By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
For two quarters Tuesday night, the Big Foot boys basketball team did plenty of things right in its Rock Valley Conference game with visiting Clinton.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the Cougars turned the tables in the second half.
And that proved to be too much for Big Foot to overcome.
Clinton outscored the Chiefs 38-22 the last two quarters to erase a one-point deficit en route to a 57-42 victory. The loss dropped Big Foot to 4-16 overall and 3-11 in the RVC.
“We played well for two and a half quarters but we couldn’t finish the game the last quarter and a half,” Big Foot coach Mike Dowden said. “We need to find a way to make a couple more shots as we get down the stretch.”
Big Foot led 20-19 at halftime as the Chiefs put together two solid quarters of basketball, their coach said.
“I thought we brought a lot of energy, (but) we just didn’t capitalize enough on their low-scoring quarter (nine points in the first),” Dowden said. “If we play four quarters like that we are in pretty good shape.”
Clinton took a 36-29 lead after three quarters before the Chiefs rallied a bit in the fourth. Alex Landers and Chandler Hehr hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to five midway through the fourth but couldn’t get any closer.
Landers led the way with 10 points, followed by Hehr, Zak Greco and Nico Tovar each with seven.
Big Foot travels to Beloit Turner Friday night and then closes out its regular season next Thursday, Feb. 26, at Palmyra-Eagle.
Pairings for the upcoming WIAA regional tournament will be decided this weekend.
The goal for the last two games and the regional remains the same as always, Dowden said.
“We have to keep getting better,” he said. “We aren’t going to win the conference, so we need to prepare to win in the tournament.”
Brodhead holds off Chiefs
Visiting Brodhead outscored Big Foot 13-1 at the free-throw line, and that proved to be more than enough Feb. 12 in a 41-35 RVC win.
Dowden didn’t use the significant discrepancy as an excuse for the loss.
“They play a role in the end result but are not the reason for the end result,” he said. “We didn’t execute and missed some opportunities that came back to hurt us in the end.
“Even if the opportunities come in the first half, they still come back to haunt you down the stretch.”
Brodhead led 22-19 at halftime and outscored Big Foot 19-16 the last two quarters.
Dowden said the Cardinals didn’t do anything defensively he hadn’t prepared his team to face.
“In all honesty, they played us just as we thought they would,” he said. “We struggled to make some shots, and then we missed some easy looks at times that we couldn’t afford to miss.”
Greco led the way with 10 points, followed by Landers with nine.
“We battled all night,” Dowden said. “It was a competitive game, a pretty spirited game, and I thought we were ready to play. I don’t question their desire or work ethic, but we need to find ways to win.”
