Centralia was not afraid to let it fly from deep against Elma. The Tigers took 22 shots from beyond the arc against the Eagles in their season opener.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, not many of those fell, as they hit just three three-pointers in a 56-46 loss on Tuesday night.
“It’s really hard to win games when you’re not hitting and you’re taking that many threes,” Centralia coach Jordan Thomas said.
Offensive inconsistency is what kept the Tigers from keeping up with the Eagles as the game went along, as Elma was able to keep Centralia at arm’s length for most of the game.
The unit’s best stretch came late in the first half. The Eagles built a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter, but Centralia ended the half on an 11-0 run to get back within five before the break.
During that run, the offense ran through center David Daarud down low. He scored six points in the final minutes of the half, and he added nine more on the third en route to finishing with a team-high 19.
“He just kept with it,” Thomas said. “The first half wasn’t going our way, but he didn’t give up … At times we could’ve gotten it in more.”
Outside of Daarud, points in the paint were also hard to come by. The Tigers weren’t as inconsistent in the paint as they were from three, but the Elma defense contested nearly every shot that they tried to put up in and around the paint.
Thomas attributed some of the struggles to first-game jitters, but he also said that it’s something they’ll need to fix quickly.
“We just gotta come back to the drawing board and talk about what kind of shots we want as a team,” Thomas said.
Jordan Yeung finished with seven points, while Kadin Yeung added six. Terrell Sanders and Adin Stratton tallied four each.
Defensively, Centralia was active early, but it quickly got into foul trouble. Elma got into the bonus in just three and a half minutes, leading to a flurry of free throws throughout the back half of the frame.
Elma didn’t shoot as many free throws in the second half, but the Eagles were able to rebuild their lead with consistent pressure in the paint. With just three and a half to play, their lead was back to 15.
Theodore Flores led the Eagles with 15 points, while Isaac McGaffey logged 14 and Dylan Myer and Traden Carter both added seven.
The Tigers (1-0) won’t have to wait long to try and bounce back, as they’ll head south to take on Woodland on Thursday.
“I would expect more activity,” Thomas said. “Just more energy from the entire team. I feel like we kind of lacked that tonight.”
