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Sheldon's GVVCC lead melts away in Hume
HUME — With so many area high school basketball games postponed on Friday due to cold temperatures, it’s fair to wonder why Sheldon and Hume were one of the night’s few match-ups that tipped off as scheduled.
Turns out, there was plenty of heat inside the Hornets’ gym.
But only for the home team.
“No matter how many threes they hit, that’s not really what put us in a hole,” said Sheldon boys head coach Caleb Howerton, whose team lost 61-30 after going cold from the floor, struggling to rebound, and watching helplessly as Hume made 11 3-pointers. “No matter how many threes they hit, we knew they were going to do that. We came in with a game plan to contest every three, and I think most of the ones they hit we contested. They just hit some. What we have to be better at is, if they miss, not letting them get a rebound. That’s what killed us.”
The Hornets hit eight of their threes in the first half but led by only 11 at the break, 30-19, thanks to a pair of threes by Sheldon sophomore William Chapman and a couple of buckets by senior teammate Judd Loyd.
“In that first half, we were in it the whole time because they were trying hard, they were doing what I’m asking them to do, and they played well,” Howerton said. “That all fell in the third quarter.”
Hume attacked the interior of Sheldon’s zone defense to open the second half, and what the Hornets weren’t able to convert on their first attempts they were usually able to clean up with an offensive rebound and layup. Throw in two more threes late in the third, combined with a few missed treys by the Panthers, and the home team was able to pull away enough to sub in the reserves and initiate a running clock toward the end of the fourth.
After the game, Howerton was too upset with the team’s rebounding effort to give a lick about its poor shooting. And he knew exactly why it was so upsetting.
“It’s all mental at this point,” he said. “Our game plan was fine. Our defense was fine. But when they get 30 offensive rebounds, there’s nothing we can do. And that’s all mental. It has nothing to do with size or anything. It has to do with them wanting to, and they just don’t want to. And that’s been the problem the whole year.”
The loss dropped Sheldon’s record to 5-11 overall and knocked the Panthers out of first place in the Golden Valley Vernon County Conference. Hume now assumes the top spot.
Sheldon can still make a run at a top-3 finish in the GVVCC with games next week against Northeast Vernon County and Montrose — as long as Friday’s effort isn’t repeated.
“It depends on who I get,” Howerton said. “If I get the team that we started the year with, we’ll win them both pretty easily. If I get a team that’s pigheaded and not willing to do what the team wants, then we’ll lose them both.”
Chapman finished the night with 12 points, followed by Loyd with nine.
Hume’s Bryson Morrison hit most of the team’s threes to accumulate his game-high 22 points, while teammates Beriah Morrison and Peyton McFrederick each added 11.
The Hornets improved to 10-5 on the season.