.png)
Stults adds 18 points, 11 rebounds, but Dragons fall to 0-7
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — The Argos boys basketball team played their first game in 17 days when they hosted sectional rival Trinity Greenlawn at Phil Weybright Gymnasium Tuesday.
Zhayne Hellums spent much of those 17 days in the gym working on his shot, according to coach Nick Kindig, and Hellums’ refined jumper led to five 3-point makes and a career-high 19 points.
Still, Argos could not shake its season-opening losing streak during its time off as the Titans built a 10-point lead in the third quarter and hung on to win 56-49.
Ian Abbott scored 18 points, Nathan Skendzel had 13, and Max Busk had 12 for Trinity Greenlawn, who improved to 6-2 and beat Argos for the first time in exactly five years – Jan. 7, 2020.
Ambrose Mechtenberg added two crucial 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for his six.
Luke Stults added 18 points and 11 rebounds for Argos, who dropped to 0-7. Mack Calhoun contributed five points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Argos has dropped 10 straight dating back to last year.
Still, this marked continued progress for Hellums, a 6-1 sophomore wing. He scored in double figures three times last year as a freshman and did it for the fourth time this season Tuesday.
“I expect him to shoot like that,” Kindig said. “Everybody in this program expects Zhayne to shoot like that. That’s no surprise. That’s what he does.”
Argos trailed 51-47 when Mechtenberg fouled Dragon sophomore Mekhi Austin with 53.7 seconds left and Argos in the bonus. Austin missed both free throws, but Stults grabbed the offensive rebound and muscled in a putback to cut the deficit to two.
Abbott split a pair of free throws with 34.7 seconds left to make it 52-49.
Argos called timeout with 31.0 seconds left.
With 23.4 seconds left, Trinity Greenlawn deflected a pass in front of the Argos bench that Kenyan Beldon caught.
Officials blew the whistle and called Hellums for a push in the back on Skendzel going for the ball. Upset with the call, Beldon was called for a technical foul as he walked near the official.
Skendzel then attempted four free throws – two for being in the bonus, two for the technical – and made one to make it 53-49.
Abbott split a pair from the line with 19.5 seconds left on the ensuing possession, and after Austin missed a 3, Josh Heintzelman completed the scoring with two free throws with 4.6 seconds left.
“It was a loose ball, and they said Zhayne pushed for it,” Kindig said. “And then we got a technical foul right there, so that’s four free throws and them getting the ball. It’s tough to dig yourself out of a hole when it’s a close game like that and they’re getting four free throws and the ball.”
Trinity Greenlawn led 36-26 with 3:06 left in the third quarter after a Skendzel driving layup, but Hellums hit two treys in a row to cut the deficit to four going into the fourth quarter.
A pullup 3 in transition from Busk and a short jumper in the lane from Heintzelman built the lead back to 46-38 before Argos rallied.
Stults hit two free throws, Obe Salary stole a looping press breaker pass at midcourt and drove in for an easy layup, and then Stults hit two more free throws. In a 33-second span, Argos had cut the deficit from eight to two.
But Abbott ripped through the Argos defense for a layup, and after a Stults miss where the loose ball went off Calhoun’s foot out of bounds, Mechtenberg hit another 3 from the right corner.
However, Hellums got a high, bizarre bounce off the rim for another 3, and after Stults blocked Mechtenberg, Austin recovered the loose ball and was fouled.
Trinity Greenlawn coach Alex Rowland praised both Stults and the Argos coaches afterwards for trying to get looks for Stults.
“We knew he was going to score a majority of their points,” Rowland said. “He’s shooting 50 percent on however many attempts, and he’s shooting 66 percent on free throws on 10 attempts per game, so we knew he was going to score. It was more about slowing him down and stopping his teammates. … But he was the center of our attention – crashing down, denying the passing lanes. But I think honestly they did a wonderful job of moving him around and getting the ball into their other big 41 (Calhoun) and looking high-low, which we were not prepared for.”
As for Argos, rookie coach Kindig still seeks his first win. Argos forced mistakes with its 1-3-1 halfcourt trap in the fourth quarter but still forced only eight turnovers.
“I’ve been around basketball a long time, and it’s never easy to win,” Kindig said. “Yeah, so it's difficult. We’ve got to keep getting better. Our schedule was – a nice way of putting it – brutal the first six games of the year.”
Trinity Greenlawn 56, Argos 49
TRINITY GREENLAWN (56) (6-2)
Ambrose Mechtenberg 2 0-0 6, Ian Abbott 5 6-8 18, Max Busk 4 2-2 12, Nathan Skendzel 5 1-6 13, Josh Heintzelman 1 5-6 7, John Paul Bernardy 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 17 14-22 56
ARGOS (49) (0-7)
Kenyan Beldon 0 0-0 0, Mekhi Austin 2 0-2 5, Zhayne Hellums 7 0-0 19, Mack Calhoun 2 1-3 5, Luke Stults 4 10-15 18, Preston Mollette 0 0-0 0, Obe Salary 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 16 11-20 49
Three-point field goals:
Trinity Greenlawn 8 (Mechtenberg 2, Busk 2, Skendzel 2, Abbott 2),
Argos 6 (Hellums, Austin)
Total fouls: Trinity Greenlawn 16, Argos 18
Technical foul: Beldon (ARG), :23.4, fourth
Turnovers: Trinity Greenlawn 8, Argos 10
Score by quarters
Trinity Greenlawn 10 15 11 20 – 56
Argos 7 10 15 17 – 49
Comentários