MHS drops opener, not included in DVL tourney
The McLouth High boys basketball team lost consecutive games to Oskaloosa (46-34) and St. Mary (60-50) to open the 2007-08 season.
Thursday’s home game against Oskaloosa was for the right to participate in this weekend’s Delaware Valley League Tournament. As a result of the loss, McLouth will play a round-robin tournament against Pleasant Ridge and Doniphan West, which also lost their play-in games.
McLouth will face Pleasant Ridge at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Benedictine College. MHS will then face Doniphan West at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Benedictine.
“We had our opportunity to get in the (DVL) tournament against Oskaloosa and we didn’t take advantage,” McLouth coach Jason Schroeder said. “Our hope is that we keep improving. It was the first game of the season. We had some first-game jitters.”
Senior Mark Stewart led the Bulldogs with 10 points. Schroeder also assigned Stewart to Oskaloosa’s best player, Brock McGinnis, who scored only eight points.
McLouth’s free throw percentage hurt its chances against Oskaloosa. The Bulldogs had looks — they went to the line 18 times. Unfortunately for MHS, it only converted eight free throws (44.4 percent).
“We have to improve on free throws,” Schroeder said. “We struggled from the line, but we know we’re capable.”
McLouth improved its free throw percentage Friday on the road against St. Mary. The Bulldogs converted 11-of-17 charities (64.7 percent).
“As a team, we looked more relaxed and composed as a group,” Schroeder said of the St. Mary game. “We looked more at peace with ourselves. We still made some mistakes. The other team pressed us, but we handled it fairly well.”
Senior Mike Rome led the Bulldogs with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Sophomore Cole Batman added 11 points in only 16 minutes. Senior Ryan Smith added 10.