01-16-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT - By hitting 9-of-16 shots to open the game on Saturday night – the Altamont Indians made certain that Patoka wouldn’t stand a chance in their non-conference contest.

Behind Brian Suckow with 21-points and Jordan McGinnis with 16 – the hosts rolled past the Warriors 67-34 to improve to 11-5 overall for the 2009-10 season.

Coach Doug Hill’s squad took care of the outcome from the opening tap and never trailed in a game in which the Indians had a double-digit lead just five minutes into the matchup.

Although Altamont cooled down some by the end of the game (28-of-62 overall) they never let Patoka mount any sort of a comeback.

The Warriors saw their mark slip to 11-7 on the season despite 18-points from senior Drew Baldridge.

Patoka totally collapsed offensively as they turned the ball over 23 times and shot just 12-of-38 from the field.

Altamont controlled the boards with a 32-20 advantage as Patoka managed just four offensive rebounds in the whole game.

Suckow topped the Indians with 10 rebounds while McGinnis grabbed six boards.

Tre Schlief finished with 10-points and six assists.

“On a night like tonight you want to jump out early and assert yourself as much as you can on them and see how long they want to go,” said Altamont head coach Doug Hill. “We came out in the third quarter and were more aggressive and were finally able to pull away. When we are patient enough offensively we normally get some good looks. But we scored most of our points in transition and in the second half we were getting the tipped balls and loose balls that we turned into fast break points. We rebounded the ball very well and that allowed us to get going.”

The contest wasn’t in doubt after Altamont went on a 15-4 run with Brandon Duckwitz, Schlief and McGinnis all connecting on 3-point attempts in the scoring jaunt.

When McGinnis hit a trifecta from the left wing followed by a steal and fast break score from Suckow at the 3:29 mark – Altamont led 17-6.

Suckow scored the final six points of the quarter with two more drives to the basket that closed the frame at 21-8.

“It is hard to pinpoint exactly what happened tonight because it was a little bit of everything,” said Patoka head coach Joe Eddy. “We came in and knew they were a tough team and were playing pretty well. It seemed like we were flat-footed most of the night and we let them attack us. We didn’t rotate well defensively. Offensively I don’t know what went right.”

The one bright spot for Patoka was Baldridge as the 6-foot senior scored nine of his points in the second quarter by hitting a pair of shots from the field and 5-of-6 free throws as the half ended 34-20.

Luke Murfin hit a 3-pointer for the Warriors to close out the quarter as Coach Joe Eddy’s team was still within a good scoring run from getting back in the game heading into intermission.

Following a drive to the basket on a fast break from Murfin and a 3-pointer from Sawyer Potter cut the Patoka deficit to just 37-25 – Altamont ran away and hid with a 16-0 run to finish the quarter.

Suckow scored six of the points in succession on two scores in the paint and a pair of free throws.

He took a nice pass in the lane from Chuck Spence and finished with a lay in for a 43-25 lead with 5:51 left.

McGinnis, Schlief, Duckwitz and Ryan Heiden all got in the act with points as the quarter ended 53-25 Altamont.

Even the reserve Indians got involved in the rout as junior Jacob Jahraus came off the pine for nine points in the fourth quarter.

The Indians have National Trail Conference games coming up with Beecher City on the road and a Friday night home game against Teutopolis.

Patoka’s next game is Tuesday night at home against Cowden-Herrick.

“They hit some wide-open 3’s early on us. They were running ‘the flex’ and we have practiced that forever in getting ready for the last few teams we played but we still got caught on those down screens and left them wide-open,” added Coach Eddy. “It was a break down mentally.”

Patoka (34) Baldridge 6 0 6-14 18, Murfin 1 2 0-0 8, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Potter 1 1 0-0 5, Allen 0 0 0-0 0, Beard 0 0 0-0 0, Weaver 0 0 0-0 0, Ishum 0 1 0-0 3, Despres 0 0 0-0 0, Wadkins 0 0 0-0 0, Rogers 0 0 0-1 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-4, FT-6-15, PF-14.
Altamont(67) – Buzzard 0 0 0-0 0, Duckwitz 1 1 0-0 5, Suckow 9 0 3-3 21, Hooks 0 0 0-0 0, Heiden 1 0 1-2 3, Schlief 3 1 1-2 10, Spence 2 0 0-0 4, Ledbetter 0 0 0-0 0, Gordon 0 0 0-0 0, Jahraus 3 1 0-0 9, McGinnis 3 3 0-2 15, Winters 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-22, 3FG-6, FT-5-9, PF-8.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.