UPDATED: Cardinals stop Miners in county showdown

Bloomfield senior point guard Andy Cochrane (40) shoots over Linton-Stockton defenders Caleb Stuppy (3) and Gunnar Passen Saturday night at Glover Gym. The Cardinals defeated their county rivals 52-38. [Order this photo]

BLOOMFIELD -- The Bloomfield Cardinals imposed their will on visiting Linton-Stockton Saturday night at Glover Gym.

First-year Bloomfield coach John Bucher captured his first win over a county opponent as his team improved to 2-2 on the year and 2-2 in conference play with a 52-38 Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference victory.

"I really was proud of the kids, I thought they did a good job of showing a lot of poise," Bucher said.

After maintaining control of the contest for the majority of the evening, the Cardinals were able to survive a third quarter surge by Linton-Stockton.

It was a surge that saw their 26-12 half-time lead dwindle to just five points in the final quarter before a closing surge of their own.

"When you have an inexperienced team at that point in the ball game it kind of go either way," Bucher said. "I was real pleased with the way they showed a lot of character and backbone and just maintained their composure."

After a missed 3-pointer from Drake Vandeventer, the Cardinals watched their lead slip from 37-27 where it stood entering the final frame, down to 37-32 over the next minute.

Linton-Stockton battled hard on their first possession of the quarter when Caleb Stuppy missed the initial shot, freshman Dess Fougerousse hit a follow-up shot ahead a whistle that put Chase Rhoten on the free throw line.

Rhoten nailed the two freebies before a steal by Stephen Franklin resulted in a trip to the charity stripe by the 5-9 junior.

He connected on the first of two chances to narrow the lead to it's smallest margin since the first quarter, before the Cardinals righted the ship and once again took control of the momentum.

They answered with a 5-0 run that widened the gap to 41-32 and never allowed it to shrink any further.

"I called a time-out and we talked about taking a deep breath and doing the little things that we had worked on in practice," Bucher said. "When you do that things fall in place. And I really feel like we dictated the pace and controlled the game from that point on."

For the Miners, it was another lost opportunity as their season-opening losing streak ran to 0-3 in their SWIAC lid-lifter.

"It wasn't the same team that played last night," Linton-Stockton coach Darren Clayton said referring to his team's losing efforts against Owen Valley on Friday night. "We didn't come out with that same enthusiasm and that same drive.

"I don't know if it was playing back-to-back nights or what it was. We didn't respond very well and we just have to go back to work on Monday and try to get better."

Senior Andy Cochrane led a Bloomfield attack that was able to cruise through the first two quarters, limiting the Miners to just six points in each frame.

The 6-1 forward finished the night with 19 markers to lead all scorers. He connected on 9 of 16 shots from the field and grabbed seven rebounds and blocked one Linton-Stockton shot.

"It shows what experience can do for you," Bucher said about his most experienced players' efforts. "He's our only one with experience from last year and he's one of those kids who's the first one to practice and the last one to leave -- his work ethic is what our other kids need to have."

Cochrane's efforts were capably backed up by 10 points from junior Vandeventer, nine from fellow senior Holden Hamm and eight from junior Bryce Lindsey off the bench.

Starting center Cory Slaven also checked out of the contest with four points and five rebounds.

The Miners countered with 10 points from freshman forward Austin Karazsia, nine from Dess Fougerousse, seven from senior Rhoten, five from Blake Eaton, four from Stuppy and three from Franklin.

But perhaps the most telltale sign of the Miners' struggles came in rebounding, despite only a 28-27 edge by the Cardinals.

"Our rebounding continues to let us down," Clayton said. "We're getting hurt on the boards and that's something we've got to fix."

Bucher said he was pleased with the overall efforts of his inexperienced squad. But he also said he felt the steep learning curve that they faced has started to lessen.

"It has to because of the strength of our schedule," he said. "We have a really tough schedule so our boys have to grow up quick."

While he was still disappointed by the final outcome, Clayton was able to find some positives, especially from the inside play of Fougerousse and Karazsia.

"I thought Austin had a good tonight for us on the inside and when we were able to keep Dess on the floor he did some good things," Clayton said. "We've just got to build off the good and work on the bad."

The Cardinals return to action Friday at Clay City before traveling to Edgewood on Saturday, while the Miners are idle until Saturday when they travel to Switz City for a showdown with White River Valley.

All games begin at 6 p.m.

In the junior contest Bloomfield prevailed 43-17.

Kyle Doane led the Cardinals with 12 points followed by nine points each from Bryce McGlothlin and Curtis Hasler, six from Caleb Bucher and two each from Ben Hayes, Ben Vandeventer and Robert Buka.

Cole Bradbury led the Miners with five points followed by Clayton French and Ben Boyd with five and Cole Riggleman and Abram Neff with two each.

LINTON-STOCKTON (38) -- Caleb Stuppy 2-9 0-0 4, Gunnar Passen 0-3 0-1 0, Chase Rhoten 2-10 2-2 7, Austin Karazsia 5-14 0-0 10, Stephen Franklin 1-1 1-2 3, Clayton French 0-0 0-0 0, Dess Fougerousse 4-9 1-2 9, Blake Eaton 2-2 1-3 5. Totals 16-48 5-10 38.

BLOOMFIELD (52) -- Holden Hamm 2-6 4-4 9, Ryan O'Neall 1-2 0-0 2, Bryce Lindsey 2-2 4-4 8, Brant McGlothlin 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Cochrane 9-16, 0-2 19, Drake Vandeventer 3-9 3-3 10, Cory Slaven 2-7 0-0 4, Payton Karl 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-44 11-13 52.

Linton-Stockton 6 6 15 11 -- 38

Bloomfield 13 13 11 15 -- 52

3-point shooting -- Linton-Stockton 1-8 (Rhoten 1-1, Stuppy 0-3, Karazsia 0-2, Passen 0-2), Bloomfield 3-11 (Hamm 1-1, Cochrane 1-6, Vandeventer 1-3, Karl 0-1). Fouls -- Linton-Stockton 19, Bloomfield 13. Fouled out -- Fougerousse. Rebounds -- Linton-Stockton 27 (Karazsia 9), Bloomfield 28 (Cochrane 7). Steals -- Linton-Stockton 1 (Franklin), Bloomfield 4 (Hamm 2). Blocked shots -- Linton-Stockton 0, Bloomfield 2 (Cochrane, Slaven). Turnovers -- Linton-Stockton 11, Bloomfield 7.