Sports
Meigs Begins Season With Win in Racine
By: Nick Henthorn
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The Southern band played an instrumental rendition of “Ex’s and Oh’s” by Elle King before their Tornadoes faced off against the Meigs Marauders on Friday night. It was an impressive performance of the grammy-nominated pop song.
When it came to X’s and O’s on the court, however, it was the Marauders who impressed in their season opener to secure a 60-43 victory on the road.
The early portions of the game were stagnant, with neither team producing in the half court or getting too many transition opportunities. The first quarter produced a score of 14-12 with the Tornadoes ahead.
Meigs began to turn up the tempo in the ensuing frame of play, forcing turnovers and not hesitating to attack downhill on the break; drawing fouls and getting field goals in equal measure. Meigs was also able to secure an advantage on the glass. Senior Forward Nick Lilly played without fear for the Marauders, securing offensive rebounds in traffic despite being noticeably shorter than many of his teammates and opponents.
Meigs parlayed their advantage in rebounding to a 29-21 lead at halftime. The Marauder lead would only grow from there, powered by 20 points from Weston Baer and 17 points and six rebounds from Zach Bartrum.
Both teams turned in an effort that their coaches could be proud of, and that effort manifested itself most in the half-court defense of both squads. Both sides stayed down for the most part when contesting shots, and forced the other side into off-balance attempts. Meigs head coach Jeremy Hill spoke about his team’s effort after the game.
“I have one thing that has to happen – we have to play hard all the time,” Hill said. “And for them to play hard; I think they did for all four quarters every minute, every second of the game, and that’s all you can ask for as a coach is for your kids to play hard for you.”
The score stood in favor of Meigs at 46-36 after three quarters of play, and the Marauders were able to win the last frame 14-7 by pulling out some curl screen actions in the half-court, generating some easy opportunities. Meigs was also able to turn Southern’s full-court press against them and speed the ball down the court, scoring before the Tornadoes could set up.
Southern was led on the night by Jensen Anderson, who scored 13 points, and Trey McNickle, who filled the stat sheet with eight points, three assists, and three steals for the Tornadoes.
Looking ahead, coach Hill gave insight into his Marauders’ upcoming season.
“Just take one day at a time. We have an ungodly schedule it’s very tough, playing a lot of DI schools, DII schools,” Hill said. “And we’ll just take one day at a time and just keep getting better and grow as a team.”
Meigs will play Warren at home on Tuesday.