YORKTOWN, INDIANA --- Saturday night’s loss to the Wapahani Raiders is not putting a damper on the plans that the Yorktown Tigers have had for the entire season.
A tough shooting night and a plethora of turnovers left the Tigers down 18 points at halftime. During the break, Head Coach Matt Moulton told his guys to keep their heads up.
“We definitely struggled in the first half, only 13 points. Coaches got us in the locker room, got our energy up. They told us to stay positive and don't quit, especially in a big crowd like that. In our program, our philosophy is to never quit and keep going until the final buzzer sounds,” senior guard AJ Dunn said.
That message resonated with the players. The Tigers won the second half by 10 points and made a late push to shrink their deficit to single digits. AJ Dunn and his running mate, junior Jacob Grim, combined for 41 of the teams 46 points and brought the energy all night.
“If we have the energy going, or if it is not going, they've got to rely on someone to get that energy up and keep that constant. So, if that is the case, I just got to keep that up and make sure my team keeps on going,” Grim said.
Gunn, who finished the contest with 22 points, said that those final minutes were huge for the team moving forward with the end of the season approaching.
“That push at the end should give us the momentum to carry on the rest of the season because we started playing better in the second half, we won by 10 points in the second half. It should give the positivity to know that we can compete with teams that are ranked, and go late in the tournament,” said Gunn.
Before the postseason gets under way, the Tigers will travel to Mt. Vernon Friday night to face the Wildcats in their final regular season contest.
“We're going to practice hard Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We are in a good spot. We have a chance to go down to Mount Vernon and possibly go 5-2 in our tough conference. So, we fully expect to do that. We want to go down there and win that game,” said Moulton.
This past Sunday, the IHSAA released its playoff brackets which placed class 3A Yorktown in the New Castle sectional. The Tigers will have to face the host Trojans next Wednesday and will look to advance to play the winner of Frankton and Jay County.
Regardless of the outcome, Coach Moulton is sure about one thing. “It's sectional time in Indiana. That is a beautiful time of the year.”
Contact Ryan Sierocki with comments at rmsierocki@bsu.edu
