Kiser notches double-double, but 23 turnovers hurt Zebras in loss to Logansport

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jonas Kiser

R.J. Clem scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Logan Lange scored all 10 of his points in the second half as the Logansport boys basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Rochester 54-46 at the RHS gym Wednesday.

The loss spoiled a 24-point, 11-rebound effort from Rochester senior forward Jonas Kiser. The 24 points were a career high. He scored all eight of Rochester’s points in the fourth quarter.

But the Zebras also committed 23 turnovers, including eight in the fourth quarter, and made just 7 of 13 free throws.

Logansport struggled even more than Rochester did at the line, making 13 of 29, but they did make 6 of 8 in the final 50.5 seconds after Kiser cut the margin to 48-46 with 1:38 left.

Logansport improved to 3-0. Rochester dropped to 2-2.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but moved to Wednesday due to snow.

“They just killed us,” Rochester coach Luke Smith said of the turnovers. “The first half was a very slow, monotonous game. We thought they would come out and pressure us at the start of the game. We really thought with their guards and their speed and their quickness, they would press us the whole game actually. So we were prepared for that, we thought. And then by the time halftime came, they were obviously frustrated with our defense. We couldn’t handle the pressure. We had a hard time getting the ball inbounds. So we’ve got some things to go back to the drawing board on to make sure we get the ball inbounds.”

Kiser hit a tough lefty floater with 3:09 left to tie it at 44, but Logansport finished on a 10-2 run.

There were five lead changes in the fourth quarter. Logansport took the lead for good on a Clem free throw with 2:37 left that made it 45-44.

Kiser was called for a technical foul with 2:10 left moments after he was called for traveling and slammed the ball to the floor in frustration.

Smith took Kiser out of the game after the technical. Elijah Hopper missed both technical free throws. In Rochester’s first defensive possession with Kiser sitting, Clem accepted a pass from the elbow and drove in for a 3-point play to make it 48-44 with 1:55 left.

Kiser came back in and scored off a Jack Reffett assist. Quincy Jackson missed two free throws, and Reffett rebounded. Coleman took a pass in the post but tried to kick out with a bigger defender guarding him. His pass to Kiser rolled out of bounds in front of the Rochester bench.

Lange made it a two-possession game with two free throws with 50.5 seconds left.

Quincy Jackson stripped Clark and was fouled on his drive down the floor. He made the first free throw but missed the second.

Liam Spence got the rebound and was fouled, but he missed two free throws. Quincy Jackson made two more free throws with 35.1 seconds left to make it 53-46, and Jackson split another pair with 23.0 seconds left.

The eight-point margin of victory represented Logansport’s largest lead.

The start of the game belonged to the Zebras.

Logansport used a press to key a 10-1 run that closed out the first half, and they continued to harass the Zebras into mistakes in the second half.

“It’s frustrating because we held them to four points in the first quarter,” Smith said. “Really, they only had nine, and then we had two or three turnovers right there late in the half, and they cut it to one. Our defense was really good in the first half. We weren’t letting that big guy (Clem) get it deep in our post. We were fronting it properly, and then obviously, they went into halftime and said let’s go into the big fella, and he’s either going to win it for us, or they’re going to continue to do what they did.”

The start was played at a more deliberate pace.

Kiser scored on a driving banker, but buckets in the post from Clem and Keondru Burrage gave Logansport a 4-2 lead. The Zebras countered with a 9-0 run that bled into the second quarter on 3-pointers from Carson Paulik, Brady Coleman and Jack Reffett.

Clem split a pair of free throws with 5:28 left in the half, but a Kiser free throw, a Kiser driving layup from the right wing and a Reffett free throw made it 15-5 with 2:41 left.

But a Hopper layup and a Karsen Jackson layup got the lead down to six. 

After a Clark free throw, Clem hit a 19-footer, Hopper hit a free throw, and Quincy Jackson hit what turned out to be the Berries’ only 3-pointer.

The Rochester lead was down to one at halftime.

“We were settling the whole first half,” Smith said. “We were taking tough shots and shots that we talk about constantly in practice. We work on those things. If we don’t settle when we get downhill and get to the paint and cause them to draw some fouls, that’s really where we want to be. If we get to the paint and kick out (for) 3, I tell my guys all the time, I love those. But we’re just catching and looking around and then firing it up. There’s no rhythm to that shot. That’s not something we’re going to be very efficient at. So we talked about that. I thought we did a really good job in the third.”

Logansport held off a Rochester fourth quarter rally to also win the JV game 50-45. Aiden Wilson had 14 points, Van Kiser had 10, and Alex Chapman had eight to lead Rochester.

Straeter honored

The late Mason Straeter was honored in a pregame ceremony. Straeter’s seventh grade teammates walked out to center court with his basketball jersey, and the crowd gave a standing ovation in honor of the ovations he would have received had he played for the Zebras. A moment of silence followed.

Straeter, 12, was killed in a dirtbike accident July 31. In addition to dirt bike racing and basketball, he also ran cross-country. Smith was Straeter’s uncle.

“Him being my nephew, it touched me,” an emotional Smith said. “We miss him every day. A special kid. And for our community to want to do that on a night like this for my family, that’s really special, and this community continues to stand up and be somebody we can lean on as a Smith family and Straeter family. We’ll always miss Mason.”

Clark’s status

Smith said senior forward Grant Clark will have a doctor’s appointment Friday. Clark had knee surgery after playing in the season opener against Culver Nov. 26. After the surgery, Smith said Clark will be out “a few weeks.”

Logansport 54, Rochester 46

LOGANSPORT (54) (3-0)

Logan Lange 4 2-4 10, Elijah Hopper 4 1-5 9, Quincy Jackson 1 4-8 7, Keondru Burrage 1 0-0 2, R.J. Clem 9 6-10 24, Marquon Bell 0 0-0 0, Lucas Jones 0 0-0 0, Karsen Jackson 1 0-2 2

TEAM: 20 13-29 54

ROCHESTER (46) (2-2)

Carson Paulik 2 0-0 6, Mitchell Clark 1 1-3 3, Brady Coleman 2 1-1 6, Jonas Kiser 10 4-5 24, Jack Reffett 2 1-2 7, Liam Spence 0 0-2 0, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 17 7-13 46

Three-point field goals:

Logansport 1 (Q. Jackson),

Rochester 5 (Reffett 2, Paulik 2, Coleman)

Total fouls: Logansport 18, Rochester 23

Fouled out: Paulik (RHS), 2:37, fourth; Reffett (RHS), :50.5, fourth

Technical foul: Kiser (RHS), 2:10, fourth

Turnovers: Logansport 13, Rochester 23

Score by quarters

Logansport 4 11 22 17 – 54

Rochester 8 8 22 8 – 46

JV: Logansport 50, Rochester 45