Last Friday, January 20th, the New Haven Shamrocks played the Wellsville Tigers at home and lost 71-54. The Rocks made a late comeback at the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd quarter, but foul trouble and free throws kept the Tigers at an edge. However, New Haven outscored them in the 2nd-- 23-22.
Senior Justin Shockley and junior John Fleer led the Shamrocks in scoring with 15 points a piece. Shockley also had an assist, a steal, and 9 rebounds-- a game-high. Sophomore Ethan Groner came off the bench for 9 points and 2 assists, while hitting the Rocks’ only three-pointer of the night.
Sophomore Martin Lewis led in assists with 7, while also scoring 4 points. Junior Abe Madden also contributed with 4 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.
Junior Abe Madden quoted a famous Will Ferrell comedy by commenting, “If you ain’t first, you're last. Right now we’re not playing like we’re first.”
Senior Zack Vedder also stated, “We played a hard-fought game. However, they got too many open looks at the three-point line and in the end, it killed us. We’re better than this.”
Team manager Andrew Rolfing also quoted, “I’ve seen our boys pick up really good wins. We just need to get into our head that we can do so every night and we’ll be just fine.”
The Shamrocks began tournament play at the Hermann Middle School on Tuesday, January 24th. They had a rematch against the Montgomery County Wildcats and lost 82-56. In the next round, they lost a heartbreaker to the Wright City Wildcats 47-44. It was a one-point game, but the Wildcats hit a shot at the buzzer. The Rocks will now play Saturday against the St. Louis Blue Knights for 7th Place.