12-04-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD – The Odin Eagles couldn't have played a worse first half of basketball on Tuesday night in their Midland Trail Conference opener on the road at Webber Township.

Coach Mike Finckbone's team was a woeful 2-of-25 from the floor and trailed 23-5 when the two teams left for the locker rooms.

However the Eagles made a big move to begin the third quarter and its pressure defense got to the Trojans.

Chopping away at the deficit, Odin found itself back into the contest.

Forcing Webber Township into 23-turnovers, including 10 mistakes in the fourth quarter, the Eagles found themselves with a shot at winning the ballgame.

With the game tied at 42-all with three seconds remaining, Coach Chad Harper's club made a huge error in throwing the ball away on a length of the court inbounds pass that landed out of bounds.

This brought the ball back to Odin underneath the Eagles' basket.

A quick pass into sophomore guard Devin Williams gave the Eagles a shot.

Williams' 3-pointer from the left wing glanced off the backboard and into the net for an unlikely game winner.

As it turned out, it was Odin's only lead of the contest as Coach Finckbone's club improved to 1-0 in the MTC and 4-3 overall.

“These kids are young and most kids would have gave up at halftime but they worked hard like we should have done at the beginning of the game,” said Coach Finckbone. “To their credit, this team doesn't have the word 'quit' in them. If we can put 32-minutes together like we did the last 16 tonight, we're going to be a pretty good ballclub.”

The Trojans, who led the entire game and at one point held a commanding 21-point bulge, fell to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.

After trailing 23-5 at intermission Odin made its move by turning up the pressure and finding the mark from the field.

The Eagles canned 7-of-8 attempts to open the second half and forced the hosts into five turnovers in the frame.

“It was our lack of experience and tonight we kind of panicked in the second half,” said Coach Harper. “We have to take care of the basketball and everything we did well in the first half we got away from in the second half.”

Webber Township's 6-foot-7 senior forward Ty Henderson scored a pair of baskets in the early part of the third quarter.

But after his second shot fell Odin exploded with a 9-0 run, capped by a pair of lay ups by Austin Perkins and the second of three 3-pointers by Williams to force Coach Harper to burn a timeout at 27-21 with 3:50 left in the third.

“We couldn't put our press on in the first half because we couldn't score. But once we started making baskets and got our press going they (Webber) started turning the ball over,” added Coach Finckbone. “We've got to get the ball out (run) and go. That is all there is to it. We don't have that big guy so we have to use our quickness.”

The Trojans appeared to have weathered the Odin lightning and thunder by hitting a pair of shots in the final minute of the stanza.

Reserve Levi Aydt and Henderson each inked the book, with Henderson grabbing a rebound for a score before the buzzer to push Webber Township to a 36-25 lead heading to the final frame.

The young Eagles (with no seniors on the roster and just two juniors) came together for an eventual successful rally.

Junior guard Ike Margrum scored 11-points in the fourth quarter.

He nailed the first of his three 3-pointers in the final eight minutes to open the scoring run that proved fatal to the host team.

A conventional three-point play by freshman Dustin Quick and another trifecta by Margrum cut the Trojans lead to just 41-37 with 2:59 remaining.

Margrum's third bell-ringer evened the score at 42-all with 1:04 left.

“Mike's teams can always shoot the three. Ever since I've known him and his program,” said Coach Harper. “I told the kids we can't relax and we have to make sure we defend and take care of the basketball. They (Odin) got hot and the lead just kept getting smaller and smaller.”

Webber Township had ample opportunity to finish the contest with a victory in the final minute.

But a pair of costly turnovers set the stage for Williams' final shot.

Webber Township missed out on a golden chance for a win, winning the rebounding battle with a 38-19 margin.

Most of that came from Henderson, who led the Trojans with 18-points, 17-rebounds and five blocked shots.

Koaltin Dye added 18-points for Webber, who after a strong start ended up 19-of-45 from the field and just 1-of-7 from the 3-point arc.

“We're going to get better. We are going to work on this stuff and find a way to win these games,” Coach Harper explained. “It's just going to take time.”

Odin's terrible beginning didn't keep the Eagles from the victory as Coach Finckbone's club got hot in the second half by making 15-of-29 attempts in the final 16-minutes.

The Eagles finished 17-of-54 overall and had but 12-turnovers in the game.

Margrum led Odin with 15-points while Williams added 10.

Odin, after just hitting two shots in the entire first half, outgunned the hosts 40-19 in the final two quarters to steal the road win.

Webber Township will travel to Thompsonville on Friday night for its next contest while Odin will host Woodlawn on December 11.

Our young players are learning every night. For us to be successful we have to shoot the ball well and play good defense,” finalized Coach Finckbone. “In the second half I thought we did that. This is a conference win, it doesn't matter if you win it at the buzzer, it still goes in the book as a MTC win.”

Odin (45) – Williams 0 3 1-2 10, Margrum 3 3 0-0 15, Horton 0 1 0-2 3, Perkins 3 0 1-2 7, Quick 3 0 2-3 8, Sanders 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-10, 3FG-7, FT-4-9, PF-13.
Webber Township (42) – Austin 0 0 1-2 1, O'Dell 0 0 0-1 0, Welch 0 0 0-0 0, Dye 8 0 2-3 18, Henderson 9 0 0-0 18, Dickey 1 0 0-0 2, Lynn 0 0 0-0 0, Aydt 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-3-6, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.