FRANKFORT — North Montgomery’s offensive woes continued on Friday night with a 49-35 road loss to Sagamore Conference foe Frankfort.
Another outing where the Charger defense played well enough to win, but were unable to find any rhythm offensively.
“We’ve been struggling all season,” North Montgomery coach Chad Arnold said. “Averaging 40 points a game in boys’ basketball, it’s hard to win.”
The Hot Dogs (9-9, 3-3 SAC) jumped to a 7-1 lead, with the Chargers failing to make a field goal until Jarrod Kirsch hit a 3-pointer with 2:30 left in the opening quarter. Frankfort led 9-4 after eight minutes.
North Montgomery closed the gap to 13-9 on a Ross Dyson basket with 5:10 to go in the first half, but a 5-0 Hot Dog spurt in the middle of the quarter, followed by back-to-back Frankfort triples to end the half gave them a 24-14 cushion at the break.
“Defensively we did some good things,” Arnold said. We made a good run, and then we made a couple defensive errors. We just made timely errors to get down by 10.”
North Montgomery’s best run came early in the third quarter when Kelby Harwood and Colton Zachary each made 3-pointers to help make it 27-23 with just over five minutes to go in the period, but the Hot Dogs finished the quarter on a 9-0 run, and never looked back.
The Chargers (5-14, 0-6 SAC) managed just 12 field goals on 31 attempts in the loss, leaving Arnold frustrated after the game.
“We knew they were going to switch,” he said. “And when they switch, you have to be able to back them and be able to throw it in the post and get buckets there, or you’ve got to be able to drive. And when you can’t get by guys on a consistent basis, it makes it a lot easier (for them) to switch everything and it puts you in a bind. It’s tough to get shots.”
Frankfort took just 34 shots, but made 20 for 59% shooting clip. Victor Cruz led the Hot Dogs with 12 points, while Jayce Strode scored 11, and Alex Farley reached double-figures with 10.
Kirsch led the Chargers with 11, while Harwood chipped in eight and Dyson seven. Frankfort out-rebounded North Montgomery 20-18.
Arnold felt like his team played with great effort, but looked to a lack of execution for the result.
“Our kids did play hard, we just didn’t execute,” he said. “And you have to execute if you want to beat a team.”
The Chargers are back in action Tuesday when they host Clinton Central.
FRANKFORT 49, NORTH MONTGOMERY 35
Score By Quarter
FR 9 15 12 13 — 49
NM 4 10 9 12 — 35
North Montgomery (5-14, 0-6 SAC)
FG-FGA FT-FTA Pts: Gabe Shirar 0-3 0-0 0, Jarrod Kirsch 4-7 0-0 11, Colton Zachary 1-3 0-0 3, Ross Dyson 3-3 1-2 7, Kelby Harwood 2-10 3-6 8, Nate McCoy 0-3 0-0 0, Drew Norman 2-2 0-0 4, Noah Hopkins 0-0 2-2 2; Totals 12-31 6-10 35
Frankfort (9-9, 3-3 SAC)
Doug Wood 1-4 0-2 2, Quentcy Perry 2-4 0-1 4, Kristofer Russell 1-3 1-2 3, Cayden Jarman 2-3 0-0 4, Victor Cruz 5-6 1-2 12, Jayden Skinner 1-1 0-0 3, Jayce Strode 5-6 1-1 11, Alex Farley 3-7 2-4 10; Totals 20-34 5-12, 49
3 pt shooting: NM 5-14 (Krisch 3, Harwood, Zachary), FF 4-10 (Farley 2, Cruz, Skinner)
Rebounding: NM 18, FF 20
Turnovers: NM 11, FF 6