CHILLICOTHE — The Miami Trace Panthers made the trip down to Southeastern High School for a Division II Sectional semifinal game against the Logan Elm Braves Wednesday night.
Back on Jan. 14, Miami Trace hosted Logan Elm. The Braves came away with a 50-44 victory that night.
On Wednesday, it was Logan Elm defeating the Panthers, 51-26.
In the first meeting, Miami Trace shot 44 percent from the field (17 of 38).
Wednesday night, the Panthers could not find the range consistently enough, making 9 of 33 field goal attempts for 27 percent.
In last month’s game, Logan Elm made 15 of 43 shot attempts for 34 percent.
At Southeastern, Logan Elm made 21 of 50 shots for 42 percent.
Miami Trace was led by junior Logan Rodgers with nine points. He also had a game-high eight rebounds.
Senior Trevor Barker and junior Cameron Moore each scored five points for the Panthers.
Junior Isaac Ward, who scored 20 against Miami Trace in their first meeting, led the game for Logan Elm with 17 points.
Junior Gabe Chalfin scored 14 points and senior Jared Harrington added eight.
Miami Trace had 18 turnovers to three for Logan Elm.
The Braves had 20 points off turnovers to none for Miami Trace.
Moore hit the game’s first bucket, a three-point shot, 34 seconds into the contest.
Logan Elm went on an 8-0 run for an 8-3 score.
The Panthers tied the game on a basket from Rodgers and took the lead when freshman Andrew Guthrie scored at the 2:18 mark.
Logan Elm hit their third three-point shot of the quarter to take a 13-12 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter was hurtful to Miami Trace’s cause.
The Panthers went 0 of 7 from the field while Logan Elm hit 6 of 12 shots.
The only point in the period for the Panthers was a free throw by Rodgers with 5:45 to play in the half.
Logan Elm outscored Miami Trace 14-1 in the second quarter to take a 27-13 lead.
The Panthers were unable to gain any ground on the Braves in the third quarter.
Logan Elm scored 13 points and the Panthers scored 10 in that period.
After three quarters of play, Logan Elm held a 40-23 lead.
The Panthers struggled to score in the fourth quarter, with three points to 11 for Logan Elm to set the final at 51-26.
“We started a little slow to say the least,” Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser said. “We had some things creep back up on us that we spent a good portion of the year trying to cover up. Sometimes that happens in tournament basketball. There are always a few extra elements that come with tournament play that are very, very difficult to replicate. Either as a coaching staff, we didn’t do a good enough job of preparing our kids to handle those, or we didn’t handle them as well maybe as we could have as a group.
“This has really been an enjoyable group to coach all year,” Pittser said. “It’s unfortunate to have the start that we had.
“The goal when you have a little bit of a size advantage, which we did, was you hope that advantage can counteract and be on the plus side, taking away the advantage that they’re going to have on the perimeter,” Pittser said. “Tonight, the perimeter won. Their ball-handling was exceptional. Once they get a little bit of a lead, they can really spread you out. That changes what we have to do, personnel-wise. It puts us in groupings were not used to and we can’t play the way we typically do. It changes a lot of things for us.
“They’re a good ball club,” Pittser said. “They have a lot of kids that can handle the ball and a lot of kids that can make shots. They went with five guards there some. They went small when they had the lead, which is a really smart thing to do.
“Being down 13 at the half, we told our kids, a six-point run in the third quarter could put us right back in the ball game,” Pittser said. “We were here two years ago and we were down 18 with six minutes to go almost won a ball game. Doug (Stiverson, Logan Elm’s head coach) does a really good job with his group. They were able to counter what we were trying to do there in the second half to get back into it and it wasn’t enough.”
Miami Trace says thank you and good-bye to two seniors: Trevor Barker and Kyler Conn.
“They played a ton of minutes for us,” Pittser said. “I can look back where they were as young men when they first started in our program to where they are now. Just a ton of growth, not only as players, but as people. We got to the place here late in the year where we were counseling with our seniors as much about game plans and changes in strategy as we were our coaching staff. They were almost assistant coaches by then. They went from boys to young men. They are two great kids with great families. They have bright futures ahead of them. They’ll be able to look back on their basketball experience and take some positive things with them.”
After winning three games last year, Miami Trace ends the 2019-20 season with a record of 12-11.
Logan Elm improves to 16-7 on the season.
The Braves will play Jackson for a Sectional championship and a trip to Athens Saturday at 3 p.m. back at Southeastern High School. Jackson beat McClain Wednesday, 66-31.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 12 1 10 3 — 26
LE 13 14 13 11 — 51
MIAMI TRACE — Cameron Moore 1 (1)-0-5; Trevor Barker 1-3-5; Hayden Hunter 0-0-0; Dylan Bernard 1-0-2; Isaiah Reisinger 0-0-0; Keegan Terry 0-0-0; Cyrus Keplinger 0-0-0; Kyler Conn 0-1-1; Ethan Steele 0-0-0; Andrew Guthrie 2-0-4; Logan Rodgers 3-3-9; Bo Little 0-0-0. TOTALS — 8 (1)-7-26. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 64 percent. Three-point field goal: Moore. Field goal shooting: 9 of 33 for 27 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 1 of 7 for 14 percent. Rebounds: 29 (10 offensive). Assists: 4. Steals: 1. Blocks: 2 Turnovers: 18. Personal fouls: 10. Bench points: 6. Second chance points: 10. Points off turnovers: 0.
LOGAN ELM — Xavier Kellough 0-0-0; Jeremy Wietelmann 0-0-0; Luke Baldwin 0 (2)-0-6; Isaac Ward 3 (3)-2-17; Trace Smith 0-0-0; Gabe Chalfin 7-0-14; Jared Harrington 4-0-8; David Harden 0-0-0; Tanner Holbert 0 (2)-0-6; Tyler Baer 0-0-0. TOTALS — 14 (7)-2-51. Free throw shooting: 2 of 3 for 67 percent. Three-point field goals: Ward, 3; Baldwin, 2; Holbert, 2. Field goal shooting: 21 of 50 for 42 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 7 of 21 for 33 percent. Rebounds: 17 (4 offensive). Assists: 16. Steals: 5. Blocks: 1. Turnovers: 3. Personal fouls: 14. Bench points: 6. Second chance points: 5. Points off turnovers: 20.
Thanks to Miami Trace assistant coach Cory Patton for providing the box scores and statistics again this season.
