Ross rallies to top Lebanon

Rams’ 31-8 second-half run sends them to 60-55 victory over Warriors.

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By Scott Hayes, Staff Writer 1:10 AM Sunday, December 11, 2011

LEBANON — Ross High School boys basketball coach Matt Wilhelm might want to remember what he said to his team at halftime Saturday night at Lebanon High School and save it for future use.

Because it worked.

The Rams (4-0) outscored Lebanon 31-8 over the first 12 minutes of the second half, turning a nine-point deficit into a 52-38 lead and held on from there for a 60-55 win.

“We had to have an attitude adjustment,” Wilhelm said. “We had a big win last night and sometimes teenagers tend to rest on their laurels which is what I think happened in the first half.

“In basketball, you have to come ready to play every night and coach (Matt) Higgins had a great scheme and Lebanon came ready to play. But there’s a lot of ups and downs in a season and I’m proud of how our kids responded to adversity and bounced back with a strong effort in the second half.”

Max Mischkulnig scored 16 of his game-high 20 points after the break while Brandon Fernandez scored 13 of his 19 in the second half.

“We missed a lot of open shots in the first half and knew that we had to just keep playing good defense and eventually the shots would start to fall,” Mischkulnig said. “We didn’t give them as many good looks as we did in the first half and our help side defense was quicker and that made a big difference.”

Mischkulnig blocked four shots and altered many others as Lebanon (1-3) was held to 30.8 percent shooting for the game, 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) in the second half.

Ben Esposito, the Warriors’ leading scorer with 18 points, managed just a single bucket after the break. A flurry of 3-point shots in the final two minutes — three by Bradd Ellis who finished with 13 points — allowed Lebanon to cut a 14-point Ross lead to three, but Mischkulnig sank 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the win.

“Ross has a nice team and played some good defense, but we stood around and played not to lose once we got the lead rather than attack and play to win,” Lebanon coach Matt Higgins said.

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