Third Place Game - Rockets
beaet Livingston
After a close three quarters, Crittenden County used
some pinpoint shooting to blow out Livingston down the final stretch
and finish third in the Lone Oak Christmas Tournament Tuesday
night with a 61-50 victory.
Payton Croft, who had struggled offensively during the first two
games, lit up the Cardinals for 19 points, including four 3-pointers.
T.K. Guess added 17 points and Tim Hill got 11 as the Rockets
outscored Livingston 24-15 in the final period to pull away from
a two-point game.
Round Two - Rockets
suffer first defeat
St. Mary Viking center Nick Wright did virtually nothing
wrong Monday night in sending the Rockets to their first loss.
St. Mary beat Crittenden County 67-50 in the second round of the
Lone Oak Christmas Tournament.
Wright poured in 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting and pulled down
six rebounds. Wright's play helped his team maintain a double-digit
lead for much of the contest.
The Vikings seemed to be on the verge of blowing the contest wide
open after opening up a 24-10 advantage in the second period.
However, thanks to some solid full-court pressure defense, which
forced St. Mary into three turnovers in less than a minute, Crittenden
ran off nine unanswered points to trim the deficit to 24-19.
However, the Rockets did not have an abundance of opportunities
to apply more pressure due to shooting a frigid 21-of-64 from
the floor.
Crittenden trailed 33-28 after playing poorly in the first half.
The Vikings didn't let up in the third quarter and extended their
lead to 48-34.
As has been the case for much of the young season, Crittenden
struggled when confronted with a zone defense. The victors did
a good job of switching back and forth between a 3-2 and 2-3 which
helped keep the clamps on the Rocket offense.
Aside from Timmy Hill and T.K. Guess combining for 12 field goals,
the stingy St. Mary defense limited the rest of the Rocket team
to only eight more baskets.
Conversely, the Vikings scorched the nets on 26-of-41 shooting
for an impressive 63 percent. It marked the first time this year
that Crittenden has allowed more than 60 points in a contest.
"We just did not get good rotations defensively," Rocket
coach Jimmy Croft said after the game.
After shooting the ball well through the early part of the season,
the Rockets have gone into a slump during the first two rounds
of the holiday tourney. Combined with Saturday's narrow win against
Murray, they are shootinng 39 percent in the last two games.
"It was just an old-fashioned whipping," Croft said
about the St. Mary loss, his team's first this year.
While the Rocket coach was hopeful of getting through December
without a loss, he hopes the setback will cause his team to concentrate
on areas where it needs to improve.
The Rockets were without the services of senior forward Jordan
Roberts, who sprained an ankle last week during practice and has
been sidelined the last two games.
Witnessing his team lose a 14-point lead during the second quarter
because of being unable to handle Crittenden's pressure defense,
Viking coach Greg Overstreet was simply glad the Rockets struggled
shooting and did not have more opportunities to apply it.
"Our guys did a good job of sucking it up and not folding,"
he said.
He also pointed to his squad winning the rebounding battle 35-29
as a huge key to the victory.
Round One - Rockets
edge Murray
With the trio of Cody Robinson, Brad Hart and Timmy Hill pulling
down six rebounds apiece, the Rockets won the rebounding statistic
over the bigger Murray High Tigers 28-24 and captured the victory
56-49.
Despite having to battle some foul trouble during the first round
game, Hill also poured in 17 points and dished out a couple of
assists.
The third quarter again proved pivotal as Crittenden outscored
the Tigers 17-8 to take a 44-32 lead.
With Hill, Hart and T.K. Guess in foul trouble during the second
half, Rocket coach Jimmy Croft switched to both a 3-2 and 2-3
zone defenses in order to keep Murray off balance and deny the
ball to its bigger frontline.
However, Murray also switched to a 2-3 zone at times during the
final stanza and Crittenden began to get somewhat passive in attacking
it. While the quarter began with the Rockets seemingly ready to
take full control, the Tigers cut the deficit to 52-49 with just
over a minute to play.
But Crittenden failed to crack under pressure and held on for
the win.
"I was proud to see us keep our composure when things got
tight," Croft said.
The Rockets play St. Mary in the second round Monday night at
Lone Oak.