02-09-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
ANNA- Having just a handful of practices with his team and virtually no real scrimmages, Nashville head coach Wayne Harre wasn't exactly sure what to expect when his team took the floor on the road Tuesday night at Anna-Jonesboro.

What he found out that although the team still needs a lot of work, there was a lot of good things that came out of the Hornets season opener.

Behind 21 points from junior guard Isaac Turner and a strong defensive effort Nashville opened its SIRR Mississippi Division schedule with a 58-36 win over the Wildcats.

Turner had plenty of help as 6-foot-6 junior forward Saxton Hoepker added 11 points while senior guard Buzz Ritzel added 10.

Nashville forced 17 A-J turnovers in route to its first win of the campaign.

“We haven't been up and down the floor very much even in practices, we have just tried to do drill work and try to get everything in in a short period of time,” added Harre. “I don't know if we will get it all done but the kids are out here and enjoying it. We want to try and win the conference if we can.”

For head coach Mike Chamness and his squad it was another learning opportunity as they dropped to 0-3 on the season.

Senior guard Maddox Thorpe nailed four 3-pointers for Anna-Jonesboro and finished with 17 points but no other Wildcats' player ended up with double-digits.

Another senior, 5-foot-11 guard Juan Valencia, ended up with seven points.

The Wildcats couldn't overcome the mistakes and they failed to keep Nashville off of the boards.

The Hornets bested A-J on the glass, 21-15 with 11 of the Nashville rebounds coming on the offensive end.

“Their length (Nashville) creates such a problem. And you can't simulate that. I was pleased how we played offensively,” said Coach Chamness. “I'm not putting a lot of stock into 'wins and loses' this year. We're just trying to get better every game. We gave up what I call 'turnovers for touchdowns' where they score off of our turnovers. We got that corrected after the first quarter and played better.”

Unfortunately for Coach Chamness' squad, seven of its turnovers came in the opening quarter which put the Wildcats behind.

After Valencia hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the hosts an early 3-2 lead, the turnover bug hit Anna-Jonesboro.

Nashville proceeded to take advantage of the miscues by going on an 11-2 run.

Hoepker hit one of the Hornets' seven 3-pointers to give Nashville an early 13-5 spread.

Ritzel got in on the scoring with a pair of transition scores directly off of the turnovers and consecutive buckets in the paint by Turner gave the Hornets a 19-7 lead.

A 3-pointer from junior guard Ethan Carver closed the frame with the Wildcats down 19-10.

Coach Harre saw his troops hit their first three field goal attempts and 8-of-11 in the first eight minutes.

A basket by Valencia and 1-of-2 free throws by freshman Dylan Havel had the Wildcats down just 21-13 with 6:06 before halftime.

Then the Hornets took off on another run.

Four consecutive buckets turned into 11 points.

Two 3-pointers from Turner and 5-foot-10 junior guard Nolan Heggemeier along a conventional three-point play by Turner triggered the run.

Turner took a rebound and when coast-to-coast for a lay in while being fouled by Carver.

When Ritzel grabbed his own rebound of a missed shot in the paint and stuck it back home with 2:32 remaining before halftime, Nashville led 32-15.

Thorpe scored his first points of the game with mid-range shot as the Wildcats went to the break down 15.

“I thought the kids played hard tonight but at times we didn't play very smart. But with only four days of practice we will get better,” said Coach Harre. “I thought we did a good job on the boards but on defense we needed to switch out sometimes but we will see how we do on the road.”

Thorpe, a 6-foot-1 senior vet, got going offensively in the third quarter as the left-hander nailed four 3-point bombs in the second half with three of the bombs coming in the third quarter.

The bad news was that the Wildcats couldn't get enough defensive stops to turn any of the offense into extended runs.

Hoepker scored seven straight points to open the second half on a pair of free throws, and two drives to the basket.

His second move in the lane for a lay in turned into a three-point play when he was fouled by junior guard Laighton Mixen as Mixen tried to take a charge.

Hoepker's made free throw pushed the advantage to 39-20 at the 4:18 mark.

Thorpe hit his first 3-pointer on the next trip during the quarter but Turner also converted yet another three-point play with Mixen again called for a block.

This was part of an 8-3 run with Heggemeier closing the scoring blitz with another 3-pointer and a 47-26 advantage.

Thorpe and Turner exchanged 3-pointers with Turner nailing down a 25-footer in transition that beat the buzzer for a 50-29 lead heading to the third quarter.

A 7-0 run by Anna-Jonesboro to open the fourth quarter got Coach Harre's attention.

Thorpe nailed his fourth 3-pointer and then took a nice assist from Harvel on the next possession.

Harvel added a basket of his own on a baseline drive that forced Nashville to call timeout with 5:38 remaining.

The Hornets closed out the game by scoring the final eight points.

Heggemeier added a 3-pointer which was followed by a pair of drives by Ritzel and 1-of-2 free throws by Hoepker to close the scoring before the reserves finished out the final minute.

Both Nashville and Anna-Jonesboro shot the ball well from the floor as each ended up hitting 50 percent overall.

The Hornets were 22-of-44 overall, and 7-of-18 from the arc.

Coach Chamness' club hit 14-of-28 as a whole, 6-of-9 from 19'9”.

But the biggest factor was rebounding and turnovers, or in the case of Nashville a lack of turnovers.

Coach Harre's team committed just five miscues compared to the Wildcats' 17.

The Hornets next two games are Friday at home against SIRR Mississippi Division rival Sparta and a Saturday game at DuQuoin, also in the conference.

Anna-Jonesboro gets right back into action tomorrow night hosting Hardin County before also heading into Mississippi Division schedule with games at Carterville on Friday night and at home against Sparta on Saturday.

“They are just so efficient on the offensive end. They make the right play. We double the post and they kid it out. We help out on the weak side and they skip it over for an open 3-pointer and make it,” said Coach Chamness. “They have guys that started and played in a sectional final last year and we have guys who didn't even play varsity basketball last year. We are at two different spots.”

Nashville (58) – Heggemeier 0 3 0-0 9, Ritzel 5 0 0-1 10, Reinburg 0 0 0-0 0, Schwartzkopf 0 0 0-0 0, Hoepker 2 1 4-7 11, Goforth 3 0 1-2 7, Kelpp 0 0 0-0 0, Gajewski 0 0 0-0 0, Turner 5 3 2-2 21, Robinson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-7, FT-7-12, PF-10.
Anna-Jonesboro (36) - Ahlberg 0 0 0-0 0, Valencia 2 1 0-0 7, Trammel 0 0 0-0 0, Thorpe 2 4 1-2 17, Harvel 1 0 1-3 3, Mixen 0 0 0-0 0, Watkins 1 0 0-0 2, Carver 0 1 0-0 3, Dillman 0 0 0-0 0, Henry 2 0 0-0 4, Sullivan 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-6, FT-2-5, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.