Head boys basketball coach Skip Dolan was not expecting to go into halftime down 40-17 against the Milaca Wolves Thursday, Jan. 2, at Milaca High School.
Things improved in the second half and got within five points, but came up short in the end losing 66-54.
Including the loss to Milaca, the Cards are now 3-6 for the season. The first WCC-W game will be against Rockford Thursday, Jan. 10 at Rockford.
Milaca 66, Annandale 54
The Cards were taken by surprise when the ran a zone against the Cardinal defense.
"We have been struggling to get any practice time right now," Dolan said. "We haven’t even worked on running an offense against a zone.
"Everyone we know plays man-to-man."
The first half saw the Cardinals move the ball well, but missed many shots.
"Nobody is trying to miss all those shots," Dolan said.
In the locker-room during halftime Dolan made some adjustments against the zone.
"I told the boys we might as well breathe it out and laugh," Dolan said.
Flipped the script
"Second half we flipped the script, putting on a massive run and got within five," Dolan said.
The Cards outscored the Wolves 37-26 in the second half.
"But we had to foul down the stretch."
Cam Howard had great second half scoring all 14 of his points. Howard led the team in scoring.
Logan Purcell and Paul Meyer followed with 13 and 12 points.
"Peyton Fobbe did great job off bench," Dolan said.
Fobbe put in two three-pointers and added two more points in the game.
Statistics
Milaca 40 26 66
Annandale 17 37 54
Annandale team statistics
2 pt shots: 14-31 45.2 percent
Three point: 8-31 25.8 percent
Free throws: 2-4 50 percent
Rebounds: 36
Offensive rebounds: 17
Defensive rebounds: 12
Deflections: 7
Steals: 9
Blocks: 0
Turn-overs: 15
Second chance points: 16
Points in the paint: 24
Points off turnovers: 12
Personal fouls:19
Charges taken: 0
Individual statistics
Points: Howard 14, Meyer 13, Purcell 12, P. Fobbe 8, Healy 3, Spaulding 2, Fort 2.
Three point: Howard 4-8. P. Fobbe 2-4, Meyer 1-5, Healy 1-8.
Free throws: Purcell 2-4
Rebounds: Meyer 7, Spaulding 5, Gagnon 4, Fort 3, Purcell 3, Healy 3, Howard 2,
Assists: Bowman 3, Healy 2, Meyer 2, P. Fobbe 2, Howard 2, Spaulding 1.
Steals: Gagnon 3, Meyer 2, Healy 1, Purcell 1, Spaulding 1, P. Fobbe 1
Blocks: None
Personal fouls: Healy 4, Meyer 3, Purcell 3, P. Fobbe 3, Howard 3, Spaulding 2, Bowman 1.
Up next
■ Tuesday, Jan. 8 the 2A Cards will host the 4A Hopkins Royals for a 7 p.m. non-conference game at Annandale High School.
The Royals are 11-1 so far this season, their only loss came at the hands of East Ridge.
■ Thursday, Jan. 10 the Cards travel to Rockford High School for a 7 p.m. WCC-West game against the Rockets. This will be the Card’s first WCC-W game of the 2018-19 season.
■ Saturday, Jan. 11, the team travels to St. John’s University for a 12:45 non-conference game against Melrose.
■ Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Cards host the New London-Spicer Wildcats for a 7 p.m. WCC-West game at the Annandale High School gym.