SOUTH PARIS – Edward Little boys’ basketball coach Mike Adams’ biggest fear heading into Friday night’s game versus Oxford Hills was his team’s ability to stop Vikings guard Matt McDonnell.
His fear became reality as McDonnell lit up the Red Eddies for 31 points and the Vikings pulled away for a 68-49 KVAC basketball win.
McDonnell scored 20 points in the second half, which saw him shoot six of nine from the field (three 3-pointers) and he hit all five of his free throws.
“We didn’t want McDonnell to take as many 3s as he did,” said Adams. “He’s just so strong and so powerful. It was a case of us not being able to stop McDonnell.”
Things didn’t start well for the Vikings (11-3). They missed their first five 3-pointers and led just 10-9 after one quarter. McDonnell scored eight of the 10 points.
“We didn’t make very good decisions,” said Viking coach Scott Graffam. “The first five shots were 3-pointers. (The Red Eddies) could of been ahead 10-0 but they missed some easy shots. We do shoot the three pretty well, but we didn’t early on.”
The second quarter was a different story. As the Vikings picked up their defensive pressure, they bought some time for their offense to get rolling. The result was a 13-0 run to end the half with the Vikings ahead 28-14.
“We held them to 14 points in the first half which was outstanding,” said Graffam. “We were pretty happy with the second quarter. We got the ball up the court faster and defensively we played with a lot more intensity, which helped us offensively.”
Josh Powell (12 points) ignited the second-quarter run by swishing a pair of treys from the wing on consecutive possessions. Leif Kothe then converted a pair of offensive rebounds from misses by his twin brother Thomas. Reserve guard Craig LaPlante capped the run by nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
McDonnell took over the game in the second half. He scored from inside and out against the Red Eddies’ zone defense and the Vikings lead never again reached single digits.
“They were playing a 2-3 zone for most of the game,” said McDonnell. “It benefited us. We’ve been in a funk lately. In the second half we broke out of it. Hopefully we can keep this going.”
The Red Eddies (4-10) received a big inside game from Troy Barnies, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Chipper Houston added 12 before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.
Adams wanted to pair power forwards Darin Meyers and Josh Barajas in an attempt to pound the ball inside, but Meyers was in foul trouble throughout the game, picking up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. He would enter again at the start of the next two quarters only to leave in the first minute of each after picking up fouls. He was limited to six points.
“The few teams that have had success against (the Vikings) have been able to score inside,” said Adams. “We were hoping to get (Meyers and Barajas) to play together, but with the fouls it never transpired.”
Comments are no longer available on this story