Macon boys show progress but struggle in 68-52 loss to Chillicothe – Kirksville Daily Express and Daily News

Tuesdays score may not show it, but Macon boys basketball coach Dale Devenport sees plenty of progress with his team.

The Tigers (2-4) fell to Chillicothe (3-2) 68-52 at home but showed plenty of heart against a team that beat them by 24 last year.

Im proud of their effort, Im proud of their fight, their resilience. I thought we really competed hard the entire game, Devenport said. There are some things we have to fix, of course. But I had four freshmen playing a ton of minutes. With two seniors and two juniors, that was my main rotation. So Im really proud of our effort.

Though the Hornets led the bulk of the game, the Tigers made things close at several moments. About halfway through the third, Tanner Lightle, who had a team-high 17 points, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 34-33. After that, Chillicothe dominated the remaining four minutes and left the quarter with a 51-36 lead.

Devenport credited that to Chillicothes size and experience, two big factors that the Hornets had. Chillicothes length helped them get to the basket and the free-throw line. CJ Paff and Westley Brandsgaard had monster games for the Hornets, scoring 24 and 30 points respectively. They combined for 54 of the teams 68 points scoring every point in the second and third quarters and Macon had no solutions for them.

On the final possession of the third quarter, Paff dribbled around looking for a shot at the buzzer. As the Macon student section chanted overrated he spun around and hit a step-back 3-pointer over a Macon defender to end the quarter. That was the exclamation point on the Hornets run to end the quarter and seal the deal.

Devenport tried to limit that length early on by playing slow, having almost minute-long possessions in the first half. But that only worked for so long before Paff and Brandsgaard hit shots from deep to make that strategy less appealing.

Macons final three games of 2019 and first of 2020 were ones Devenport was anxious about, knowing they were against tough teams. He wants the team to see great competition to make themselves better.

I knew before Christmas would be tough, Devenport said. This four-game stretch where we go Chillicothe, Southern Boone, Boonville, Milan thats as good a stretch as youre going to play. So we have got to buckle down, stay focused, score the ball and get stops.

And he still believes there is a lot of talent on the team waiting to show out.

I tell these guys every day that were only playing for one game. These are all dress rehearsals for the game that matters and thats in districts, he said. Of course we want to find ways to win these games, but if were playing teams that are really good, thats going to make us better. If we can find ways to compete with teams like this, then were going to find ways to compete with everybody down the road.

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Macon boys show progress but struggle in 68-52 loss to Chillicothe - Kirksville Daily Express and Daily News