By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Mississinawa Valley High School boys basketball team lost their first tournament game in the Jet Holiday Tournament at Franklin Monroe, 66-39, to Brookville High School on Dec. 28.

The Blackhawks faced foul trouble right from the start. As the game went on, the team started to show more frustration. Head coach Nick Hamilton said the team is putting in the effort, but just not seeing results right now.

“We have to keep our heads up and we got to keep positive cause these boys are playing hard. They’re giving me effort in every game. It’s not like we’re quitting,” Hamilton said. “We don’t quit at any point in the game.”

Brookville had a 27-15 lead at halftime. Mississinawa Valley seniors Matt Pisano and Drew Anguiano got into foul trouble early in the first quarter.

Hamilton subbed Pisano and Anguiano out for each other for half of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Anguiano played most of the quarter while Pisano was on the bench for the whole quarter.

Hamilton said he needed at least one of them to be on the court. He also said Anguanio was a smart player and was comfortable with him playing with his foul troubles.

Pisano’s playing style was more prone to getting him into more foul trouble in the first half. Hamilton made the decision that would best help the team in the second half.

“Matt gets very emotional on the floor. He’s a very up-tempo player and wants to do well. Sometimes that gets him into some more fouls,” Hamilton said. “He plays extremely hard and I needed Matt for the whole second half.”

Anguiano did provide a defensive spark for the team. They were able to limit Brookville early on to outside shots.

But the offense couldn’t catch up. The Blackhawks would have stretches of missing open shots. They just couldn’t get the ball to go in.

That also played into the team getting frustrated. Hamilton said the team does show some frustration when they cannot get the offense going.

That is the next thing the Blackhawks are working on as they look to improve. Hamilton said they seemed to have resolved their turnover issues from the beginning of the season and are getting better defensively.

The defense could only hold on for so long as Brookville started to gain offensive momentum in the fourth quarter. Brookville scored 28 points in the fourth to propel them to the tournament championship game.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]