A frenetic and tightly contested first half gave to a calmer second half that saw the sure-handed Joliet Junior College Wolves pull away from the MATC Stormers for a 86-72 victory on Saturday, Feb. 21. The first half concluded with the teams tied at 37. Joliet used a mix of penetration and passing to befuddle the usually confident defense of MATC.
Head Coach Randy Casey identified a passive shot selection as the most glaring example of a lack of execution for MATC.
“We can’t settle on certain things,” Casey shared in a postgame interview. “We settled for the 3-point line for a while instead of looking to attack. We didn’t even get into the bonus in the second half.” The team only had four attempts from the free- throw line during the second half of play, making three of the shots.
“Part of that was on us because of the decisions we were making from the outside,” Casey said. In contrast, Joliet was 14 of 16 from the free-throw line during that period.
Guard/forward Kevin Kellner attempted 16 3-point shots during the game and led MATC in scoring with 20 points. While Casey would have preferred that his team drove the ball inside during their possessions, Kellner’s willingness to launch from deep did not deviate from the team’s doctrine on who should be shooting when.
“They all have, pretty much, green lights unless they’re told different,” Casey said. “Part of my philosophy is I don’t want kids questioning whether they should take a shot or not. Because then they’re not feeling comfortable when they’re shooting the ball.”
Guard/forward Melvin Brown scored 17 points, including two from a pretty turnaround jumper that brought the Stormers within six points of Joliet’s lead with five minutes to play. After a made free throw by Joliet, MATC point guard Allante Washington drained a corner 3-pointer to narrow the deficit to four. That was as close as the Stormers would get.
Forward Evan Burlingame was a bright spot for MATC, demonstrating a rapidly maturing back-to-the-basket post up game that resulted in 15 points for the slender freshman out of Hartland, Wis.
It was the eighth loss of the season for MATC, but fans shouldn’t expect wholesale changes to be made to the team’s style of play.
“We’re going to keep the course. One game; it’s a loss,” Casey said.