'Ain’t over for us': Southeast eager to see fruits of labor after another frustrating loss
Minutes after Southeast dropped a heartbreaking 67-63 decision to Decatur MacArthur at Herb Scheffler Gymnasium on Tuesday, the Spartans’ coach Lawrence Thomas asked how many free throws his team shot in the fourth quarter.
“Two,” was the answer, before the reporter added, “Actually two in the entire second half.”
Then LT wanted to know how many free throws MacArthur attempted in the fourth — 13 was that answer.
“We were going to the basket every time (and) we couldn’t get to the foul line,” Thomas said. “We couldn’t get (MacArthur) into foul trouble or anything. They weren’t fouling; they were playing defense without fouling ... better than we did.
“For some reason, I guess we weren’t getting fouled. We’d get contact and I guess we had to play through.”
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MacArthur’s M.J. Murphy scored seven of his 15 points at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help the Generals (19-3 overall, 8-0 in the Central State Eight Conference) to overcome a 53-48 deficit in the final quarter.
Sean Lee led the Generals with 20 points.
“We knew LT was going to have his guys ready,” MacArthur coach Terise Bryson said. “We’re undefeated in the conference right now so we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. LT did a good job pressuring us, making our guys uncomfortable; luckily at the end, our guys never gave up and played hard.”
Better than the record
Thomas knows it’s been a frustrating season for the Spartans, who own an 8-17 (2-7 CS8) record. But with the postseason nearly three weeks away, there’s reason for optimism.
“(A good team has) been there the whole season, we’ve just been waiting for it to start and I think today was definitely a good start to get that stuff going,” said Dom Hobbs, who scored 15 points for the Spartans.
Carlos Day led Southeast with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting. He was 5-for-5 from the field in the second half.
"Postseason, nobody’s going to want to play these guys,” Bryson said of Southeast. “LT does a good job with these guys, man. They play hard and their two guards (Dom Hobbs and Carlos Day) were just picking us apart.”
Thomas said the team needs to become consistent.
“I know our record doesn’t say we’re a good team, but it ain’t over for us,” LT said. “We have those type of kids. We have great kids. The results don’t show it, but we have great kids. I’m not surprised we had the opportunity to win this game, by no means.”
The little things
While Thomas was proud of his team’s effort to give the CS8 leader a scare, he said there were some turnovers and extra opportunities his team gave to MacArthur. The Generals had eight offensive rebounds — four by Lee, who finished with 14 boards. Though Southeast won the turnover battle 20-19, the Spartans’ coach said his team likely committed the untimeliest turnovers, including when one of his players stepped on the baseline in the fourth quarter.
“By no means has MacArthur seen the best of us this year so our kids felt like we could win this and they played like it except for a couple of missed block outs and — it’s our gym — we’re supposed to know where the out of bounds are at.”
MacArthur outscored Southeast 22-14 in the fourth. Southeast got the upper hand in each of the first and third periods. The Generals also made 11 of 13 shots from the field in the fourth.
Looking for a call
In the fourth, Southeast’s Reggie Rice (seven points) went from the corner nearest the Spartans’ bench, drove baseline and went up for a layup that hit the underside of the backboard. Seconds later, as a MacArthur player drove to his basket, the whistle blew to send him to the line.
LT was flummoxed and asked the ref how the two plays were different.
“When Reggie shot-faked the man in the corner and drove to the basket and got his whole arm yanked, that was crucial because he did it the right way,” Thomas said. “I don’t know how three refs missed that.”
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Ultimately, an 8-0 run put MacArthur ahead for good. With the Generals trailing 57-54, Sam Owens nailed a game-tying 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left, and 32 seconds later, Lee had an offensive rebound putback to give MacArthur a 59-57 lead before he hit a pair of free throws with 1:57 remaining.
Hobbs thought the Spartans also got away from some of the things defensively that had been successful.
“We got away from that because we had some guys in foul trouble and that will get you away from that,” Thomas said. “We were able to get them to miss some shots but when we get a good team like that to miss shots, we can’t give up second shots.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: CS8 boys basketball: Southeast maintains the faith with losing record
