LINDEN — North Montgomery could not overcome their own mistakes Friday in a 64-50 loss to Seeger. Seven Patriot offensive rebounds and 15 Charger turnovers proved too much for the home team to overcome.
Charger Coach Chad Arnold said his team has not grown to the point where they can survive a lot of mistakes.
“We just aren’t there yet,” Arnold said. “It is not a lack of trying because we have good kids. We just need to cut down on making poor decisions and play smarter.”
The Chargers led after the first quarter 7-6 and extendeed their lead to 15-9 with 4:04 left in the second quarter. However, four straight turnovers and an offensive rebound on a missed Patriot free throw led to eight straight points giving the Patriots a 17-15 lead. Seeger led 25-22 at the break.
Seeger’s Owen Snedeker led the second quarter charge with eight points of his game high 22.
Arnold complimented the Patriot forward after the game.
“Snedeker is a good player who has good post moves,” Arnold said. “He is a four-year starter and he plays like it.”
Seeger (4-1) increased their lead entering the final stanza to 43-33.
North Montgomery (1-2) was shorthanded in the game forcing Arnold to play his starters with little rest. Both Jared Kirsch and Kelby Harwood did not come out until the final quarter.
Seeger’s ball pressure was consistent and helped wear down North Montgomery. In the final stanza the Chargers struggled throwing the ball in play on several occasions.
“We had to play guys a lot of minutes and we really got tired,” Arnold said. “I think it affected some of our shots later in the game.”
Charger sophomore Kelby Harwood once again led the home team in scoring with 16 points. Senior guard Colton Zachary added 11 points and Ross Dyson ended with nine markers.
Seeger’s Luke Pluimer added 15 points for the Patriots.
North Montgomery is idle tonight and now all eyes are focused on next Friday’s home game against county rival Crawfordsville. Arnold, who has not beaten the Athenians since arriving at North Montgomery in four years, said Crawfordsville is a good team even though they graduated several players from last year’s team.
“Crawfordsville has guys who know how to win because they have watched their recent good teams have success,” Arnold said. “We will have to play better than we did tonight to beat them.”
Fans attending the game will be entertained by the Indiana Pacers Power Pack as they use trampolines to perform high-flying dunks.
