Jackson Adamowicz’s 20 points led all scorers Thursday, but he needed a little help as it wasn’t enough to lift Burris over Alexandria-Monroe.
Adamowicz was the Owls’ go-to guy right out of the gate. He scored six of his team’s 12 points in the first quarter. Head coach Joseph Anderson said Adamowicz is the focal point of his offense.
“I rely on Jackson to lead the team, to score, to set up the offense,” Anderson said. “It’s a lot of pressure on him.”
After trailing by four at the end of the first quarter, Burris started to hit its groove in the second. The Owls mounted a comeback and tied the game midway through the quarter. Adamowicz was the one to tie the game with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. It led the Tigers to call a timeout.
“It helped us get closer, but we really let it go in the beginning of the third quarter,” Adamowicz said. “It didn’t really matter after that, but it felt good.”
Burris went into the half down 26-25, but like Adamowicz mentioned, it was all downhill from there. Alexandria came out of the break seemingly with a fire started in them. The Tigers quickly extended the lead on a 7-0 run to begin the half, forcing Burris to call a timeout.
“I said, ‘I told you they were going to come out in a 1-3-1. We have to set up,’” Anderson said. “We didn’t set up, and that’s what caused the spiral to get out of control — not recognizing what the other team is trying to do to us.”
The Tigers kept their momentum rolling through the rest of the game to come away with a 63-50 win. Cade Vernetti and Brennan Morehead led Alexandria with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
While only two Tigers reached double figures on the night, seven scored at least five. Anderson said it was tough to defend Alexandria’s score-by-committee approach.
“It’s tough because you can’t just target one person,” Anderson said. “I think they’re a balanced team … We didn’t really have a hard time in their offensive sets guarding them. It was just we had too many turnovers.”
The Tigers outscored the Owls 37-25 in the second half after the first half featured a one-point game. Anderson said the team’s record doesn’t accurately reflect what it is capable of, and Adamowicz added that players need to focus on playing a complete game.
“We got to work on playing all four quarters with energy and effort—not giving up halfway through the game. We got to put together a full game.”
Burris has two games left on the schedule before sectional play commences. The Owls’ next game is Feb. 21 hosting Blackford.
Contact Zach Piatt with any comments at zapiatt@bsu.edu or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.
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