A fourth-quarter rally and two attempts from 3-point land to tie the game came up short Tuesday in Mendon’s 75-72 road loss against Marcellus Howardsville Christian.
Hornets leading scorer Joe Gales (26 points) got a decent look with the clock nearing expiration but couldn’t get it to fall. Zach Darmofal, who registered 18 points, tipped the rebound out to Erik Batten, who was also denied a heroic moment.
“Our shots were there and we had some good ball movement getting good looks, but Howardsville was hitting shots, too,” said Darmofal, who posted a team-high seven rebounds for Mendon (1-2). Our defensive intensity needs to be higher and we just need to play basketball like we should be playing. We’re an athletic team.”
The Hornets shot 45.2 percent (28-for-62) from the field, including a 12-for-33 effort from behind the arc. Darmofal knocked down five of 10 triples and Gales was good on 4 of his 7 attempts.
An inability to slowing down the Howardsville (2-1) duo of Nathan Parks (29 points) and Justin Jergens (24) is what stung Mendon in the end. Jon Wilde chipped in 13 points.
Marcus Craft and Parker Cupp each added seven points for the Hornets, Jordan Medich posted five, Batten finished with four and Robert Riley (three) and Elijah Klepper (two) rounded out the team’s scoring.