Last-Second Loss To Principia Drops MICDS Boys Hoops To 1-5

The beginning of this new boys basketball season has been a bit of a struggle for MICDS and head coach Matt Hixenbaugh.

The Rams, who are coming off a 15-9 season last year, which included an undefeated run through Metro League conference play, were expected to be one of the teams to watch this season, with many believing MICDS might be a team that could do some damage once the state playoffs roll around in February and March.

But the season hasn't begun that way, with MICDS taking three losses out of four games at the prestigious Tournament of Champions in Washington, IL, back in November, and then adding a fourth loss in its first game against a local team (Clayton High) back on December 4.

The MICDS squad was just about desperate for a win, and played like it in its home opener Tuesday night at the McDonnell Gymanasium against Metro League rival Principia High.

Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough to end the losing string, as Principia's Joe Colliatie capped off a furious fourth-quarter rally for the visitors with a short jumper just outside the lane with 10 seconds left that gave the Panthers a 53-52 win, and sent the Rams home with their fourth straight loss.

"It was another tough one," Hixenbaugh said. "I thought we played pretty well. We just didn't get it done at the end."

Prin is now 4-2 on the year, with two straight wins in Metro League play, while MICDS fell to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in league play, despite a dynamite effort on Tuesday that yielded a 40-34 lead through three quarters.

The Rams were especially good in that third quarter, when they outscored the Panthers 17-12.

Frontcourt stars William Morehead and Robin Thompson were huge again for MICDS, with Morehead turning in a team-high 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists, and Thompson adding 18 points, with three 3-pointers, and four blocked shots.

Principia, which also got 16 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks from senior Justin Ball, got back into the game with a 9-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter, that gave the Panthers their first lead since the first half at 43-40.

MICDS was able to hold Prin to just 10 points the rest of the game, unfortunately though, the last two came on Colliatie's open jumper with 10 seconds left that gave the Panthers the lead for good.

The Rams did get two open looks on its final possession, one a wide open three and the other, an open jumper at the buzzer, but neither shot went down, and Prin escaped with a hard-fought one-point win.

"We got two open looks, and that's all you can really hope for," Hixenbaugh said.

The Rams will be back in action this weekend, when they travel to Nashville for a pair of games against teams from Tennessee.

On Friday, MICDS will play Montgomery Bell Academy at 7:30 p.m., then on Saturday, the Rams will take on University High in an afternoon game at 4:30 p.m., before heading back home.

The next order of business for Hixenbaugh though, is conducting the seeding meeting on Thursday night for this year's MICDS Holiday Tournament.

And this year, the field is stacked, with six teams ranked in either the most recent Large School or Small School Top 20 poll, and another four clubs that might make an appearance by the time the tournament begins on December 22.

MICDS' next regular season home game won't come until after the new year, when the Rams will host Lutheran South on January 4.50

Scoring Summary

Score by Quarters ...... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 -- Final Score

Principia ................... 15 .. 7 .. 12 . 19 -- 53

MICDS ...................... 14 .. 9 .. 17 . 12 -- 52

Individual Scorers

Principia -- Joe Colliatie 20, Justin Ball 16, Matt Gilman 8, Sawyer Grow 8, Evan Eisenauer 1.

MICDS -- William Morehead 19, Robin Thompson 18, Trey Pettus 7, Jimmy DesPain 3, Justin Randle 3, Charlie Frank 2.