MAUMEE — Seniors, stellar defense, and patient offense are the ingredients for a championship run.
For Bowling Green, those attributes propelled the Bobcats to a convincing 53-33 win over Maumee. With the
victory, BG improves to 8-2 overall and remains atop the Northern Lakes League with a 6-0 mark. The
Panthers fall to 5-4, 4-2. PHOTO GALLERY
“I think that our defense had to be a key tonight; we held them to 33 points and that’s real good,” said
BG senior Chauncey Orr whose stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and two steals
highlighted another strong performance.
“I really think this win is due to our defensive efforts,” said interim head coach Eric Radabaugh whose
team forced 18 Panther turnovers and limited Maumee to a dismal 15-of-49 (31 percent) from the field.
“Holding them to 16 points in the first half and 33 in the game, as a coach, you can’t ask for anything
more than that.
“Since Wednesday, that’s all we’ve done in practice — defense, defense, defense. We really pounded it
into them that it’s a five person effort, and they’ve got to communicate.”
“Defense was the key,” concurred senior point guard Xavier Brown about BG’s zone, its soft full-court
presence, and its man-to-man schemes. “We just wanted to slow them down because they are a fast-paced
team. We really just stressed getting a hand (up) at least on their shot attempts (to make it) a little
bit uncomfortable.”
BG, which never trailed, combined eight second chance points, seven Maumee turnovers, and a paltry
4-of-14 Panther field goal performance to lead 13-9 after the opening quarter.
“We knew they wanted to run, so our goal was to slow them down and then drop back into our zone and make
them shoot,” said Orr who had five points and four boards in the opening period.
A trey by Maumee’s Kurt Kolbow (nine points) at the 6:43 mark of the second period pulled the Panthers to
as close as they’d get for the remainder of the game, 15-12. Senior Max Beattie (12 points) sandwiched
two consecutive treys around an inside hoops from Maumee’s Jordan Lane (10 points) to give the Bobcats a
21-14 lead with 4:51 left. Xavier Brown (15 points) accounted for the final two baskets of the half
sending BG to the break up 25-16.
Maumee, behind a 6-2 spurt over the first three minutes of the second half, closed to within 27-22. BG
countered with two hoops from Orr and a straight-on triple from senior Kurt Fairchild to take its first
double-digit advantage, 34-22, with 2:55 left. A minute later, Beattie, on an assist from Orr, drained
another trey, and BG took a 37-26 into the final quarter.
“ If we didn’t have anything (on the break), they knew we had to run our stuff,” said Radabaugh whose
team hit 21-of-44 (48 percent) from the floor but just 4-of-19 from downtown. “Chauncey and Xaiver and
Max and our seniors did a good job of slowing the ball up, getting the easy shot, and making sure we
didn’t take any dumb shots in the half court.”
The Bobcat lead dipped to nine early in the final frame, but an Orr stick-back at 6:21 gave BG a
double-digit lead it would not relinquish. An 11-2 run over the final 4:23, with contributions from
sophomore post Vitto Brown (five points, seven rebounds, and six blocked shots), Orr, Beattie, and
Xavier Brown, netted the Bobcat’s the 20-point win.
BG, which won the boards 25-22, did surrender 12 Panther offensive rebounds, but only four after
halftime. Orr credited Vitto Brown and Alex Augsburger for their efforts in that area.
The Maumee zones did cause BG some problems as well as the Bobcats committed 18 turnovers. Yet, BG’s
dribble penetration, especially by Xavier Brown, led to wide open shots as 13 of BG’s 21 field goals
were in the paint.
“They like to get into guards, so if they do that then the penetration is open,” said Xavier Brown. “We
knew we had to get into the key to get some baskets.”
Bobcat head coach Von Graffin, injured in a fall last week, hopes to return next Saturday.
The Bobcat junior varsity team drooped a 54-52 overtime decision to Maumee. Quinn Donaldson, Andrew
Dennis, and Evan Gardner scored 13, 12, and 10 points respectively for BG.