BROOKINGS The Brookings boys basketball season got off to a rocky start on Friday night as the Bobcats lost to Watertown 78-45 at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.
Brookings was in the game for most of the first half. The Bobcats trailed 23-17 at the end of the first quarter and then were losing 44-32 at halftime. The second half is where things got away from the Cats as they were outscored 12-6 in the third and 22-7 in the fourth.
Brookings head coach Mike McCarty said he thought his team may have ran out of gas in the second half.
We didnt really do anything much different. They mixed up a few defenses, but we had some open looks that we didnt make. I think we ran out of gas a little bit and got a little tired towards the end and thats something that were going to have to work on and improve. We have to execute better on the offensive end, McCarty said.
The biggest differential in the game came in the turnover department. The Bobcats had 18 turnovers and the Arrows had just two. Watertown scored 15 points off of those Brookings turnovers and McCarty said he thought that was the biggest difference in the game.
The big thing that stuck out was turnovers when you look at the stat sheet. We had 18 and they only had two. We talked to the boys about how defensively we have to get more pressure and be able to force more turnovers than two in a ball game, McCarty said.
The Bobcats shot 45.2% from the field and were 3-of-14. They were led by Brodie McCarty who had 14 points. Bergan Tetzlaff had 13 points and nine rebounds. Jones Huntimer and Jonathan Kahler each had six points.
Watertown shot 50.8% from the field and was 9-of-16 from three. Jackson McClemans had 20 points and six rebounds to lead the Arrows. Gabe Norberg had 15 points and Kaden Decker had 12 points. Carter Buisker and Isaac Rehorst each had eight points.
McCarty said he thought his teams defense was not good in the first game of the season.
I think we have a lot of room to improve on the defensive end. If were going to have a good season, its got to start on the defensive end. Were going to do what we can and well have to mix some things in and try some different things. But we definitely have to make some big improvements on the defensive end, McCarty said.
Things wont get easier for Brookings as next the Bobcats will play at No. 2 ranked Huron on Tuesday night. McCarty said his team is going to have to figure out what went wrong against the Arrows and then move on to the Tigers.
Well take a look at the game tonight and see what different matchups and what [Huron] does. Coach [Tim] Buddenhagen always has them really well prepared and theyre going to be a tough challenge, playing them in Huron. Were going to put together a game plan that will hopefully slow them down a bit and give us a chance in Huron, McCarty said.
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