Published: March 01, 2008 09:28 pm      

Meadow Bridge overcomes obstacles to beat Montcalm

SHADY SPRING — In preparations last week, Meadow Bridge weathered illness and, well, the weather.

And by week’s end, the Wildcats were wearing the mantle of champions of Class A Region 6, Section 2 by virtue of their 77-49 thumping of Montcalm in a Saturday matinee at Shady Spring Middle School.

Like many of their Mountain State counterparts, the Wildcats have fallen victim to winter-related sickness spells affecting several players on the roster. At Tuesday’s practice session, only five of 12 varsity players participated. Even coach Ed McCall had been affected by illness in recent days.

On top of that, a couple of snow days put Meadow Bridge on the shelf even more. “God forced my hand (into taking some down time),” McCall said. “I was a little worried about conditioning, so we juggled our lineup and (saved some of the more experienced players for later minutes). “The kids played well and within themselves.”

After Montcalm — led by two buckets by Anthony Graham — stayed close, 13-8, in the first period, Meadow Bridge widened the gap considerably over the next eight minutes. The Wildcats’ Nathan Neely and Travis Sheaves tallied 10 points each to propel their team to a 24-12 advantage in the quarter and a 37-20 halftime lead.

Eric Halstead’s 11 points helped Meadow Bridge continue the attack in the third period, and the closest Montcalm could get was 17 points, 60-43, midway through the final frame.

Montcalm’s first-year coach, Justin Havens, said Meadow Bridge set the tone with its aggressive man-to-man defense and crash-the-boards offensive mentality.

“They were just more physical than we were, outside and inside,” Havens said. “They dictated to us what we were going to do.

“They force situations you don’t want. They’re definitely in your face. Coach McCall does a good job with them.”

“Montcalm is a pretty good ball club, they’re well coached and they play hard,” McCall countered. “We had played two good defensive games against them, and we felt our man-to-man defense would be a key.

“We played well and we were focused. We made some good free throws, too.”

Meadow Bridge was 22-of-35 from the charity stripe, including 9-of-10 in the first half.

Neely bucketed 18 points to lead a quartet of Wildcats in double figures. Halstead contributed 17, Billy Trump 14 and Sheaves 12.

Donald White tallied 15, Graham 12 and Anthony Kelley 10 for Montcalm.

The Generals finished 10-13. Going in, Havens said he thought his team matched up fairly well with the ‘Cats after Meadow Bridge claimed five- and nine-point wins over Montcalm in the regular season.

“We didn’t play well today. Hopefully, our kids learned from it and come back with a positive attitude next year.”

Meadow Bridge, however, has survived to play at least one more game. The Wildcats (11-11) will face county foe Mount Hope at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Shady Spring Middle School for the Region 6 championship and a berth in the state tournament.

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com



MONTCALM (10-13)

Anthony Graham 5 2-4 12, Anthony Kelley 3 3-6 10, Donald White 5 3-4 15, Steven McClannahan 0 0-0 0, Anthony Kolb 3 1-2 7, Evan Gordon 0 0-0 0, Michael O’Donnell 0 2-2 2, David Sarver 1 0-0 2, Michael Carrol 0 1-2 1, Jesse Davis 0 0-0 0, David Kolb 0 0-0 0, Jacob Shrewsbury 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 12-20 49

MEADOW BRIDGE (11-11)

Billy Trump 4 6-9 14, Eric Halstead 7 2-4 17, Travis Sheaves 4 4-6 12, Daniel Clendenin 3 0-0 6, Nathan Neely 7 4-6 18, Justin Bennett 0 2-2 2, Tyler Bennett 1 0-2 2, Patrick Kincaid 1 3-4 5, Mikey Gillespie 0 0-0 0, Ben Toney 0 1-2 1, Kyle McGee 0 0-0 0, Brandon Adkins 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 22-35 77.

Montcalm..........................8 12 15 14 — 49

Meadow Bridge..............13 24 20 20 — 77

Three-point goals—M 3 (Kelley, White 2); MB 1 (Halstead); Fouled out—M: Graham.