit those open shots.”
Senior Cody Siemon had 16 points and Darian Dixon added 11 as Shawnee fell to 11-7 and 6-2 in the CBC Mad River Division. The Braves fell into a second place tie with North Union (13-3, 6-2).
Indian Lake (15-4, 8-0) has already clinched at least a share of the title and can clinch it outright by beating the Braves on Feb. 9.
With two games remaining, Shawnee must win its final two games against Indian Lake and Graham. The Braves will also need North Union to beat the Lakers in their season finale on Feb. 16 to force a three-way tie for the Mad River Division title.
After trailing by 13 early in the first quarter, Shawnee cut the lead to 22-20. However, the Wildcats went on a 14-6 run to end the first half, taking a 36-26 lead.
“The guys fought back,” McGuire said, “and we continued to have breakdown after breakdown, which we’ve talked about. If we’re not good defensively, we struggle and that’s exactly what happened tonight. They did a good job being physical with us and forced us into turnovers offensively. The credit goes to them. They came ready to play. They came on a mission and took it to us from the get-go.”
Shawnee trailed by 17 points midway through the third quarter. The Braves cut it 10 points with a minute remaining in the period, but the Wildcats made two straight layups to push it back to 14 points. Wildcats senior Draper had 18 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while senior Mason Bright and junior Miles Hall each added 11 points for North Union.
“We couldn’t really get any momentum because it was all based off of us breaking down defensively and them taking advantage,” McGuire said. “They just out executed us at both ends of the floor.”
After starting the season 7-0, the Braves have won four games since Dec. 30, including back-to-back victories over CBC Kenton Trail Division leader Kenton Ridge and Benjamin Logan.
“We’ve got to be consistent,” McGuire said. “It’s got to be every night we’ve got to execute. We haven’t done that. For whatever reason we have nights where we look good and play with a ton of energy and nights where we’re flat and we’re not executing and not in the right spots. We’ve got to figure it out.”
Shawnee faces a tough stretch to end the regular season. In addition to the game on Feb. 9 at Indian Lake, the Braves host Urbana (Feb. 13) and Graham (Feb. 16) in their final two games of the regular season.
“We’ve got to play our best basketball to be in these games,” McGuire said.
While the Braves remain in the league race, the goal moving forward is to continue to improve as they head into the postseason, McGuire said.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to focus on getting better and being consistent,” McGuire said. “If it falls into our lap, we’ll take it. It stings a little bit more when you had control of it and had your own destiny and can’t execute and get it done.”
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