The Miami Trace Panthers hosted the Ironmen of Jackson High School for the Frontier Athletic Conference opener for the 2019-20 season Friday night.
Jackson had a very strong start to the game and went on to notch a 55-38 victory.
The Ironmen were led by senior point guard Caleb Wallis who poured in 28 points.
Senior Caden Donaldson and junior Braxton Hammond backed up that scoring, each with eight points.
Junior Logan Rodgers led the Panthers with 13 points and nine rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.
Senior Trevor Barker scored 11 points and led his team with three assists.
Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser called Wallis “a difference maker” in the game.
“We had a tough time corralling him,” Pittser said. “We thought we had the correct plan coming in. The idea was not to force traps to be aggressive with him, but to try and corral him in transition and in the half-court and make him give the ball up.
“We did a nice job in the third quarter of putting the game plan into place,” Pittser said. “But in the first half, (Wallis) was able to dribble around any traps that we threw at him. He definitely hurt us tonight, but there’s a reason he’s going to play at the next level. He’s a nice player.”
Jackson started the game with an 11-2 run.
At the end of the first quarter, the visitors held a 22-7 lead.
Jackson extended its lead to 30-7 before the Panthers went on a 6-0 run with three consecutive baskets from Barker.
At the half, the Ironmen were in front, 34-15.
The Panthers fared better in the third quarter and the game evened out from that point forward.
Miami Trace began the second half with a 7-0 run with a three from Barker and two buckets from Rodgers.
Later in the third, Dylan Bernard scored and Cameron Moore hit a three-point shot to draw the Panthers to within nine points, 38-29.
“Knocking their lead down to nine was all a product of our kids sticking to the plan we put in,” Pittser said. “We were finally seeing our defensive game plan come to life there. The plan got us some fluidity on offense and got us some easy buckets.
“When you have to work that hard to (come back) from such a huge deficit, typically things balance out at some point,” Pittser said.
The margin was still nine when Jackson went on a 7-0 run to take a 47-31 lead, which was the score at the end of three quarters of play.
Jackson increased its lead to as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter until at the end, the visitors came away with a 55-38 victory.
The shooting statistics show Jackson hitting 23 of 49 field goal attempts for 46 percent, while the Panthers were 15 of 44 for 34 percent.
Jackson made 5 of 14 three-point shot attempts for 35 percent to 2 of 18 for 11 percent for the Panthers.
The Ironmen out-rebounded the Panthers, 28-25. The Panthers did win the battle on the offensive boards, 11-7.
Turnovers were nearly even with 14 for Jackson and 13 for Miami Trace.
Miami Trace is right back in action Saturday as they host the Waverly Tigers. There is no freshman game. The j-v game starts at 6 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 7 8 16 7 — 38
J 22 12 13 8 — 55
MIAMI TRACE — Logan Rodgers 5-3-13; Trevor Barker 4 (1)-0-11; Dylan Bernard 2-0-4; Keegan Terry 1-2-4; Cameron Moore 0 (1)-0-3; Ethan Steele 1-0-2; Andrew Guthrie 0-1-1; Kyler Conn 0-0-0; Hayden Hunter 0-0-0; Cyrus Keplinger 0-0-0; Bo Little 0-0-0; Isaiah Reisinger 0-0-0. TOTALS — 13 (2)-6-38. Free throw shooting: 6 of 14 for 42 percent. Three-point field goals: Barker, Moore. Field goal shooting: 15 of 44 for 34 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 2 of 18 for 11 percent. Rebounds: 25 (11 offensive). Assists: 9. Steals: 7. Blocks: 3. Turnovers: 13. Personal fouls: 13. Bench points: 7. Second chance points: 4. Points off turnovers: 9.
JACKSON — Caleb Wallis 9 (2)-4-28. Caden Donaldson 4-0-8; Braxton Hammond 4-0-8; Griffin Brown 0 (2)-0-6; Caleb Hutchison 0 (1)-0-3; Landon Erwin 1-0-2; Drew Bragg 0-0-0; Boston Kuhn 0-0-0; Logan Miller 0-0-0; Nate Woodard 0-0-0. TOTALS — 18 (5)-4-55. Free throw shooting: 4 of 4 for 100 percent. Three-point field goals: Wallis, 2; Brown, 2; Hutchison. Field goal shooting: 23 of 49 for 46 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 14 for 35. Rebounds: 28 (7 offensive). Assists: 6. Steals: 6. Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 14. Personal fouls: 17. Bench points: 5. Second chance points: 7. Points off turnovers: 13.
