Kiser scores 16, but Smith cites shooting woes in Zebra loss to Southwood

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jonas Kiser

WABASH — After suffering a dislocated left pinkie in the third quarter against host Southwood Thursday at The Castle, Rochester senior forward Jonas Kiser ran to the bench in pain before trainer Catherine Hughes popped the finger back in place and Kiser returned to the game.

But unlike Kiser’s straightened digit, the game continued to head in the wrong direction for the Zebras.

Maddox Marshall hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points, and Bryce Wilcox added 12 points and eight rebounds as the Knights beat the visiting Zebras 58-35.

Sophomore reserve forward Kaidan Valdez added 10 off the bench.

Kiser scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Rochester. Ashton Musselman hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for six.

Southwood improved to 13-2 overall and 6-1 in the Three Rivers Conference. The Knights must win their remaining conference games against Maconaquah Feb. 13 and Northfield Feb. 20 to have a chance at a share of the conference title. Northwestern (8-0) already has clinched a share of the title, and they can clinch it outright with a win over Whitko Feb. 13.

Rochester dropped to 7-8, 2-4. They can finish no higher than fourth place in the TRC.

The Zebras committed a season-low five turnovers and held Wilcox 11 points under his average.

Rochester succeeded in slowing the game to a tempo that would be more comfortable than an 84-foot game that Southwood might have wanted, according to coach Luke Smith, but Smith said poor shooting hurt their chances.

“We were ice cold tonight,” Smith said. “I don't know what we shot from the field, but it was not good. And to be honest with you, all the shots that we took tonight were good shots, shots we work on. I don’t think we took contested shots. I thought we played great, great defense to hold Wilcox to 12. If you tell me that coming into this game, I’ve got to feel pretty good about what our chances are. … We did a lot of the things we talked about pregame, and I was proud of my guys for that, but the lack of shooting ability tonight, that can haunt you, and it sure haunted us.”

Wilcox, who was coming off a 27-point game in a 63-47 win over Lewis Cass Tuesday, did not score in the first quarter, but Southwood led 11-6 anyway. Marshall made two long treys, and Bo Liddick also hit a 3.

Marshall’s driving layup opened the scoring in the second quarter, but Kiser hit a top-of-the-key 3-pointer to make it 13-9.

Marshall hit another 3, and Wilcox showed off his deft touch with a 3 from just to the left of the key. The lead was in double figures for the first time at 19-9.

Rochester would stay within 20-13 on a Jack Reffett cutting layup off a Grant Clark assist and a Kiser putback of his own miss.

Wilcox hit two free throws and then hit a spinning turnaround from 13 feet to give Southwood an 11-point halftime lead.

“The halftime score was 24-13,” Smith said. “That’s exactly what we wanted in our game plan. We wanted it to be a slow, our-pace kind of game, and unfortunately, we could never make any shots.”

Though Wilcox, Southwood’s 6-8 big man and a University of St. Francis recruit, is a prolific shot blocker, Kiser had success both inside and outside the paint with eight of Rochester’s 13 points in the first half.

“We put Wilcox on him and were hoping that Wilcox wouldn’t get in foul trouble,” Southwood coach Christian Perry said of the defensive plan on Kiser. “I felt like Wilcox did a decent job, but Kiser being left-handed, Wilcox is used to somebody being right(-handed). So he wasn’t shading that side like we wanted him to, and then you’ve got to have … the help. Paulik and Kiser, if we could handle them, we’d be in a good spot. Paulik didn’t get very many. Kiser, he got his average, but he earned it.”

Wilcox would then score the first two buckets of the second half – the first on a spin move in the paint and the second on a coast-to-coast drive after Reffett missed a layup.

The lead was 28-13, and as it turned out, Wilcox was done scoring for the night. 

“Jonas did a great job on him,” Smith said. “We didn’t let him catch it anywhere that he wanted to catch it. We made him catch it far away from the basket. Our gap help was where it needed to be when he tried to drive. Our guys were locked on him tonight, and that was all our pregame talk was about as far as personnel goes. … We knew they had shooters, and unfortunately, that came up to bite us a little bit.”

A Kiser turnaround and a Brady Coleman corner 3-pointer off a Liam Spence assist helped trim the lead to 30-18, but Marshall hit a 3, and reserve sharpshooter Bryce Brewer buried back-to-back treys from in front of the Southwood bench. The 9-0 run occurred within a 67-second span, and the lead was up to 21.

Southwood would lead by as much as 26 in the fourth quarter.

Southwood also triumphed in the JV game 60-44 despite Aiden Wilson’s 17 points. Linden Wilburn added seven points, Alex Chapman had six, Parker Casper and Owen Lett had five each, Taylor Howard had three, and Van Kiser had one.

Southwood also took the “C” team game 28-23 in overtime.

Southwood 58, Rochester 35

ROCHESTER (35) (7-8, 2-4)

Carson Paulik 2 0-0 5, Brady Coleman 1 0-0 3, Jack Reffett 1 0-0 2, Liam Spence 0 0-0 0, Jonas Kiser 7 1-5 16, Aiden Wilson 0 0-2 0, Mitchell Clark 1 1-2 3, Ashton Musselman 2 0-0 6, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Alex Chapman 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Grant Clark 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 2-9 35

SOUTHWOOD (58) (13-2, 6-1)

Aiden Hawkins 1 0-0 2, Maddox Marshall 7 0-0 18, Owen Enyeart 1 0-0 2, Bo Liddick 1 0-0 3, Bryce Wilcox 4 3-4 12, Bryce Brewer 2 0-0 6, Kaidan Valdez 4 1-2 10, Griffin Chambers 1 2-2 5

TEAM: 21 6-8 58

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 5 (Musselman 2, Kiser, Paulik, Coleman),

Southwood 10 (Marshall 4, Brewer 2, Chambers, Liddick, Valdez, Wilcox)

Total fouls: Rochester 12, Southwood 11

Turnovers: Rochester 5, Southwood 10

Score by quarters

Rochester 6 7 9 13 – 35

Southwood 11 13 17 17 – 58

JV: Southwood 60, Rochester 44

C: Southwood 28, Rochester 23 (OT)