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Miners handle Cardinals a second time
It was a little different game than it was last Friday when the Linton-Stockton Miners and the Bloomfield Cardinals met in the Greene County Invitational.
Unlike last week the Miners didn’t shut out the Cardinals for a quarter. But as they had done the week before, Bloomfield cut into a double-digit lead in the second quarter, getting themselves back in the ball game.
And the final outcome was similar.
After the Cardinals got within six points with a little over two minutes remaining until intermission, Linton-Stockton ran off the next 12 points.
The Miners opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run for a 34-16 lead.
A late rally pulled the Cards within 13. But the hole was too deep to dig out of and Bloomfield lost to Linton for the second time in a week, 57-44 on the Miners home court.
“We weren’t as good on offense as I would have liked,” Linton-Stockton coach Joey Hart said. “I thought we fouled a little bit too much.
“But we played hard. Both teams played extremely hard. I thought we moved the ball pretty well.”
The offensive performance may not have been as good as Hart wanted to see. But the Miners did connect on 50 percent of their field goal attempts (19-38).
And that was essentially the difference on the scoreboard.
The Cardinals shot 32 percent, hitting 11-34.
“We still struggle to score,” Bloomfield coach Jamie Hudson said. “We shot 32 percent tonight. And it’s hard to win ballgames like this. It’s tough especially against a good team like Linton.”
It almost looked like a repeat of last week at the outset.
Tyler Meurer scored the game’s first five points on a drive and a 3-pointer. Josh Dieball drove the lane for two more and an early 7-0 lead. Meurer’s leaping bucket and Dieball’s layup following Evan Slover’s steal pushed the margin to 11-1.
Dieball tacked on two freebies. Slover corralled an offensive rebound and fed Noah Woodward for a 15-5 advantage closing out the first stanza.
The lead was still 10 after Slover and Meurer each knocked down triples.
Then Bloomfield guard Luke Vandeventer converted both ends of the one-and-bonus. Isaac Combs dished to Ethan Fitch inside after Vandeventer’s steal to pull the Cardinals within six, 22-16.
And again like last week, the Miners pulled away.
Slover passed to Woodward at the top of the key and Woodward buried it from beyond the arc. Slover’s free throw put the Miners ahead by 10 headed into the locker room.
The run continued. The Red and Blue came out and put up eight points before Bloomfield could answer.
Dieball scored again on one of his patented drives through the lane. Woodward made good on 1-of-2 at the stripe.
Then at the five-minute mark of the third quarter Dieball nabbed a steal and took it in for a fast-break layup.
Dieball’s 10th point of the night put the 6-3 playmaker over 1,000 points for his career.
He entered Friday’s contest with 991.
Dieball grabbed a board and fired ahead to Meurer in transition. Meurer’s layup and ensuing free throw completed the run of 12 unanswered - and a 34-16 lead.
Meurer hit six of his nine shots for a game-high 16 points. Dieball finished with 12.
Vandeventer stemmed the tide, albeit briefly. He was fouled behind the arc and knocked down all three free throw attempts.
Still, the Miners had a 15-point cushion (39-24) headed into the final stanza.
And they soon led by 20.
Meurer finished an alley oop from Woodward. Kip Fougerousse came up with a steal and a layup. Bill Smith drove in among the trees for a layup and a 51-31 Miner lead.
“They have so many weapons it’s just hard to guard them,” Hudson said.
Linton still led by 18 with 1:14 to play. Mitchell Burch sank two charity tosses and Kyler Hudson buried a three to account for the final margin.
“I was really proud of my kids,” coach Hudson said. “They really battled and competed really hard.”
Despite the loss the coach found some positive takeaways. And he said games like this will only get his Cardinals ready for the postseason.
“I thought we did some really good things tonight. We shot 26 free throws which we hadn’t done in awhile. That means we’re attacking the basket.”
Hudson added, “We got beat by a better ballclub. The start hurt us getting down 15-5. But games like this are going to make us better for March.”
The Miners improved to 10-3, 3-0 in Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference contests.
Bloomfield drops to 6-6, 2-6.
Linton-Stockton hosts White River Valley tomorrow while Bloomfield travels to South Knox.
MINERS 57, CARDINALS 44
Bloomfield 5 11 8 20 -- 44
Linton-Stockton 15 11 13 18 -- 57
BLOOMFIELD (6-6, 2-2) -- Mitchell Burch 1-4 4-8 6, Ethan Fitch 2-4 0-1 4, Isaac Combs 4-8 6-6 14, Luke Vandeventer 0-5 7-7 7, Turner Royal 1-3 0-0 3, A.J. Sipes 2-5 1-2 5, Kyler Hudson 1-3 2-2 5, Tyler Hansen 0-2 0-0 0, Patrick Beard 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Oliphant 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Shelton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-34 20-26 44.
3-point shooting: 2-11 (Royal 1-3, Hudson 1-1, Burch 0-1, Combs 0-3, Vandeventer 0-3). Rebounds 25 (Burch 6). Assists 5. Steals 7 (Vandeventer 3). Blocks 2 (Vandeventer, Combs). Personal fouls 19. Fouled out: Royal.
LINTON-STOCKTON (10-3, 3-0) -- Josh Dieball 4-6 4-4 12, Sammy Robbins 1-1 1-1 3, Tyler Meurer 6-9 2-4 16, Evan Slover 1-3 3-4 6, Noah Woodward 2-4 1-2 6, Kendall Williams 0-0 0-2 0, Bill Smith 1-6 2-2 4, Silas Robbins 0-1 0-0 0, Kip Fougerousse 2-4 1-2 6, Trey Passen 0-0 2-2 2, Tucker Hayes 0-2 0-0 0, Noah Clark 1-2 0-0 2, Cory Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-38 15-21 57.
3-point shooting: 4-14 (Meurer 2-3, Slover 1-2, Woodward 1-2, Dieball 0-2, Smith 0-4, Hayes 0-1). Rebounds 24 (Slover 5). Assists 9 (Slover 4). Steals 9 (Slover 2, Woodward 2, Dieball 2). Blocks 2 (Slover, Dieball). Personal fouls 20. Fouled out: None.
