When the final buzzer sounded during the consolation games of the Little Okaw Valley tournament on Tuesday, Jan. 24, it capped a winless month for the Atwood-Hammond boys basketball team.
The Rajahs suffered a 60-42 loss to Arthur in the consolation semifinals, after getting outscored 28-11 in the second half.
The loss was just the latest in a rough winter for Atwood, who enters the final month of the regular season with just one win.
“We are getting younger as the season goes on,” said coach Bill Lyons. “We are trying to play some younger players and prepare them for varsity. Our varsity squad is working hard, but we lost a lot from last year. I figured it out and we lost 70 of the 78 points we averaged last year. Any time that happens, you are going to struggle a little bit.”
The Rajahs are averaging just over 51 points this season and junior Andy Webb is the only player averaging double figures in scoring. He leads the team with a 20.6 scoring average. Sophmore Jordan Feagin is second on the team with 7.1 per game.
The struggles have forced Lyons into some alterations to the Grinnell based system that produced a 16-14 record for Atwood last season.
“I thought we would be a little more prepared,” said Lyons. “We weren’t, but the kids are working hard. We are getting better every day. The JV is doing very well and they are playing a true system. We are kind of getting out of the system scheme at the varsity level, just because we don’t have the personnel. That’s the way you have to do it though. You have to adjust.”
On Tuesday, Lyons unveiled an adjusted form with fewer substitutions and a defensive focus.
“We’ve kind of been tweaking it the past couple weeks,” said Lyons. “Today was the first day we really went more by flow. It’s working out. I think we’ll continue to play the style we played tonight. Offensively, we'll still be a system team, but we have to slow it down more on defense and get better stops.”
The changes worked well enough to keep Atwood within striking distance at the break.
The Rajahs trailed 32-30 at the half after hitting five three pointers, but fell out of contention in the third after Arthur put together a 12-1 run.
Andrew Maxwell scored 23 points to lead the Knights and Evan Seegmiller added 11.
Webb led Atwood with 19 points and Feagin chipped in 11.
The loss was Atwood’s 14th straight and dropped them to 1-19 overall.