Fouls, missed free throws thwart Dragon victory

The William Monroe boy’s varsity basketball team began its season Wednesday night against its rival Madison Mountaineers. This year seems to be a very promising year for the Dragons as they are led by a host of seniors, but also have great young talent.
The gym was filled to capacity, and the atmosphere was electric as the game started. Both teams looked to get a good positive start on the new season.
The first quarter started out sloppy for both teams with several turnovers. As nerves settled, both teams began scoring back and forth.
Madison quickly gained momentum as a breakaway dunk had their side of the crowd going crazy. But Desmond Shaver hitting a three pointer—due to the Mountaineers not getting back on defense quickly—answered the dunk.
As the first quarter came to an end, the score was 13-9, in favor of the Dragons. With all the players’ emotions and adrenaline running high, this was the break they needed.
The second quarter started much like the first with sloppy play coming from both teams. Neither teams’ defenses were able to get many stops in the second.
The offenses got things going midway through the quarter as both teams put together well-executed possessions. Madison got a lead late in the second, with little time on the clock.
But Monroe was able to tie the game at 28 as Shaver once again hit a big three as time ran out on the half.
After the break both teams came into the third quarter looking to pull away from the other. Throughout most of the quarter neither team was able to get any separation as the score went back and forth.
The Mountaineers got a big momentum swing as an alley-oop dunk was turned into a three-point play. But, just as before, the Dragons quickly answered back as Terrence Johnson took the ball strong to the basket—and got fouled with a three-point opportunity.
With just over a minute left in the quarter, Madison grabbed the lead 43-42 and went on a 7-3 run to end the third. The Mountaineers hit back-to-back three’s to lead at the end of three 50-45.
The fourth quarter went back and forth with both teams scoring periodically throughout. Monroe found themselves fight to keep the score close as missed free throws came at key moments in the quarter.
With just 35 seconds left in the game, a huge steal by A.J Mills led to a Johnson lay-up that brought the Dragons to within just two points.
But an attempted steal and what looked like a Madison foul on a loose ball ended up leading to two free throws for the Mountaineers.
Madison outscored Monroe 16-6 in the closing quarter mainly due to missed free throws by the Dragons. As the game came to an end, the final score was 66-59 in favor of the Mountaineers.
In an interview with coach Mark Maynard he said, “Foul trouble early hurt us as we had to play a lot of minutes out of players that could not get a break.“
When asked about his assessment overall on their first game coach stated, “We played with great effort. I think nerves got to us a lot as they were playing in front of a packed house.“
Leading the Dragons was Mike Roach with 17 points. Johnson had a strong second half as he finished with 12. Mike Wims added 8 points of his own along with 11 rebounds and Shaver finished the game with 9.
The Dragons next game is Friday, December 5 when they travel to Madison to complete the season series with the Mountaineers.