BROOKINGS The Brookings Bobcats struggled against the press and turned the ball over 33 times in a 60-30 loss to OGorman in Bob Jostad Gymnasium at Brookings High School on Tuesday night.
The loss dropped the Bobcats to 2-4 on the season and represented an important measuring stick against one of the top teams in Class AA.
It was good for us to see where we are at, Brookings head coach Mitch McLagan said. The ultimate goal is that we hope to see those guys at the end of the year in the state tournament, so we have to continue to get better.
The Knights took over early, going on a 16-0 run after opening the game in a 3-3 tie. With OGormans press setting the tone, the Bobcats committed nine turnovers and trailed 22-6 at the end of the first quarter and had 20 turnovers in the first half as they went into the locker room down 33-16.
Its what theyve done against everybody, McLagan said of OGormans full-court press. Theres a reason why theyre the best team in the state. Its what they do defensively. They get up and create so many turnovers and they run in transition really well.
The Knights continued to bring the pressure in the second half, increasing their lead to 50-25 at the end of the fourth quarter. With OGorman playing a zone defense on the back end, they were able to hold the Bobcats to 25 percent shooting and 3-for-16 (18.8%) on 3-point attempts to finish off the win.
While the result on the scoreboard didnt go their way, McLagan thought there were some things the Bobcats did well. One of those aspects was Brookingss half-court defense, which held the Knights to 36 percent shooting and just 5-for-26 on 3-pointers. With the Bobcats forcing 19 turnovers, McLagan complimented the efforts of Macy Even, who finished with two points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals and Kymber Buys, who had four points and four rebounds, who each went beyond the box score to slow down the Knights.
I thought Kymber was really good for us off the bench and Macy did a nice job for us as well, McLagan said. Its not going to show up in the stat book, but I thought they were both really important for us defensively.
Logan Smidt also led Brookings with seven points, nine rebounds and two assists, a block and a steal while Brinleigh Harris had five points, two steals and a pair of rebounds.
Mahli Abdouch led the Knights with 21 points, seven steals, three rebounds and two assists while Lucy Moore had 11 points, four assists, three steals and a rebound. Paydyn Peterson also chipped in with eight points, two rebounds and a steal off OGormans bench.
While McLagan remained positive, he also knew the Bobcats issues with turnovers and a 33-31 disadvantage on the glass that included 15 offensive rebounds for OGorman were areas that Brookings needs to clean up.
They just turned us over so many times, McLagan said. In that press, when youre young, their length and athleticism just got the best of us. It was good for us to see a press and our kids need to keep working with that.
The Bobcats will look to take a step forward when they travel to Brandon Valley on Friday night.
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