Panthers persevere through Drummond's grind-it-out style

EWEN - Pass. Pass. Pass. Reset. Pass. Pass. Pass. And then maybe after 45 seconds, the Drummond Lumberjacks would put up a shot.

On and on the methodical pace went, as the Ewen-Trout Creek Panthers were forced to partake in Drummond's grind-it-out style, which would be Exhibit A in why high school basketball should have a shot clock.

But as disjointed as the flow became, E-TC hit just enough shots when it mattered to persevere 35-25 in a nonconference game Friday in Ewen.

E-TC senior Jake Witt led the way with 13 points and 14 rebounds, finishing four shy of 1,000 career boards.

"Drummond plays well with that patience. It's frustrating," E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. "It's good for us because we're going to see that in tournament time."

Postseason contests in March typically slow down as teams look to maximize each individual possession - especially when teams look to slow down the uptempo Panthers. That's one reason why Besonen enjoys scheduling Drummond, and now the Panthers (6-0) know they can win defensive halfcourt battles where they shoot just 13 of 38 from the field (34 percent).

"I got to credit our guys," Besonen said. "Looking up at the scoreboard and seeing 35 really stinks and doesn't feel good at all, but when you look that the opponent had 25, the guys have to take some pride in that for sure."

With Witt patrolling the paint, Drummond shot 11 of 45 overall (24 percent) and had nine turnovers, including six in the second half. The miscues came at costly times when the Lumberjacks were sped up by E-TC's ball pressure. Trailing 30-25, Drummond (4-3) suffered an over-and-back violation with 1:12 left in the fourth before Witt added two free throws to put the game out of reach.

"We made about three costly turnovers," Drummond coach Josh Hanson said. "Those are mistakes we don't usually make.

"Whenever you got a kid like Witt, he takes up so much space in the middle that it's tough for us to get our shots off. Even when we did, he changed our shot so it was just tough to get some points."

After starting the game 5 of 7 and jumping out to an 11-4 lead, E-TC shot just 8 of 28 the rest of the way. The Panthers went over eight minutes in the first half without a point until eighth-grader Jaden Borseth knocked down a 3 as the Panthers shot 1 of 9 in the three-point second quarter.

"The shots we were taking were really good. The only thing bad about it was that we didn't have anyone on the glass at all," Besonen said. "In case we were missing, it was one-and-done."

Drummond consistently threw three defenders at the 6-foot-7 Witt, with a defender on his backside in the post, another denying the entrance pass while the third defender was ready to help near the basket. Witt's two baskets in the second half came off putbacks as Drummond didn't allow him to dominate off the catch.

E-TC could not consistently make the Lumberjacks pay for the extra defensive attention on Witt, converting just 4 of 17 shots from 3 (24 percent).

"Our help defense comes across on everybody that way, so we weren't doing anything really special," Hanson said. "We found the guys we wanted to leave open a little more, dropped off them and helped a lot on Witt. We executed our game plan, they just happened to hit a couple more shots at the end."

Leading 23-21, E-TC went on a 7-0 run that was capped with a 3 from the left wing by junior Eli Nordine. Borseth ran a pick-and-roll with Witt and found Nordine open on the weak side. Besonen was so pleased, he was congratulating his players on their execution before Nordine's shot went up and made it 30-21 with 3:24 left in the fourth.

"Jaden (Borseth) read it perfectly without the guy hedging on him," Besonen said. "The flare on the backside for Eli was set up perfectly."

Before E-TC went cold, the game was played more at the Panthers' pace. Witt took a Drummond turnover and went the length of the court before slamming down a one-handed tomahawk dunk, forcing Hanson to call an early timeout two minutes into the game.

Nordine swished a pull-up jumper to make it 11-4 before Drummond was able to slow the game down to a crawl. The first half was played in 23 minutes of real time and saw just two fouls called. E-TC led 14-12 at the half.

"We were taking too quick of shots (early)," Hanson said. "We were getting tired on offense and defense. We just needed to get some rest on offense. When we realized we had to take care of the ball and wait for the right shot, we kind of outplayed them for quite a bit of the game."

Next, E-TC hosts Calumet on Jan. 2.

Drummond 6 6 7 6 - 25

E-TC 11 3 9 12 - 35

Drummond - Hancock 4, Miller 5, Bjork 8, Schimming 6. F: 7; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 2-2; 3-point field goals: Miller.

E-TC - Cousineau 1, Eli Nordine 5, Cole Borseth 3, Driesenga 2, Noah Nordine 2, Jaden Borseth 8, Witt 13. F: 6; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 5-8; 3-point field goals: Jaden Borseth 2, Eli Nordine, Cole Borseth.