Fast start not enough, Mitchell boys fall to Golden Eagles 62-52

The Mitchell boys’ basketball team came out fast, but that didn’t halt Aberdeen Central.

The Kernels took a 10-point lead in the first quarter, but the Aberdeen Eagles slowly, but surely, crept back into the Eastern South Dakota Conference game before winning it 62-52 Saturday at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

The Kernels jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the early stages of the first quarter. Aided by the dribble drive, the Kernel offense was firing on all cylinders and held an eight-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

“I think the kids were excited to play, but the problem is we didn’t sustain that energy,” Mitchell head coach Tom Young said.

Despite being down early, the Golden Eagles didn’t panic, they inched their way back into the game highlighted by 3-pointers from Aaron Lorenz and Jacob Goehring. Lorenz finished with a team-high 15 points, while Goehring scored eight points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc.

The Golden Eagles outscored the Kernels in the second quarter 10-6 to cut the Mitchell lead to 24-0 at the half.

“I thought we didn’t get out to a very good start, and you have to give a lot of credit to Mitchell,” Aberdeen Central head coach Brent Norberg said. “I thought they outplayed us in the first quarter,”

Things were a bit different in the second half when Aberdeen Central came out with a new look. The Golden Eagles tightened up their defense and began to press the Kernels.

“We went with the press for two reasons,” Norberg said. “First, I thought we needed an energy boost.

“Second, I thought if we could slow them down a little bit by making them take a little more time get in their offense, we wouldn’t have to guard their dribble drive as long.”

The increased pressure slowed the Mitchell offense down and forced it to shoot 40 percent from the field in the second half.

Before the Kernels knew it, Aberdeen Central crept past them to hold a 17-point lead.

“We were right where we wanted to be at halftime,” Mitchell guard Seth Cavanaugh said. “(Young) said the first three minutes would dictate how the second half would go, and they came out and punched us in the mouth a little bit. We never really responded.”

The senior guard finished with a game-high 20 points and Beau Brown added 16 points.

The Kernels are back in action against Eastern South Dakota Conference foe Brandon Valley at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Brandon Valley.

Aberdeen Central 62,

Mitchell 52

AC (3-6, 2-4 ESD)

Josh Hilgemann 3-8 3-5 11, Carter Paulson 3-6 2-2 8, Branden LeGrand 2-5 2-4 6, Brady Mohr 3-10 2-2 9, Aaron Lorenz 4-12 4-4 15, Jacob Goehring 3-4 0-0 8, Logan LeGrand 1-1 0-0 2, Tyler Block 0-0 3-4 3. Totals: 19-46 16-21 62.

M (2-7, 0-5 ESD)

Cole Morgan 2-10 2-2 7, Seth Cavanaugh 6-13 4-6 20, Beau Brown 6-9 3-4 16, Evan Mastel 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Schmidt 1-2 1-2 3, Ethan Jones 2-5 0-0 5, Derek Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Jon Jamison 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 17-41 13-18 52.

3-point field goals- Mitchell 5-15 ( Cavanaugh 2-4, Morgan 1-3, Jones 1-4); Aberdeen 8-26 (Lorenz 3-9, Hilgemann 2-6, Goehring 2-3, Mohr 1-5). Rebounds: Mitchell 27 (Cavanaugh 7) Aberdeen 31 (Paulson 7) Assists: Mitchell 8 ( Brown 3, Cavanaugh 3), Aberdeen 5 (Hilgeman 3), Steals: Mitchell 10 ( Brown 2) Aberdeen 12 (Paulson 2) Turnovers: Mitchell 12 Aberdeen 10, Total Fouls: Mitchell 18 Aberdeen 16, Technical Fouls: None.

Tags: sports, updates, basketball, mitchell