‘We’re just soul-searching a little bit’: Mistakes, inconsistency lead to Trail Blazers getting upset

QUINCY — The outside doors to the Student Activity Center had been locked and a few of the inside lights dimmed by the time John Wood Community College men’s basketball coach Brad Hoyt emerged from the locker room after meeting with his team.

“We’re just soul-searching a little bit,” he said. “We’re just trying to find ourselves still, and it’s a bad part of the year to still be trying to figure out your identity. We’re running out of time to figure that out.”

Plagued by 23 turnovers and an uncharacteristic porous defense, the Trail Blazers saw their losing streak reach four games Wednesday night with a 75-74 overtime setback to Spoon River College.

Unhappy with their play, Hoyt pulled his entire starting lineup 85 seconds into the second half with JWCC down four and sat three of them for nine minutes and two others for more than 13.

The reserves kept the game close enough the Trail Blazers had two chances to win it in the final seconds of regulation but were unable to convert.

Then, down by three, a turnover on their next-to-last possession in overtime and a free throw by John Ross-Hess with 6.3 seconds to go was enough for the Snappers to survive a 3-pointer by Joshua Talton at the buzzer.

The loss dropped JWCC to 13-11 overall and 4-3 in Mid-West Athletic Conference play. Spoon River, which lost the teams’ first meeting 74-63 in mid-January, won for just the fifth time in 23 games.

“It’s the old adage that if you’re doing the same thing over and over, you can’t expect a different result, right?” Hoyt said of his decision to bench the starters.

“I didn’t think we were playing well or playing together. We give up an offensive rebound, we turn it over and we don’t run a set right, all in the first two minutes of the second half. Those other guys came in and they did a great job.”

The game started slowly and sloppily, with the Trail Blazers scoring the only two baskets in the opening five minutes. They led 6-0 before turnovers — they had 13 in the first half — and their inability to stop the Snappers from penetrating the middle for short jumpers or layups changed the momentum.

Despite shooting just 31 percent from the field and turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, Spoon River led 19-13 with just over seven minutes left when JWCC guard Nolan Dietrich suffered a deep gash on the outside of his left hand, necessitating a 15-minute stoppage in play to clean blood off the court.

The Trail Blazers trailed by as many as nine points before they closed within 31-27 at halftime.

Playing several seldom-used reserves in the second half didn’t pay immediate dividends, although Hoyt was pleased with their effort, especially sophomore center Breiton Klingele. The bench contributed 32 points and 16 rebounds.

“That group played hard,” Hoyt said. “Diving for loose balls on the floor, taking charges, rebounding against guys you probably shouldn’t rebound against and scoring against guys who probably shouldn’t score against. We’re trying to get that to bleed over to everybody else.”

Using their size and quickness to continually get inside while taking advantage of more turnovers, the Snappers opened a 45-33 lead and were ahead 50-40 with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Two free throws by Josiah Talton, a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line by Klingele and two free throws by Issac Danielson narrowed the deficit to 50-46.

However, Spoon River pushed the lead to 59-49 after a 3-pointer from the left corner with 4:13 to go by Ignacio Nascimento. The Snappers managed just three free throws the rest of regulation.

Down 62-56, Joshua Talton drove from the left wing for a layup and Klingele hit two free throws after being fouled on a rebound attempt. Klingele then drew a charge for the second time and Jake Wallingford found Jordan Shelton for a back-door layup to tie it with 1:04 remaining.

Spoon River ran down the clock before guard Latrel Kyles was pressured into a miss from the right baseline, allowing JWCC to play for a final shot to win it.

However, the offense was unable to find an open look and Hoyt called timeout with 4.2 seconds to go. Joshua Talton’s 3-pointer from the corner failed to draw iron, giving the Snappers the ball out of bounds underneath the Trail Blazers basket with 1.2 seconds left.

But Larzario Cornish was whistled for moving off his spot trying to inbound the ball, giving it right back to JWCC. Wallingford’s jumper from the right wing as time expired bounced off the front of the rim.

“It would have been nice for one of those to go in and all the rest of it fades away a little bit,” Hoyt said. “But we put ourselves in that spot, quite frankly, because we turned the ball over 13 times in the first half.”

Baskets by Wallingford twice gave the Trail Blazers a two-point lead early in overtime before Cornish put the Snappers up for good at 67-66 with a 3-pointer from the right wing.

With JWCC unable to convert on multiple drives to the rim, a free throw by Kevin Welch and another 3-pointer by Jordan Evans made it 71-66 with 1:52 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Shelton with 30.7 seconds left pulled JWCC within 72-71 before Cornish sank two free throws. Wallingford then threw the ball away with less than 10 seconds to go and Ross-Hess hit the second of two free throws to seal it.

Joshua Talton led JWCC with 17 points and Shelton added 12. All five Spoon River starters reached double figures, paced by 24 points by Kyles. The Snappers had 14 steals, which helped offset the host’s 40-25 rebounding advantage.

The Trail Blazers play their next three games on the road, where they have gone 4-5, before closing out with two at home. They will need a strong finish to be able to host an opening-round game in the Region 24 postseason tournament.

“It’s a great group of kids who are trying to figure out how to be teammates and how to win on this level,” Hoyt said. “I’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to find a way to unlock this thing a little bit.”

David Adam Photos