The Craig County boys ended what has been a challenging season with a loss to Eastern Montgomery in the first round of the Pioneer District tournament. The Rockets fell 46-34 in Elliston.
“We played really hard and pretty well in the first quarter,” said Craig coach Jimmy Fisher. “Lots of good looks at the basket but they just weren’t falling for us. The second quarter has been our Achilles Heel all season. We gave up 23 points in the second quarter and Eastern Montgomery had a 34-15 lead at the half.”
Craig’s defense clamped down after intermission and the Rockets outscored the Mustangs 19-12 in the second half but the deficit was too much to make up.
“We addressed some issues during halftime, changed defenses and came out and played really well the second half,” said Fisher. “We shut them down offensively but we still struggled from the floor ourselves.”
Caleb Cregger led the Rockets with 10 points and nine rebounds. Marcus Donithan had nine points and 12 rebounds. Craig finished the season at 5-14 while battling lost practice due to inclement weather a few ill-timed suspensions.
“I think it was a season of missed opportunities,” said Fisher. “We were able to win five games but I feel like we should have won several more. Basketball got a late start because of the success of football, it’s mostly the same kids, and then we had some inclement weather. We lost two very close games to start the season.
“We actually had just one practice before the games started. We won several games in a row but we had some kids get sick and some kids get suspended. We played short-handed and lost a couple of games we should have won. The wheels kind of came off there for a little bit but I think we came together for the tournament game. It was a loss, but we looked like us again.”
The winter weather was not kind to the Rockets.
“The weather cost us several games on the season that we could not make up,” said Fisher. “Winter just wreaked havoc on everyone’s schedules. It felt like we had as many games as practices. Roland Donithan and Jason Lucas did an outstanding job as assistants. I battled some Long-Covid most of the season with a horrible cough and couldn’t speak very loud. Jason had to be the stand-up and primary coach during most of the games.”
The Rockets return most of the team next year and Fisher is optimistic for the future.
“We have to work hard defensively in the off-season,” he said. “We played well defensively in spurts but could not sustain it. Defense and rebounding are a mindset. Kids have to embrace both aspects for us to grow and be successful.
“With a couple of exceptions we were abysmal at shooting the basketball. Our team field goal percentage was bad and our free throw shooting was horrendous. We shot free throws every day at practice but couldn’t make them when it counted. It cost us two games to start the season and really didn’t improve much. We are going to work hard in the off-season on our shooting, our defensive and rebounding mindset and our commitment levels.”
“I think if we work hard in the off-season that we can have a winning season, which unfortunately has not happened much in boy’s basketball here.”