Defensive swoon undermines Shamrock boys

COLUMBUS - On paper, Scotus Central Catholic's matchup against the Madison boys basketball team appeared to be the easiest one of the season.

Yet after facing six rated teams in their first 10 games, the Shamrocks played paper tiger defense and suffered a 48-28 loss to Madison Tuesday night at the Shamrock Activities Center.

The Dragons, which entered the game with a 1-10 record, pulled away in the fourth quarter. Madison scored 23 of the final 27 points in the game after Scotus cut its deficit 20 seconds into the final period.

“The thing I'm most disappointed about is we didn't play defense like we are capable of,” Scotus coach Brett Rusher said. “We've played some of the top teams in the state and held them to less than 48 points.

“Their record doesn't show what kind of team they are, but we didn't play to our capabilities. ... That is the worst team we've played record-wise, but for whatever reason, that the worst we've played on defense.”

Kyle Mroczek sunk a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, and then Scott Jarecke converted an offensive rebound to start the fourth quarter. However, the Scotus offense sputtered the rest of the quarter as all it mustered was another Jarecke basket and two free throws from Travis Wieser.

On the other end, Madison was shifting its offense into high gear. After the Shamrocks got within one point, Ryne Thompson was fouled on as he made a point-blank shot. Jacob Daberkow grabbed the missed free throw and quickly gave the Dragons a four-point lead.

Four Madison players scored at least four points in the fourth quarter, topped by seven from Derek Becker. Jason Eisenmann finished with a game-high 12 points, while Becker added 11. Jacob Daberkow recorded nine points and eight rebounds.

After coming up short against ranked opponents such as Norfolk Catholic, Boone Central and West Point Central Catholic, Madison coach Gary Broders was glad to see his team execute down the stretch.

“We got a little more aggressive in the fourth,” Broders said. “The key was we took care of the basketball. We didn't give in and panic. There are times where we get tight in the game, it gets to be crunch time, and we turnover the ball too many times, and that's the story of our season. It comes down to us keeping mentally focused, and tonight we did a nice job.”

The Shamrocks lead 11-9 early behind six points from Jarecke, but Madison took control with a 12-2 run that extended into the first minute of the second half.

Scotus struggled shooting all game and finished with a shooting percentage of 26.7.

Scott Jarecke finished with 10 points, but no one else contributed more than five. Kyle Mroczek and Thomas Beller, who average a combined 17 points per game, finished with just three points on 1-for-12 shooting.

“We had tons of open 3s and open shots in the post, but we didn't knock our shots down,” Rusher said. “They sat in the zone the whole game, and we let them stay comfortable. We couldn't score and get them out of it and weren't being effective or aggressive.

“We had too many turnovers, didn't shoot very well and didn't play good defense. Today, we played a subpar game.”

Madison (2-10) 7 12 6 23 - 48

Scotus (2-9) 9 6 7 6 - 28

n Madison-Derek Becker 5-6 1-1 3 11, Jason Eisenmann 4-7 3-4 1 12, Drew Wagner 1-2 0-0 2 2, Jacob Sunderman 0-2 0-0 1 0, Ryne Thompson 4-8 0-1 4 8, Jacob Daberkow 3-5 3-4 0 9, Cody Knapp 2-4 2-4 4 6. Totals 19-34 7-14 14 48.

n Scotus-Lance Schmidt 0-2 0-0 3 0, Chase Beiermann 0-1 0-0 0 0, Thomas Beller 0-3 0-1 4 0, Lucas Backman 0-4 0-0 1 0, Kyle Mroczek 1-9 0-0 3 3, Scott Jarecke 5-12 0-0 0 10, Danny Zach 2-4 0-0 0 5, Travis Wieser 1-2 2-2 0 4, Tanner Johnson 1-4 0-0 2 2, Scott Ackman 0-1 0-0 0 0, Taylor Suess 2-3 0-1 3 4. Totals 12-45 2- 4 16 28.

n 3-point goals-Madison 1 (Eisenmann), Scotus 2 (Mroczek, Zach).