By Matt Lofgren | Correspondent
Rebounding from a tough loss Tuesday night at Windham, Southeast got back to business Friday night with a 62-43 victory over Rootstown.
Getting a balanced effort from his team, Southeast head coach Matt Dillon said he was pleased with the way his players responded to adversity.
"We were real interested to see the way our team would bounce back, because we took a little bit of a beating over there in Windham the other night," Dillon said. "We thought our kids showed some good composure tonight in bouncing back from that loss. We were real proud of them."
Senior Trevor Norquest said he agreed with his coach, that the team came out much more focused on grabbing a conference win Friday.
"We came out focused, ready to go, knew what we had to do and we knew we were the better team," Norquest said. "We came out and showed it by playing as a team, played aggressively. We also focused on getting better for the long run."
The Pirates were able to work the ball all game long, finding success from beyond the arc and in the paint. More importantly for Dillon though, his players were being unselfish with the ball.
"Overall, we played very unselfish on the offensive end; moved the basketball well, too," Dillon said. "We had a lot of different kids in the scoring column, which is something we talk about. When we're successful, those are the things we do; we move the basketball, we get four, five or six kids that can score. Tonight we did that."
Defensively, Southeast was a nightmare for the Rootstown offense. Rootstown looked to make the extra pass, but the quick hands of the Pirates forced 21 turnovers and contested nearly every shot.
With the 21 extra possessions, the Pirates were able to add 18 points, or the difference in the game. Along with the turnovers, Southeast worked hard on the boards, collecting 13 offensive rebounds that translated into 14 points.
"We were able to score a little bit more in the paint tonight as the game went on," Dillon said. "That's something we need to do, be a little bit more balanced outside and inside."
While the Pirates were strong in the paint, Southeast was also deadly beyond the arc. Sinking six 3-pointers on the night, the Pirates had the Rovers guessing all game defensively.
Norquest sank two of the six 3-pointers for Southeast, and led his team in scoring with 14 points.
The Rovers got a strong performance by forward Connor Formick with 21 points.
Formick battled in the paint and sunk several contested shots that sent him to the charity stripe. At the line, Formick was an efficient 5-of-6.
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