MS Tigers drop pair to J.F. Shields and Kinston, gear up for Goshen
Published 12:00 am Friday, January 21, 2005
After Tuesday night's game against the J.F. Shield Panthers, the McKenzie Tigers' one-game winning streak was quickly extinguished.
McKenzie snuck out of Pleasant Home with 41-40 victory on Friday, but against Shields, the Tigers were caught watching.
The red and gold Panthers jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, David Davison drove the length of the floor and sank a lay-up, but that only served to cover the wound, not to stop the bleeding.
Shields stretched their lead from six to 15 before Rhett Lowe was able to sink a basket.
McKenzie did not sink another basket until the second quarter.
But by that point, the game was out of reach for the "home standing" Tigers.
Satterick Rudolph bangs his way down the lane sinking the basket and drawing the foul.
The freshman missed the free throw, but the basket still counted to cut the lead to 17, 23-6.
The Panthers continued to apply the pressure, pushing the lead to 49-21 at the half.
Things didn't get any easier for the Tigers as Shields shot their way to another 20-point quarter and pushed the lead to 70-29 and then finally ended the game with seven points spread over eight minutes to a final of 83-43.
McKenzie's Rhett Lowe finished the night as the team's leading scorer with 17 points. Rudolph followed suit with 12 points.
David Davison and Travis Bush combined for 15 in the loss.
The Tigers took the journey back to Georgiana the next night to play "host" to Kinston.
The opponent changed, but the outcome was still the same for Butler County's 1A representative.
The Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers en route to a 72-51 final.
Lowe finished the game with 22 points. Bush tacked on 10 and Davison finished with four points.
Rudolph finished the night with six points and seven rebounds.
Nick Kelly pounded out nine points.
That's quadruple his normal scoring output of two points on the season.
Despite the offensive explosion, the Tigers still found themselves on the low side of the scoreboard early.
At the end of the first half, Kinston had pushed out to a 35-28 lead.
The Tigers were never able to get any closer than seven points for the remainder of the night as the Bulldogs pulled away at the end of the third period, 54-39 and then 72-59 at the final buzzer.
The Tigers will be back in action on Jan. 27 when they play host to the Goshen Eagles in an area match-up.