BORDEN
Medora’s boys basketball team knew they needed to play their best game of the season to advance to Friday’s Sectional 61 finals in Borden.
Unfortunately for the Hornets (3-20), their offense sputtered after the opening eight minutes, as they lost to the host school 61-36 on Tuesday.
In the first quarter, the Braves (12-11) opened on an 8-2 run until the Hornets’ Brandon Moore converted a 3-point play at the 4:41-mark.
Five points from Gavin Henson and a 3-pointer from Hunter Browning tied the game at 13-13 with 1:31 on the clock.
Jacob Robinson split free throws to put the Braves back on top 14-13 after eight minutes.
Following a score by the Hornets’ Tony Norklun, Borden strung together 14 unanswered points — behind five different scorers — to go up 15-28 with 2:55 remaining in the first half.
Moore added a basket, but it would prove the only other points for the Hornets in the second quarter. Borden outscored the Hornets 18-4 before the break, leading 32-17 at intermission.
Browning accounted for seven of the Hornets’ nine, with a layup, pair of free throws and 3-pointers.
After 24 minutes, the Braves led 47-26.
“It didn’t really matter what we ran, no matter what they did we needed to take care of the ball offensively,” Hornets coach Mark Morin said. “We were in the first quarter, but then went to old habits where we shot a 3-pointer off one pass. When they started trapping us, that gave us some problems. I thought we handled the press alright, but for us to handle a team like Borden we needed to hit our shots. They’re a good, solid team and we needed to play our best to hang in there.”
The fourth quarter also saw Browning took the bulk of the Hornets’ offense, accounting for eight of the team’s 10 points down the stretch.
“We just didn’t hit shots and had untimely turnovers,” Morin said. “When we got down the way we did, we had to play man. We just couldn’t match up well man-to-man. I still feel like we’ve improved a lot to where we are now. We just need to keep our heads up and start working for next year.”
Browning led the Hornets with 20 points, Moore scored seven and Henson added five.
The Braves had three players score in double figures, topped by 13 from Jacob Robinson.
Medora will return almost the entire team, with Moore the lone player graduating from the senior class.
“(Moore) is one of my favorite all-time players I’ve ever coached,” Morin said. “He’s a great kid who missed one practice since we started open gyms in July. He’s a great leader, I’m really going to miss seeing him every day. We have a lot of kids coming back and hopefully we can get some more out so we can get ready for next year.”
Borden will face Crothersville (7-16) on Friday in the semis at 6 p.m.