CHETOPA – The Altoona-Midway Middle School Jets entered the Mineral Belt League Tournament with high hopes of winding up the season on a high note, but unfortunately, they were unable to find the win column in either contest.
Just as in their regular-season matchup, the Jets battled Bartlett tooth and nail in the opening round of the MBL tourney, but in the end the Braves squeezed out a 32-25 victory. During the regular season, Bartlett won the matchup 32-27.
Then in the consolation game, AMMS fell to Chetopa 34-20. The Jets opened their season with a 19-10 win over the Hornets, which ended up being their only victory of the year.
“The season may not have ended the way we wanted it to, but I’m still proud of the kids,” said AMMS head coach David Batzer. “We had a lot of firsts, specifically with having a coed unit, and that was a lot of fun. Players who couldn’t dribble two years ago were driving the lane and hitting threes.
“No, one win isn’t what I want our program to be about, and that is something we can improve upon next year,” Batzer added. “For now, we have to find a silver lining, and for me, it’s the 8th graders who have come a long way both on and off the court. I’m fortunate to have had them on my team for three years, and I’m proud of the players and young men they’ve become. They’re like family, and that will never change. That’s what AMMS basketball is all about… family!”
Altoona-Midway finished its season with a record of 1-12.
AMMS vs. Bartlett
Caden Sicka poured in 16 points to pace the Jets, but it wasn’t enough as Bartlett came away with the 32-25 win.
“In a lot of ways, this was a mirror image of our first game against Bartlett,” Batzer noted. “We raced out to an early lead just to have them make a run to take a decent lead into the half. After that, I thought we outplayed them, we just missed a lot of easy shots and failed to take advantage of situations where we should have turned the game around.
“Caden had his best game of the year. He was big on the scoreboard and big on the boards. Unfortunately, he played most of the fourth quarter with a cramp in his calf and had to be helped off the court at the end of the game,” Batzer said.
“I was really pleased with our effort in this game. We didn’t win, but you could see the growth we’ve had on the court,” he added.
In addition to Sicka’s 16-point outing, the Jets also got four points from Cameron Johnson, three from Eliot Ard, and two from Zach Good.
AMMS vs. Chetopa
Altoona-Midway trailed just 14-12 at halftime, but Chetopa used a sizzling 12-5 third period to go up 26-17 and the Jets were unable to recover, falling 34-20.
The Jets had no answer for Brylan Berzas, who peppered the nets for 28 points, including 10 points apiece in the each of the middle two quarters. Ethan Wolf had the other six points for Chetopa.
Good hit three treys and poured in 11 points to pace Altoona-Midway, but the hobbled Sicka was limited to five points. Johnson tallied four points to round out the Jet scoring.
“If the Bartlett game showcased the things we’ve been doing right as the year progressed, the Chetopa game highlighted the opposite,” Batzer said. “We resorted to one-on-one basketball, we didn’t rebound well, and on the defensive end, our close-outs were non-existent.
“It didn’t help that our leading scorer and leader was hampered by the injury he sustained in the first game. Caden could barely run up and down the court, and couldn’t jump at all,” the coach added. Also, Toryn took a nasty elbow to the face and wasn’t the same afterward. The final blow was when Caden fouled out in the third quarter. You could tell the team was a bit deflated.
“While the season was not what we wanted as far as wins and losses, there was a lot of individual growth over the course of the season,” Batzer said.