Taylorville struggles, Charleston prevails; 67-36 the final
TAYLORVILLE — Will Turvey (#2) gets past his Charleston opponent thanks to a screen from teammate Baron Odam (#15) during the first quarter on Friday night. The two combined 7 points in the Apollo Conference matchup.
Lucas Domonousky Breeze-Courier Sports Editor
TAYLORVILLE —Back at it with regular season conference play as the Tornadoes boys basketball team hosted the Charleston Trojans. Turnovers, defense and rebounding were all glaring struggles for the home team on Friday, Jan. 27. This one stung the Purple and Gold and will fuel the team for the rest of the season. They fall to the Trojans, 67-36 the final.
As previously mentioned, turnovers haunted Taylorville throughout the game. The first three possessions saw three turnovers and their opponent capitalized every time.
“We missed some bunnies early.” Brown states. “We’d had had some really good first quarters in the last couple weeks and tonight we couldn’t hit those shots to cure our defensive issues that we have.”
Senior Will Bitschenauer had 11 points 9 (3-threes) of which came from beyond the arch. Keeping with the group of seniors Will Turvey (7) and Myles Clayton (5) combined for 12 points. The two also went 5-6 at the free throw line. Junior Jake McConnell notched 9 points while sophomore Drake Howard had 4.
“Charleston had a great game, number one.” Brown stated. “They shot it well, they defended really well, they were a lot more physical than us and just made it hard for us to run offense. We were giving up a lot of weighted position tonight and they played that into their favor really well.”
The rough start translated into a tough climb back for Taylorville. The atmosphere was good, the players were hyped but the boys just could not get anything going against the Trojans. They also had no answer for their opponent’s offense. Three players from the Trojans reached double digit points while just one Tornado hit the same mark.
“We’re not going to play bad two games in a row.” The Taylorville Coach says. “We haven’t done that this season. Our effort has got to be better than what it was tonight. We’ve got to step up and be a little more physical that what we were tonight. A little bit of pride but we’ve just got to play better.”
The Tornadoes will travel to Mt. Zion next Tuesday, Jan. 31 for another Apollo Conference. The away game will take place against the Tornadoes’ rival, Mt. Zion Braves. Tip-off will be at 7:30 p.m.
TAYLORVILLE — Taylorville High School varsity Cheerleader Avery Reber tosses a rally towel into the student section.
Lucas Domonousky / Breeze-Courier Photo
