Addition by subtraction is the concept that Polk County Middle boys basketball coach John Rochford is preaching daily to his squad.
The lesson of eliminating mistakes to improve performance is beginning to take hold, though Polk Middle fell Monday to a sound Rugby squad, dropping a 59-40 decision to the Raiders in Blue Ridge Middle School Conference action at Polk Middle.
The Raiders took command of the game in the second period, outscoring Polk Middle (1-2) 20-11 in the quarter to take a 31-16 halftime lead.
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“They were more fundamentally sound than us,” Rochford said. “We missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of free throws. Those are mistakes that we can easily eliminate and, if we do, we’ll be in close games. We have to really focus on the fundamentals and practice those.”
A first-quarter 3-pointer by Jack Derkach evened the score at 5-5 midway through the period, and the Wolverines had some success from the outside, hitting three 3-pointers. The Wolverines also had success against Rugby’s 1-3-1 zone when passing the ball around the zone, with Elijah Sutton and Clark Phipps often able to find open teammates inside.
One of those 3-pointers, from Amir Gary, cut Rugby’s lead to 37-26 late in the third period. The Raiders responded with six straight points before Luke Sellars scored on a nice move on the low block. Phipps then scored shortly before the final buzzer to make it 45-30 entering the fourth quarter.
A Sutton basket cut the deficit to 13 before Rugby began to pull away throughout the final period.
“We’re seeing little improvements here and there every day,” Rochford said. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. We just need to keep working hard.”
Gary had nine points to lead Polk Middle, which also got eight points from Sutton and seven from Phipps. Avery Edwards and Jake Justice each scored four, Sellars and Derkach had three and Mitchell Yoder and Edwards each had two.
