DELPHI — North Montgomery boys basketball is moving in the right direction. The Chargers were able to put four quarters together Tuesday as they took on Rossville in the Indiana Kitchen Classic at Delphi. The Chargers showed grit and determination all game long, but ultimately fell just short in a 46-45 defeat.
After a Rossville missed free-throw, North Montgomery had possession on the games final play with a shot to win the game, but a turnover allowed the Hornets to escape with the win.
Coach Chad Arnold despite still winless on the season, had nothing but positives to say after the tough loss.
“I’m really proud of our guys and the way we fought the entire game,” he said. “There’s still some things we’re doing wrong that are killing us, but I’m not upset because our effort was outstanding. I take responsibility for the last play and not putting our kids in a better spot. We have to work on end of game situations and I have to do better there.”
Jakob Kirsch led the Chargers with 17 points while brother Jarrod added in 12 to lead the scoring. Kelby Harwood added in eight.
“Jakob was outstanding on both ends of the floor today,” Arnold said. “Jarrod got hot in the second half and knocked down some threes, then overall other guys stepped up too. Ross Dyson wanted to guard their best player and I loved to see that out of him. That shows a lot about him as a sophomore going up against a senior whose played a lot of basketball.”
North Montgomery falls to 0-7 (0-2 SAC) with the loss.
Due to the round robin style of the boys tournament, the Chargers will come back to Delphi tonight to play the host Oracles. Arnold talked about the challenge of playing two games in the same day, especially after such a competitive first matchup.
“It’s tough but our guys are young and they’re going to have to fight through it,” he said. “Tonight is going to really show how tough we are as a team if we can match what we did this morning.”
While the Chargers are still in search of their first win, they didn’t back down from the challenge and went toe-to-toe with the Hornets for a full 32 minutes. The competitive desire to win is there with this Charger team and Arnold knows that as well.
“The kids showed me some stuff today that they haven’t all season,” he said. “We’re still a young team and have plenty of season left. If we continue to play hard like we did today for the rest of the season I think we’ll be in good shape.”
The game against the Oracles is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m.
Rossville 46, North Montgomery 45
Score by Quarters
Rossville 14 6 14 12 - 46
North Montgomery 12 14 5 14 - 45
Rossville (4-5)
FG-FGA FT-FTA PTS: Ozzie Meeks 1-1 2-2 5, Luke Meek 5-8 1-5 11, Austin Bray 2-5 2-2 6, CJ Geheb 8-14 0-0 20, Kaden DelReal 1-3 0-1 2, Jameson Cornell 1-2 0-0 0 2, Jace Jacoby 0-2 0-0 0; Totals 18-35 5-10 46
North Montgomery (0-7, 0-2 SAC)
Jakob Kirsch 6-9 0-0 17, Jarrod Kirsch 4-10 0-0 12, Colton Zachary 0-1 0-0 0, Ross Dyson 2-4 0-0 4, Kelby Harwood 4-5 0-0 8, Treyce Pittamn 0-3 0-0 0, Drew Norman 0-1 0-0 0, Benjamin Pietsch 1-2 0-0 2; Totals 18-24 0-0 45
3-Pt Shooting: North Montgomery 9-19 (Jakob Kirsch 5, Jarrod Kirsch 4), Rossville 5-16 (Geheb 4, Meeks)
Rebounding: North Montgomery 16, Rossville 16.
Turnovers: North Montgomery 11, Rossville 7