Defense, Bench Scoring Help Indians Get Past North Marion for Second Win in Less Than 24 Hours
By Chris Johnson on February 10, 2024
Down 7-3 midway through the first quarter against North Marion on Saturday, the Bridgeport High School boys basketball team looked the part of a sluggish team playing its second game in less than 24 hours.
The Class AAAA No. 5 Indians however turned to their calling card – defense.
.jpg)
They closed out the final 12 minutes of the first half on a 19-2 run and would go on to defeat the Huskies, 39-24, to improve to 15-2 on the season.
Not only was it the second game in as many days for BHS, it was the second straight game the Indians held their opponent to less than 30 points as they defeated Lincoln on Friday night in Shinnston, 43-29.
“It was really necessary,” BHS coach Dave Marshall said of the back-to-back strong defensive outings. “We didn’t play our best on offense last night or today. I think a lot of it was the way Lincon and North Marion was going at it. The emotion, the fatigue, if we don’t bring the defense in these two games, we are 0-2 in them.”
Another impressive part of the game-changing 19-2 run against the Huskies, the Indians primarily did it without much production from leading scorers Phoenix Sickles and Landon Sanders. Sickles only scored two points in the game, the 18th and 19th of that run, right before the second quarter buzzer. Sanders was held scoreless.
Jack Spatafore and Rowen Michaelis came off the bench and picked up the scoring slack, combining for 23 of the team’s 39 points, 13 for Spatafore and 10 for Michaelis.
Spatafore’s 3-pointer with less than a minute to go in the first quarter pulled the Indians within one at 7-6. With 41 seconds left in the quarter, Anderson McDougal hit a pair of free throws and Bridgeport took a lead it would not relinquish.
In the second, Ashton Curry buried two free throws, Spatafore converted on a runner, Ben Bifano and Zach Ayoob hit back-to-back 3s off assists from Curry, Michaelis had a layup and the bucket by Sickles made it 22-9 at halftime.
“Defense sets up everything for us and they have bought into it,” Marshall said.
Ayoob gave his usual lock-down effort in the backcourt and one could once again sense his performance setting the tone for others to shine on defense.
“What I have noticed this season is it has rubbed off on Ashton,” Marshall said. “Ashton was a borderline sub-par defensive player until about Christmas this year, and I mean over his whole career. We feel comfortable now putting him on a good guard. Normally we would put Zach on the team’s best point guard and try to create disruption that way but now we can do either because we have great confidence in both of them.
“Zach and Ashton and Ben, especially, if you are going to play defense the way we do it’s not just showing up on game night We spend a lot of time breaking down the other team, a lot of time going through their sets. They are tasked with getting the film out and finding the best way to guard. We will help them, but we hear them come back with suggestions on how to defend a team. I feel comfortable talking to these guys about it.”
Spatafore and Michaelis scored 16 of Bridgeport’s 17 second-half points, the only other point coming from Ayoob, who finished with seven.
In addition to a team-high 13 points, Spatafore also led the Indians in rebounds with seven. Sickles added six and Michaelis finished with five.
Curry had four rebounds and five assists. Sickles led BHS in steals with three.
On Friday against Lincoln, Sickles led the way with 13 points and eight rebounds. Spatafore added nine points, Bifano had seven, Ayoob finished with six and Sanders had five.
The Indians began the week with a 55-53 win against Woodrow Wilson in the Par Mar Shootout at West Virginia State College.
Sickles had 12 points and eight rebounds against Woodrow. Curry, Bifano and Sanders added nine points apiece.
BHS returns to action at home on Wednesday in a showdown with Class AAA top-ranked, regional rival and defending state champion Morgantown.
Editor's Note: Top file photo featuring Michaelis (34) and bottom photo featuring Spatafore on Friday against Lincoln by Joe LaRocca.
