Tigers cool in second half
Published 12:50 pm Saturday, January 24, 2009
As quick of a start as the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team got off to during the first half Friday against John Marshall in Albert Lea, it came to a grinding halt to open the second half.
The Tigers (1-12, 0-7) used a 6-2 run to jump on the Rockets (4-8, 4-4) and take an eventual six-point lead in the first half, as Albert Lea had one of its better starts of the season, but it wouldn’t last.
John Marshall used a 10-0 run in the first half to take a five-point lead which was reduced to three at half as the Rockets entered the break with a 36-33 advantage.
John Marshall broke the game open in the first 5 minutes of the second half with a 9-0 run. The Rockets went on to outscore Albert Lea 46-29 in the half.
The Tigers struggled against John Marshall’s zone defense during the second half and began forcing passes which translated to turnovers. Albert Lea finished the game with 22 turnovers, compared to eight for the Rockets.
“We had a little more difficultly against the zone,” Tigers head coach Chad Feikema said. “It took us a little bit to find our comfort level against it. Once we started to shooting the gaps a little bit and playing more aggressively we got some better shots. We get in trouble when we’re really passive and throw the ball around instead of trying to attack, getting into the gaps.”
Albert Lea worked back into the game to trail by nine at one point but the inside presence of Rockets forward Zach Smith and the perimeter shooting of Matthew Miller were too much for the Tigers to handle down the stretch.
“He’s the kind of athlete we have a difficult time matching up with at this time,” Feikema said of Smith, a 6-foot-5 senior. “Aaron (Klatt) did a great job defending him, especially in the first half. Zach Smith is two years older and has more experience to fall back on. Our guys fought hard with him. Smith is just a real tough kid.”
In the second half it seemed every time Albert Lea appeared ready to make a run, Miller was there to quell it.
After the Tigers cut the deficit to nine on a pair of Alik Smed free throws, Miller nailed a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 12.
Miller also hit a 3 later in the half to further distance the Rockets from Albert Lea. Miller finished with 15 points while Smith led all scorers with 21.
Despite the disparity in halves, Feikema was pleased with the team’s effort.
“I was real proud of our guys once again. I thought it was a good effort from start to finish,” he said. “Obviously, we started really well from a score standpoint. We played hard throughout and did a lot of nice things tonight that we can build on.”
The Tigers shot just under 50 percent from the field and had three players in double figures.
Colby Strilaeff finished the game with 16 points with half of his points coming late in the second half.
Smed and Sean Templeman each scored in double figures. Smed scored 11 while Templeman scored 10 points, all in the first half.
The Tigers outrebounded John Marshall 37-32 with Aaron Klatt leading the team with six rebounds.
Albert Lea also had 15 assists in the game. Brandon Antl had seven.
John Marshall 82, Albert Lea 62
John Marshall 36 46 — 82
Albert Lea 33 29 — 62
John Marshall scoring: Zach Smith 21, Matthew Miller 15, Abdimajid Ahmed 14, Nate Miller 9, Justin Behnke 6, Joseph Moen 5, Robert Marshall 5, Kirby Reeping 4, Nathan Bartz 3.
Albert Lea scoring: Colby Strilaeff 16, Alik Smed 11, Sean Templeman 10, Aaron Klatt 9, Josh Eisenbraun 6, Colton Zuniga 6, Brandon Antl 4.