SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP – It sounds so simple to do – find the open man and locate the guy with the hot hand.
Shawnee was able to accomplish both of the above and the result was a 77-61 victory over visiting New Knoxville Monday night in a non-league make-up game at Lappin Gymnasium.
The Indians were intent on using early defensive pressure against the Rangers and were quite successful as they forced the Rangers into 13 first half turnovers, many of which were converted into break away lay-ups.
Sophomore Sheridan O’Neal helped the Indians get out to a quick start with 12 first half points that came on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor to go along with a 2-for-2 effort from the free throw line.
“We try to get everyone involved on offense and look for the hot hand,” O’Neal said. “Coach tells us that we have depth and that everyone is a threat.”
The Indians shot 53 percent from the floor in the first half on 14-of-26 shooting that propelled them to an 18-14 lead after one quarter of play and they would go on to take a 34-34 to the half time break.
“We used defensive pressure early to create scoring opportunities,” Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said. “We wanted to play with that defensive energy, I told them the offense might not always be there but defense can be.”
Senior Sean McDonald took over as the hot hand in the third period and scored 10 points in the stanza to grow the Indians lead to 16 points at 55-39 going to the fourth quarter.
The two teams battled back and forth in the fourth quarter as both squads totaled 22 points in the period to account for the final score.
Non-starters Zarian Graves with 9 points and Johnny Caprella with 5 points paced the Indians attack in that final period of play. Graves finished the night with 9 points while Caprella added 8 for Shawnee.
The Indians would put 11 players into the score book and were led by McDonald with a team-high 16 points and the 12 scored by O’Neal in the first quarter.
“We played well on offense and attacked the basket,” Triplett said. “Any time you have 11 guys scoring it is a pretty good night.”
The Indians finished the contest hitting 55 percent from the field on 29-of-52 from the field including 2-of-5 on 3-point attempts. They forced the Rangers into 18 turnovers in the game while committing only 13 miscues. Shawnee also claimed the rebound battle by a 25-21 margin.
New Knoxville (5-14) was led in scoring by 6-foot-2 junior Nathan Tinnerman who totaled a game-high 20 points. Senior Nick Topp finished with 16 points for the Rangers.
The win moved Shawnee to 12-8 on the season despite missing Riley Rosado and Tyler Moore, both out with injuries that obviously limit the rotations the Indians are able to use. Shawnee also went through a tough stretch of their schedule as they recently played consecutive games at Delphos St. John’s, at Ottawa-Glandorf, and at Wayne Trace.
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