Ironmen Too Tall A Task For Maroons

From Quad Cities Online:

NORMAL – Saturday night high-school boys' basketball games should come with warning labels following emotional Friday night victories.

Moline found that out all too quickly in a nonconference road game against Normal Community, getting manhandled 68-36 by the Ironmen.

"I'm proud of our guys for winning Friday," Moline coach Jeff Schimmel said of the Maroons' one-point thriller over Galesburg in Western Big 6 Conference play. "But we needed to put that out of our mind. This is what you get when you don't do that against a very good team."

It was 12-0 Ironmen before the Maroons knew what had hit them. It was 18-4 at the end of the first quarter and 29-11 at halftime. The Ironmen had runs of 9-0 and 8-2 to start the final two quarters.
"I'm disappointed that, at this stage of the season, we are not mentally tough enough to forget  about Friday and worry about the next game."

The talent level of the 16-6 Ironmen had a lot to do with that. Normal Community's starting lineup ranged from 6-foot-2 to a pair of 6-7s, meaning an 11-inch differential compared to Moline's starters.
Plus, one of the 6-7s, junior Tyler Seibring, did a lot of his handiwork from the perimeter. Seibring is almost a full foot taller than either of the Moline guards, Sean Hanley and Tyler Biscontine. Seibring hit 5-of-7 3-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points.

The Ironmen's Zac Thompson, at 6-4, was 5-of-10 beyond the arc for 15 points. He also had seven rebounds.

Also of note, four of NC's starting five are juniors, and there are only three seniors on the team.

A tall task for the Maroons (15-10) indeed, "but we knew that coming in,'' said Schimmel. "I'm just disappointed to get embarrassed in every phase of the game. I at least want us to compete, and we didn't compete from the start."

Rebounding was another big issue. The Ironmen doubled Moline's output there, 32-16. All but three of Moline's boards went to Tanner Logan (8) and Brandon Vice (5).

Moline's scoring was similarly pointing toward the direction of a few -- in fact, one. Hanley had a big night with 21 points, hitting 5-of-11 3-pointers. Beyond that, Tyler Biscontine and Vice had 5 points apiece, but combined to shoot 4-of-20. No other Maroon scored more than two.

"They are a team that matched up well with our big guys," Schimmel said, with Vice at 6-7 and Logan at 6-8. "Their big guys tracked down the long rebounds as well."

Now Moline must put its Saturday night behind it and focus on Friday, playing Alleman at Augustana's Carver Center.

"You have to know how to forget about a win and you've got to learn to forget about a loss," Schimmel summarized in dealing with the highs and lows of this weekend.