12-07-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. LOUIS, MO. - Nashville head coach Darin Lee, after scouting St. Louis Shootout opponent St. Francis Borgia, figured that if his Hornets could keep their turnover total for the game under 10 that they could win.

Unfortunately for this mentor, Nashville doubled that miscue total.

Playing against a strong pressure defense for the first time this season, the Hornets were overwhelmed by Borgia, 66-49, Wednesday afternoon at the Savvis Center during the 25th Annual Shootout.

Committing 20-turnovers in the contest, the Hornets never got into any comfort zone as they dropped their first game of the season after four-straight wins.

Lucas O'Rear, Nashville's 6-foot-6 junior forward, accounted for nearly half of his teams' output by scoring 22-points and hauling down eight rebounds.

Teammate Blaine Morris added 17 to the point total but no one else hit for double-figures as the offensive mistakes, and the easy points that came from them, doomed Nashville.

Ten of the turnovers forced by Borgia ended up in fast break scores.

"We know that if we commit 20-turnovers we are going to get beat," said Lee, whose school was making its second St. Louis Shootout appearance, the other being in 1998. "Going in we thought if we commit ten I thought we could win. We gave up too many easy baskets."

Miami of Ohio signee Alex Moosmann tossed in a game-high 31-points to pace the Knights (6-0) while backcourt teammate Paul Eckerle added 15.

Nashville jumped out to an early 9-2 advantage, solving the Borgia press for some easy baskets in the paint by O'Rear and an early 3-pointer by Morris in the first 4:43 of the quarter.

However Borgia responded with an 8-0 run with five of those points coming from Moosmann.

This smooth 6-foot left-hander connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the circle and hit another shot on a 15-footer from the right elbow.

Those two scores gave Borgia its first lead at 10-9.

Nashville countered with another bucket by Morris on an assist from teammate Brandon Reckmann to take back the lead.

But just before the quarter ended, 6-foot-5 senior Pat Boland tipped in a missed shot for Borgia to make it 12-11 Knights at the first horn.

"We kinda got off to a slow start. I think the kids were trying to do little bit too much," said Borgia head coach Dave Neier. "Luckily for us we got a few steals and a couple of easy buckets and that kind of opened things up for us a little bit. I don't think that the kids ever quit playing hard."

By this point in the proceedings, the Borgia pressure began to change the complexion of the contest.

Moosmann and Eckerle took over on both ends of the floor.

The duo combined on a 13-point run in just over three minutes.

Back-to-back steals and fast break scores, first by Moosmann and then by Eckerle, forced a Nashville timeout at 25-14 with 4:57 to go before halftime.

Despite six points from O'Rear in the quarter, the Hornets headed to the locker room down 32-22 at the break.

"We had a tough time guarding them. They have great guards in Moosmann and Eckerle and we couldn't contain them at all," added Lee. "Once we were able to get the ball to Lucas we could score, but we couldn't get that done as many times as we want. We also need to get some points from other places."

Borgia never let off of the pedal in the third quarter.

Moosmann scored 11 of his points in the period, including a fantastic move in the lane where he split two Nashville defenders for a score while being fouled by Nashville's Todd Kostecki.

When he connected on his charity toss, Borgia tipped the scale at 48-34 with 2:49 to go.

Two more fast break scores by Moosmann and it was all over but warming up the bus at 52-36 heading into the fourth quarter.

The record on the turntable kept skipping for Nashville as Moosmann continued his onslaught.

He scored his final three baskets; two in transition, to balloon the Knights' lead to 62-38 at 4:58.

The Hornets got no closer than the final margin, with the reserves playing the final 2:32 of the contest.

Nashville shot the ball pretty well on this afternoon, hitting 22-of-41 overall from the field but just 3-of-12 from behind the 3-point line.

Borgia hit 3-of-66 (4-of-14) and out rebounded Nashville 30-25. But the difference in the contest was those costly errors.

Of the Hornets 20-turnovers, Borgia was credited with 18 steals.

"We needed to score a few more times when we did beat their press," finalized Lee. "Well we will look at the tape and see if we can make some adjustments, maybe the next time we see something like that we will be a little better prepared. We just threw the ball away too many times and there is just not much else to say."

Nashville heads into SIRR Mississippi play Friday night when they host rival Anna-Jonesboro.

The Hornets then travel to West Frankfort Saturday night.

Nashville (49) - Reckmann 0 0 0-0 0, Morris 5 2 1-2 17, Weathers 0 0 0-0 0, Engele 0 0 0-0 0, Pelczynski 1 0 1-2 3, Kostecki 0 0 0-0 0, Patton 1 0 0-0 2, Moeller 0 0 0-0 0, Conner 0 0 0-0 0, Lamczyk 0 0 0-0 0, York 1 0 1-2 3, O'Rear 11 0 0-0 22, Keller 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-19, 3FG-3, FT-2-6, PF-6.
St. Francis Borgia (66) - Moosmann 12 2 1-1 31, Eckerle 6 1 0-0 15, Hellebusch 0 0 0-0 0, Holdmeier 0 1 1-3 4, C. Eckelkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Gildehaus 0 0 0-0 0, Wallach 0 0 0-0 0, Haddox 0 0 0-0 0, Locher 2 0 0-0 4, Vincent 0 0 0-0 0, S. Eckelkamp 1 0 0-0 2, Hillermann 0 0 0-0 0, Boland 3 0 0-0 6, Carr 2 0 0-0 4, Thebeau 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-26, 3FG-4, FT-2-5, PF-11.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.