The Pleasant Valley boys basketball team faced off against the Central Blue Devils Tuesday night. The Spartans kept the game close until the half, but ultimately fell to the fast paced Devil’s offense.
The Spartans scored the first basket of the game early on, but didn’t score again for the rest of the first quarter and began the second quarter with a 2-8 deficit.
In the second quarter, Pleasant Valley found a spark and mounted a comeback that was led by their defense. Keeping the Devils to only six points in the second quarter helped the Spartans get within four points of the lead by halftime.
Defense was by far the best thing the Spartans showed in the first half. They kept the high energy offense that Central produces to a minimum. Many teams get overwhelmed by the Blue Devil offense, but good positioning and good transition defense kept them in check. Senior center Carter Cline said, “We did a great job on the defensive end for almost the whole game. Keeping Central in check during the first half was a great boost for the team moving forward.”
After halftime, the Spartans were blown out of the water by Central. Giving up numerous baskets put the nail in the coffin very quickly into the third quarter. Turnovers helped give the Central offense a boost with 13 during the game, many of which led to breakaways in the third quarter. Sophomore Ryan Dolphin said, “I think as a team being more consistent would help us much more. It would allow us to improve on more areas faster and see better results throughout the season.”
In the fourth quarter, The Spartan offense improved and they saw more attempts at the free throw line. By the end of the game the Spartans were behind 19-39.
Offensive struggles plagued the Spartans as they shot below average, only making 21% of their shots from the field. Hitting only 8 shots from the field during the whole game, The Spartans never got any momentum in the second half.
The Spartans next game is a boys and girls double header against Clinton at home on January 10th.
