The Varsity boys basketball season got off to a rough start as they were trounced by Okemos 75-40 on Monday, Dec. 6.
After falling behind 27-15 at the end of the first quarter, Oxford clawed their way back in it, cutting the lead to 31-23 with two minutes left in the second quarter.
Then everything changed.
Okemos went on a 10-0 run to close the half, opening up a 41-23 lead at halftime and continuted to pour it on in the third quarter as Oxford came out flat to start the second half. Okemos outscored the Wildcats 18-9 in the third.
According to varsity head coach Paul Marfia, those two minutes completely changed the direction of the game.
‘We played them real tough up to that point, we had our moments where we played well and we had moments where we had lapses…if we could have kept that gap or even maybe closed it a little bit, I think we are looking at a different story,? Marfia said.
Seniors Mark Hazelwood and Mike Kitchner eached scored nine points for the Wildcats.
Chirs Harrison-Docks led Okemos with 23 points.
According to Marfia, a key stat for the game was Okemos’s 14 offense rebounds, which lead to 22 points.
He pointed out a bright spot for the Wildcats, the free-throw line, where they went 9-12 for the evening.
‘I got a lot of great kids and I think we are going to get better as the year goes along, we are just going to have to learn how to develop into our roles,? Marfia said.
‘Good news is that we have 10 days off to really go back to fundamentals and really improve on what we saw last night…we’ll develop those roles on our team and I look forward to watching us grow as the season goes along,? he said.
The Wildcats will play at Lake Orion on Friday, Dec. 17.