Medora shows improvement in loss to South Decatur

MEDORA - Coach Marty Young says he has seen a lot of improvement from his Medora boys basketball team since the beginning of the season.

He says the biggest improvement has come in the Hornets' man-to-man defense.

"I definitely saw some big plusses," Young said after his team lost 60-38 to South Decatur on Friday night. "I've switched our defensive strategy up totally since the beginning of the season, and the guys are adjusting really well to it. We're going all man compared to where we were going mostly zone. The guys really adapted well tonight.
"I was very pleased the way my guys played tonight. We had a couple spans where we showed our old way of playing, and until we get those out we're going to see those."

Medora battled Decatur on even terms for the first five minutes of the game and trailed only 10-8 following a free throw by Wes Ray.

The Cougars went on a 9-4 run the remainder of the period, then outscored the Hornets 21-6 in the second quarter to hold a 40-18 lead at the half.

Young said his team needed to do a better job of rebounding. "What hurt us the most, we missed a lot of blockouts, which kind of put us in the hole."

Decatur outrebounded Medora 16-10 in the first half and 34-20 on the night.

Offensively, the Hornets made only 7 of 19 shots from the floor and had 12 turnovers in the first half.

Both teams scored 20 points in the second half as Medora reduced its turnovers to eight during that time and improved its shooting percentage from the floor (6 of 16) and at the line (7 of 11).

Josh McKinney topped the Hornets in scoring with 17 points, while Wes Ray scored eight points and was high rebounder with six.

Chris Scheider scored 19 for Decatur.

"That's a good team. I could see them beating an Orleans, Borden or Lanesville in the regional or semistate later on," Young said. "They've only lost one game, to Greensburg. They start five seniors and they've been building up for this." Decatur is 8-1.

Young said a big plus for his team is the number of eligible players he has. "Our depth has been huge for us. At the beginning of the year, we were playing five or six players, and now we're able to go eight deep."

The Hornets, 0-10, will travel to Columbus Christian tonight. Young said. "We've just got to play our game. If we come out and play like we did tonight, we'll be fine."

Box score

Medora 12 6 8 12-38
Decatur 19 21 4 16-60
Medora (0-10): McKinney 5-9 7-9 17, Ray 2-5 2-5 8, Simmons 2-8 0-0 4, Wheeler 1-3 1-2 3, Elliott 0-3 0-1 0, Armstrong 2-3 0-0 4, Smith 1-3 0-1 2, Banther 0-0 0-0 0, Abel 0-0 0-0 0, Gahimer 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton 0-0 0-0 0, totals 13-35 10-18 38.
South Decatur (8-1): T. Mote 3-9 0-0 7, Scheider 8-15 3-4 19, England 0-4 1-2 1, Pittman 3-7 2-2 8, Powers 1-1 1-1 3, Graham 3-5 5-9 11, Hacken 0-1 0-0 0, R. Mote 0-2 3-4 3, Clark 1-4 0-1 2, Wilkerson 1-2 0-0 2, Dickson 2-2 0-0 4, totals 22-52 15-23 60.
3-point goals: M-Ray 2, SD-T. Mote; Rebounds: M 20 (Ray 6, Wheeler 4), SD 34 (England 6, Pittman 6); Turnovers: M 20, SD 11; Fouls: M 18, SD 12.
Junior varsity
Medora 2 0 3 0-5
Decatur 15 13 5 14-47
Medora: Armstrong 5.