Appleton City 3rd Place Game
Miami vs Rich Hill
The Rich Hill Tigers travelled to Appleton City on Saturday evening for the third place game. Their opponents for the second time this week would be the Miami Eagles. Needless to say both teams came into the contest well aware of the style the other would play.
The early going for Rich Hill started off much better than any game that they had played in for a while. The defense came out very aggressive putting on a full court man to man press creating several early turnovers converting them into points. With the defense providing the energy the offensive took their cue to play a very discipline offense and by the end of the first quarter the Tigers led the Eagles 20-5. In the second quarter the Tigers defense let down a little but the offense stayed on course. The Eagles offense came to life hitting several long range shots but the Tigers were able to increase their lead ever so slightly to take a 36-20 into the locker room. The second half became much more of a contest in the third quarter with Miami dialing in the long range treys to cut the lead down to single digits. Late in the quarter Coach Moles took a crucial time to settle things down after an Eagle run and the Tigers were able to restore some order. By the end of the quarter Rich Hill had pushed the lead back to eleven points and were holding the edge 52-41. The fourth quarter turned back around and saw the defense take over again to lead the charge. The defense created more turnovers and the offense settled in to a good rhythm and the Tigers were able to pull away to win the game with the final score Rich Hill 70 and Miami 47. Coach Moles was pleased with the total team effort as he was able to get all his players into the game. It was one of the most complete the games the team had played all year. With the win the Tigers record improved to 5-8 on the season. The next action for the Tigers will be on Tuesday night at home against the Osceola Indians.
Stats for the game were: Leading the scoring was Magal Chol-Case with 22, Adrian 11, Bryce Yohe 8, Clifton Bridgewater 7, Lucas Harwood and Brayden Chandler 6 each, Blake Laning and Daylan Black 4 each and Noah Smarr with 2.
Magal Chol-Case led the rebounding with 11 followed by Clifton Bridgewater 5.
The Tigers shot 45% from the floor, 10 assist and 13 steals.