A stingy interior defense keyed Clermont Northeastern to a 60-47 win over Batavia on Friday, December 28.
The Rockets held a 25-18 edge at halftime. Batavia head coach Aaron Brose said his team’s offense was stymied by CNE’s defense, which forced the Bulldogs to take ill-advised shots.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but that’s a credit to them inside,” Brose said. “When we attacked the rim, we kind of threw balls at the rim. We were afraid of getting our shots blocked. Anything that came off the rim, [Skyler Schmidt] just cleaned up. I don’t know how many rebounds he had tonight, but it seems like any time we took a shot and missed, he had it.”
Schmidt and teammate Ryan Martin made life difficult in the paint for the Bulldogs. CNE head coach Jim Jones said Martin had a fantastic game defensively for the Rockets.
“[Martin] was phenomenal at shot blocking tonight,” Jones said. “He’s just been all over the floor all year. It makes it tough for other teams to go inside.”
On the offensive side, CNE started a bit sluggish, something Jones chalks up to the long layoff between games for the Rockets.
“I was concerned coming back,” Jones said. “That layoff…we had four days off for the break. It’s just a matter of us getting back into it. I thought we would struggle at first coming out.”
CNE picked up some momentum in the second quarter, as Schmidt threw down three dunks in the period. That gave the Rockets momentum, but it wasn’t all positive.
“We got too jacked up, and started to make some bad decisions,” Jones said. “We started lobbing the ball too many times as opposed to running the offense. It helped us, but at the same time I think it set us back a little bit too.”
In the second half, CNE started to pull away. Batavia’s defense started to erode a bit as the game wore on.
“Defensively, we were good for about two and a half quarters, and then we weren’t,” Brose said. “Those things happen. They put a lot of pressure on us in that regard. We just didn’t do what we needed to win tonight, and that’s a credit to them. They did.”
Brose said the Bulldogs simply got out of position often against the Rockets, and CNE was able to take advantage.
“We started getting out of position,” Brose said. “We started playing in positions we shouldn’t have been playing. We played disciplined in the first two quarters, knowing where we were supposed to be, getting where we were supposed to be and communicating. Then we started getting, for lack of a better term, out of control defensively. We started running around chasing people instead of playing man-to-man defense. They took advantage of it, they moved well without the ball and found open people.”
Corbin Richardson was the only Bulldog in double-digits. He finished with 13 points. Owen Wiscombe added 9, while Austin Hunt tallied 7. Kaleb Moell returned from a knee injury for the Bulldogs and scored five points in limited action.
“He’s still fighting that knee a little bit,” Brose said. “It does help us, he’s a smart player. He makes things happen. We’ll see going forward, it’s a day-to-day thing. He feels good today, hopefully he feels good tomorrow.”
Schmidt finished with 22 points for the Rockets. Bryce Reece added 12.
“[Reece] is coming along,” Jones said. “He’s gotten better and better every game. I think the whole team has gotten better every game. The first two games, we were trying to find each other. It’s coming together.”
CNE returns to the court for a pair of road games to start 2019. The Rockets travel to Taylor on Saturday, January 5, then visit Williamsburg on Tuesday, January 8.
CNE’s first home game of 2019 is a big one, a January 11 matchup with Georgetown. Both teams are currently undefeated in Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference National Division play.
Batavia opens 2019 with a home contest against Western Brown on Friday, January 4. The team also hosts Blanchester January 8.