Jacobs falls twice
ROCKTON Jacobs was able to defend in spurts.
The Golden Eagles were also able to score in spurts.
Jacobs' boys basketball coach Jim Hinkle knows that it's the spurts that his team will need to build upon after dropping a pair of games at Hononegah's MLK Classic Tournament Monday.
The Golden Eagles (3-14) lost to eventual champion Rockford Auburn (76-41) and the runner-up host Indians (70-47).
"We're disappointed that we couldn't get a win," Hinkle said. "We played against some great teams and we played well in spurts. (Against Hononegah) we had some real breakdowns in the first half. I thought we played better in the second half, we had some help (defense)."
Jacobs was able to pull the game to 40-31 when Bobby Mladenovic (9 points) nailed his second-straight 3-pointer of the quarter. with 5:07 left. The Indians responded when point guard Carlos Hendrix (19 points) drove the ball to the lane and drew a foul on the next trip down the floor to kick off 7-straight Hononegah (13-5) points.
"We did play in spurts, but we have to do it the whole game," Mladenovic said. "They were really tough teams."
Jacobs attempted a 3-pointer on 9 of its 10 third-quarter shots, with Mladenovic making 2 and Brad Cleveland making the other. The Golden Eagles added another 4 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and made just 1 2-point field goal in the second half.
Jacobs attempted just 23 non 3-point field goals going 7 of 15 from beyond the arc.
Will Schwerdtmann provided the offense in the first half. He scored 13 of his 15 points in the second quarter adding 3 3-pointers in the period.
Schwerdtmann was the only player to score in double digits in both games adding 12 points in Jacobs' loss to Auburn (17-2).
Hendrix was not the only All-Torunament guard that Jacobs had to deal with on Monday. State-ranked Auburn possessed the Rockford-area's premier player in Fred Van Fleet.
He finished with 11 points, All-Tournament selection LaMark Foote scored 23 and Elijah Smith added 19 for the Knights.
"It's always good to play a state-ranked team and one of the best players in the state," Hinkle said. "We tried to stop their penetration."
Metro East 62, Westminster Christian 52: Will Woodhouse scored 19 points and Robert Kleczynski had 13 to lead Westminster (6-9) in this loss at the MLK tournament at Concordia University.
Bartlett loses two: After winning twice at the Moline MLK tournament Saturday, Bartlett (8-10) fell twice Monday, losing to downstate Washington 43-25 and to Rochelle 65-46.