Lafayette athleticism too much for Hounds
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Maryville junior forward Jackson Golightly drives baseline and kicks a pass out to the corner on Tuesday night during the Spoofhounds’ 72-39 loss against Lafayette at home. The defeat tipped off Maryville’s second semester slate.
When Lafayette’s Caleb Bennett powered home a two-hand slam just more than a minute into Tuesday’s action against Maryville, things were far from over.
Just a couple minutes later, however, as Bennett soared from the right side of the lane and jammed with one hand as Spoofhounds junior guard John Zimmerman scampered out of the poster zone, the Irish had already put their stamp on the game. Bennett’s pair of fast break dunks helped Lafayette jump out to a 14-0 lead as it powered its way to a 72-39 win at Maryville.
How often does Hounds head coach Matt Stoecklein see a team chock full of that caliber of athleticism?
“Only when we play Lafayette,” he said. “We couldn’t run offense, we couldn’t even move the ball very well. They contested so well. They are obviously a very good team.”
Bennett finished with a game-high 20 points as the Irish flaunted their ability to cinch together on the defensive end before exploding into transition.
The Hounds stuck with Lafayette throughout parts of the night, but the 14-point run to open the contest was too much to overcome. Irish sophomore guard Diego Bernard buried a three-pointer from the top of the arc to get things rolling, followed by Bennett’s first slam of the night and another Bernard triple.
Maryville burned a timeout at just the 5:36 mark as the lead swelled to 10-0, but the spurt continued until Spoofhounds junior guard Trey Oglesby found net on a deep ball from the left corner, slicing the deficit to 14-3 and finally putting his side on the board.
“When it was 14-0, I think we were just a little shell-shocked,” Stoecklein said. “Maybe a little embarrassed. Then we had some issues with people getting upset and a little bit of pouting. It obviously wasn’t going the way we wanted to go.”
Lafayette ended the first quarter with a 16-5 lead, doubling that point total in the second quarter for a 32-17 advantage at the break.
But the Spoofhounds did recover in the second period, slowing the pace on the offensive end and disallowing the Irish to easily leap into passing lanes for run-out buckets. Still, Lafayette’s defense put the stranglehold on Maryville for a long enough time to piece together a 7-0 run just before hitting the half.
“Not only long, but they just move so well,” Stoecklein said of Lafayette’s team defense. “They move as an entire group. They just jump to the basketball, which is one thing we’re trying to do a better job of. They can jump.”
In the opening minutes of the second half, Lafayette sunk the Hounds for good.
Behind three-pointers from senior Gary Wilkinson and junior forward Sterling Hicks, the Irish tallied the first 18 points of the third quarter and climbed to a 50-17 lead before senior center Mason Graff got the Hounds on the scoreboard at the 4:29 mark of the period.
The damage was done, though, and Lafayette didn’t let off the gas, punishing Maryville for the slightest of mistakes to seal the Midland Empire Conference road win to start the second semester.
As a team, Lafayette hit six three-pointers in the third period alone to quickly extend the lead and take firm control. Wilkinson hit a pair, Hicks buried one, senior Karter Woodbury drilled a deep ball, and senior Tank Durham and sophomore Jack Harvey each found net from beyond the arc in the quarter.
Bernard chipped in 12 for the Irish. Maryville was led by nine points from senior forward Chip Dunlap and eight from sophomore guard Jake Woods. Zimmerman came up with seven points, all of which came in the first half of action.
The Spoofhounds (7-3) will take a week off before a 6:45 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Chillicothe to take on the Hornets.
“The one thing we want to stick in our memory is how to react — do we fall apart a little bit, do we kind of get on each other a little bit, do we make excuses?” Stoecklein said. “That’s what we wanted to get away from last year that we thought we did. We want to remember not to do that, but then move on and look forward to the next four practices and Chillicothe.”
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Hounds junior guard John Zimmerman prepares to slam into a Lafayette defender on Tuesday night as Maryville dropped a home MEC contest to the Irish, 72-39.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Junior guard Trey Oglesby turns down a ball screen and instead heads baseline as Maryville fell to Lafayette on Tuesday night, 72-39.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Spoofhounds sophomore guard Jake Woods catches a pass in the corner in transition and fires for three of his eight points in Tuesday’s 72-39 loss to Lafayette.
