Cardinals roll past Union (Dugger) on opening night

Bloomfield's Drake Vandeventer (44), Union (Dugger)'s Seth Gambill and Ethan Fettig (34) watch as Bloomfield's Andy Cochrane and Payton Karl, struggle for possession of the basketball with Union (Dugger)'s Trent Collins in Glover Gymnasium Wednesday night at Bloomfield. The Cardinals won a decisive 62-26 victory. (By Rick Curl/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

Bloomfield senior Andy Cochrane drained a game-high 21 points as the Cardinals handed Union (Dugger) a lopsided 62-26 defeat at Glover Gymnasium here Wednesday night.

It was the season- and Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference- opener for both squads.

"I thought our kids did a nice job of showing a lot hustle, going after loose balls and getting some deflections," Bucher said.

Cochrane, the Cardinals' lone player with varsity experience, nailed 8 of 17 shots from the field and was good on all three free throw attempts.

He added to the Bulldogs' frustration by pulling down three rebounds, snatching three steals and blocking a pair of shots.

"He came out and did a good job of being aggressive," Bucher said.

The 6-1 senior sniper wasn't the lone reason for Union (Dugger)'s woes. He was joined by juniors Cory Slaven and Payton Karl in double figures.

Slaven, who was forced to the bench early in the first half when he teetered on foul trouble, finished the night with 12 points while Karl, who spelled Slaven, finished with 10.

Slaven also shared the lead in rebounding with five boards, matching sophomore Ryan O'Neall in that category.

O'Neall finished with two points and three steals.

"Down inside I didn't think it was too bad," Bucher said. "We had Payton Karl who came in off the bench right off the bat.

"Then the O'Neall boy came off the bench early and did a good job of handling the basketball and getting it to other guys."

While Cochrane, Slaven and Karl shared the starring roles on opening night, the supporting cast was nearly as impressive.

Senior Holden Hamm finished the contest with eight points. The 6-0 forward connected on 2 of 3 shots from the field and was perfect in four attempts at the line.

He also added four rebounds and three steals to the mix.

"I was really pleased with Hamm and the leadership he showed," Bucher said. "His enthusiasm filters down through all the other players."

Bloomfield also got five from Drake Vandeventer and two each from Derek Corn and Bryce Lindsey.

"We had three kids in double figures then Hamm was good with eight points," Bucher said. "We did a good job of sharing the ball."

The Bulldogs were hampered by their own mistakes as they racked up 26 turnovers and were able to connect on just 7 of 35 shots from the field.

"Turnovers killed us," Union (Dugger) coach Clarence Johnson said. "We had 17 of them in the first half by our count and 10 of them were unforced.

"We have to do a lot better job of taking the ball. That was one of our big points of emphasis tonight and we didn't do a very good job of that."

The poor shooting combined with the large amount of turnovers left the Bulldogs' without anyone in double-digits.

Sophomore Tyler Talpas led Union (Dugger) with nine points while Trent Collins and Jacob Phegley checked out with six each and Ethan Fettig with five.

"The kids played hard," Johnson said. "The effort there, we're just lacking a lot of experience."

The Cardinals gave their new coach an early lead that continue to grow at each stop thanks to double-digit scoring as a team in all four quarters -- and a defensive effort that held the Bulldogs to single-digits in three of the four stanzas.

"We want to try and be patient and try to get the best shot that we can," Bucher said. "I thought our kids did a nice job of sharing the ball."

The Cardinals kept the pressure on going on another

Bloomfield will enjoy the Thanksgiving break then get back into action Saturday when they host Eastern Greene in a rematch of last year's Class 2A sectional final (won by Bloomfield 32-30) at 6 p.m.

The Bulldogs host North Knox in a 6 p.m. contest on Tuesday.

Bloomfield captured the junior varsity contest by a score of 50-30,

Ben Hayes and Robert Buka led the Cardinals with nine points each followed by Caleb Bucher with eight, Curtis Hasler and Kyle Doane with seven each, Bryce McGlothlin and Cory Kilgore with four each and Ben Vandeventer with two.

Zach Birdsong led the Bulldogs with 10 points while Mike Foglesong added six, Sterling Langley added four, Ethan Secrest added three and Eli Mejean and Swan Hunter added two each.

UNION (DUGGER) (26) -- Trent Collins 2-10 1-2 6, Sterling Langley 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Duncan 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Talpas 2-13 5-8 9, Jacob Phegley 2-5 2-6 6, Ethan Fettig 1-4 3-4 5, Seth Gambill 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 7-35 11-20 26.

BLOOMFIELD (62) -- Derek Corn 1-1 0-0 2, Holden Hamm 2-3 4-4 8, Ryan O'Neall 0-2 2-3 2, Bryce Lindsey 1-3 0-0 2, Brant McGlothlin 0-1 0-0 0, Andy Cochrane 8-17 3-3 21, Drake Vandeventer 2-5 1-3 5, Cory Slaven 6-10 0-1 12, Payton Karl 4-4 2-2 10. Totals 24-46 12-16 62.

3-point shooting -- Union (Dugger) 1-11 (Collins 1-6, Talpas 0-4, Phegley 0-1). Bloomfield 0-4 (Corn 0-1, Lindsey 0-1, Cochrane 0-1, Vandeventer 0-1). Total fouls -- Union (Dugger) 18, Bloomfield 17. Fouled out -- Collins, Fettig. Technical fouls -- none. Rebounds -- Union (Dugger) 23 (Talpas 6), Bloomfield 28 (O'Neall 5, Slaven 5). Steals -- Union (Dugger) 5 (Phegley 2), Bloomfield 11 (Hamm 3, O'Neall 3, Cochrane 3). Blocked shots -- Union (Dugger) 1 (Fettig 1), Bloomfield 2 (Cochrane 2). Turnovers -- Union (Dugger) 26, Bloomfield 16.