Fredonia not up to challenge in loss to Maple Grove
OBSERVER Staff Report
After playing one of their finest games of the season in a 74-71 loss to Chautauqua Lake this past Tuesday, the Fredonia Hillbillies (4-10, 2-5) could not make it two strong performances in a row as they fell to Maple Grove, 67-60, Thursday in CCAA West 1 boys high school basketball.
“I thought we had a great effort Tuesday against Chautauqua Lake,” Fredonia coach Greg Lauer said. “To come back, we didn’t match the energy of Maple Grove. We weren’t up to challenge.”
Carson Crist led the Red Dragons with 27 points. He scored 19 of those points in the second and third quarters, where he also drained all five of his 3-pointers.
The Red Dragons made nine 3-pointers in the game.
“They press you the whole game and look to take a lot of 3s very quickly,” Lauer said. “They hit them at times. “We made runs to get close, then we let them go on another seven-point run.”
The Hillbillies held a one-point lead with a minute left in the third just to watch the visitors go on another run.
Maple Grove led 17-13 after the first quarter and 36-29 at halftime. Both teams scored 31 points in the second half as the Red Dragons walked away with the win.
Match Padilla contributed in the win with 14 points while Dalton DuBois added 11 points in the win.
Nick Ruckman led the Hillbillies with 23 points while Lucas Voss had 17 and Nate Shuart had 12. Ruckman also had nine boards while Reid Tarnowski had eight assists and five steals.
“We didn’t shoot extremely well,” Lauer said. “We needed more inside. I thought they did a nice job defensively. We have a week off and we will get back to work and get the competitive edge back for the final push.”
Fredonia returns to action next Thursday at Falconer.