»Lions game feels like reunion Article on E4
MADISON TWP. — On a chilly opening night, the Madison Mohawks just needed some time to get warmed up.
Madison trailed by 13 points at halftime, but outscored Jefferson 33-12 in the second half to earn a 54-46 win Friday, Dec. 4, at Madison High School.
Madison coach Jeff Smith said he didn’t need a fiery speech at halftime.
“They’d been beat up enough,” he said. “We just told them to take better care of the ball, be more patient on offense and to do a better job of collapsing on defense. .... We told them that if we could get the lead down to six by the end of the third quarter, we’d be in good shape.”
Madison (1-0) did the coach one better. They outscored the Broncos 14-6 in the third quarter to whittle Jefferson’s lead down to 40-35. Madison then outscored Jefferson 19-6 in the fourth quarter.
“I think in the first half, we just needed to get the jitters out,” said Mohawk guard Josh Foster, who finished with 14 points. “I’m just really proud of this team for being able to come back like that. We put a lot of effort into practice this week and we knew Jefferson was a really good team. In the second half, we just came out and played the way we knew how to.”
Mark Maloney led the Mohawks with a game-high 15 points.
The first half belonged to the Broncos. Their inside-outside game between outside sharpshooter Dwight Johnson and inside trees Cody Latimer and future Michigan State Spartan Adreian Payne gave the Mohawks defenders fits.
Payne punctuated the attack with a jarring slam dunk from the right baseline that drew ooohs and aaaaahs from both sides of the court, giving the Broncos a 28-16 lead at the time.
But Payne, Irving Wood and Johnson each fouled out in the second half. Payne finished with a team-high 13 points and Wood added nine more.
“They were more aggressive than we were in the second half, and that’s evident by the number of free throws they took,” said Broncos coach Art Winston of the Mohawks. Madison hit 13 of 23 free throws in the half.
Winston said he would have his team analyze both halves of the game film.
The Mohawks won’t have long to celebrate. They host Tri-County North tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Jefferson returns to action Tuesday when the Broncos play at Belmont.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.
About the Author