Prep Hoops: Enough In The End
It's nice to have a lead late. Holding onto that lead late is another story.
Harrisburg got a good test to open its 2015-16 campaign Saturday, holding on to beat Confluence, Mo. 62-54 at the 13th Annual Ernie Bozarth Memorial Tournament at Murphysboro High School.
Harrisburg, who led wire-to-wire, took a 47-38 lead into the final eight minutes, but quickly found themselves leading 49-46 halfway through the quarter and were up 55-51 before Patrick Bittle helped put some distance between the two as the senior guard made 7-of-8 free throws to close out the game.
Harrisburg (1-0) finished with two players in double figures as Isaiah Saulsberry tied Confluence's Leon Perry for top scoring honors as they both finished with 27 points. Bittle had 14 points for the Bulldogs, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter.
Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters gave praise to his group for getting out to a quick start - most notably the 10 straight points Saulsberry scored and finished with 14 first quarter points as the Bulldogs took a 19-7 first quarter lead.
"We got the lead early and had a pretty good cushion most of the game, which helped us," Smithpeters said. "We got to experience a lot of things. We got to experience the good times, especially early and experience some bad times we got the lead, but struggled to put our foot on the gas. We got to experience some size that we're not used to because we practice against each other for three weeks and we don't have that kind of size. Hopefully we'll learn from that and get better from that."
Harrisburg led by as many as 11 in the first half, as they took a 32-23 lead into the locker room.
Saulsberry, who had a quiet second quarter, heated up for Harrisburg in the third quarter pouring in another 11 points, holding off the Titans as the Bulldogs built a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Turnovers appeared to be Harrisburg's achilles heel, but Smithpeters maintains a good portion of them came off press offense, where he described his team as "helter-skelter."
"I was happy with our turnovers in the fact that I don't feel like we had a lot of turnovers, especially for a first game," Smithpeters said. "We defended okay, but there will be places where we can go back and point our areas where we can be better, but that is what this is all about, playing to get better.
"Defensively we have to learn about help and big people and again we just haven't been able to experience that in practice. We did fine. We're young and we're going to have to learn some tricks to combat some things."
Harrisburg shot 47 percent from the floor, going 21-44, but managed just 3-of-13 (23 percent) from behind the arc. The Bulldogs went 17-of-22 from the foul stripe for 77 percent.
In addition to Saulsberry and Bittle, Jordan Bartok chipped in with seven points, while Blake Drue and Noah Ferrell each scored six points.
Harrisburg returns to action at the Ernie Bozarth Memorial Tournament Tuesday when they play host to Murphysboro at 7:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs will then play Christ Our Rock Lutheran Wednesday at 5 p.m. and will play two on Saturday, first taking on Sumner, Mo. at 11 a.m. and Carterville at 6:!5 p.m.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Confluence, Mo. 54
Harrisburg 62
Confluence, Mo. (0-1)
Name FG 3-pt FT Reb PF TP
L. Lewis 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Gregory 4-10 0-3 2-2 1 1 10
Hubbard 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Isiah 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Chandler 8-14 0-1 7-10 10 2 23
Williams 0-5 1-4 2-2 0 0 5
J. Lewis 2-2 1-1 0-0 1 0 5
Kerns 1-9 1-3 1-4 4 0 6
Perry 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 19-50 3-17 12-18 22 15 54
Harrisburg (0-1)
Name FG 3-pt FT Reb PF TP
Bittle 3-8 1-4 7-8 2 2 14
Drue 2-3 0-0 2-3 3 4 6
Gould 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 0
Smith 0-3 0-1 0-2 1 0 0
Hefner 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Saulsberry12-19 2-7 1-1 5 1 27
Bartok 2-4 0-0 3-4 5 1 7
Ferrell 1-3 0-1 4-4 1 0 6
Totals 21-44 3-13 17-22 21 15 62
Score By Quarters
Confluence, Mo 07 16 15 16 - 54
Harrisburg 19 13 13 17 - 64