In a sustained dogfight between two evenly matched teams, the Midlothian Trojans found themselves on the unfortunate side at home; losing 77-71 in double overtime against the Huguenot Falcons on Dec. 13.
With this disappointing conclusion to one of the best dominion region games of the season, the Trojans now find themselves in seventh place in the dominion region after their first home loss of the season. On the other hand, the Falcons are currently keeping pace with James River, Manchester, and Monacan as they are now two games out of second place behind the undefeated Skyhawks.
In the first half, the Falcons started to gain momentum early in the contest by finishing through contact, making shots on the perimeter, and forcing the Trojans to have prolonged offensive possessions in the half-court. As the half progressed, the Trojans did a better job of switching and rotating against a Huguenot offense that’s fast paced with constant movement around the floor. Despite them slowly swaying the momentum in their direction, the Trojans still found themselves trailing 34-32 by halftime.
In the beginning stages of the season, the Trojans have had a difficult time making adjustments and closing games out consistently when coming out of halftime. According to recent evidence, Midlothian is 0-5 when they are behind in a game going into the halftime break. A large part of this has to do with Coach Ross having a difficult time putting together a coherent gameplan offensively; which leads to bad shot selection, not enough movement off the ball, and a chance for their opposing team to get in transition.
As the game continued to slow down in pace, the Trojans and Falcons had a second half game plan that mirrored each other. The similar approach from Midlothian and Huguenot lead to both teams being tied at the end of the third and fourth quarter. The pair of teams dialed up the aggression with constant rim pressure, fouls drawn around the paint and mid range area, and more motion and movement with defenders up close. On top of that, each team had a golden opportunity to win the game within the final minute; however, both teams failed to capitalize on last second shots while driving to the basket.
For a second game in a row, the Falcons entered overtime territory, putting themselves in a position where they can rely on Trevion Brown and Kaemon Smith to carry the load offensively. During the overtime, the Trojans implemented a small ball lineup in order to increase the level of scoring, speed, and agility in transition and in the half-court. However, they played to their detriment as they immediately got into constant mismatches against the Falcons front-court; which in turn, resulted in notable players like Harry Clarke and Chase Chambers getting fouled out of the contest.
This primary issue resulted in the Trojans eventually losing in what could be a season defining moment for Midlothian. In this contest, the Falcons exploited the Trojans defense by applying constant rim pressure, which forced their defense to collapse and leave shooters open at multiple areas of the court. In addition to that, Midlothian had a difficult time playing off script in the sense that when Coach Ross had a failed play call in the half-court, the Trojans would have a difficult time adjusting instinctively; which led to game clinching takeaways by Huguenot’s defense at the end of overtime.
Following this game, the Trojans will carry on with their gauntlet stretch over the next month as they face the Manchester Lancers on Dec. 15; a team that just came off a 62-55 road win against the Cosby Titans on Dec. 14. On the other hand, the Falcons will search for their first win against an above .500 team as they face the James River Rapids on Dec 15; a team that’s a game removed from an 83-35 onslaught against the Clover Hill Cavaliers at home.
