Rocket's roller coaster continues, but coach sees positives

A couple weeks back Titusville boys basketball coach Craig Mehlenbacher admitted the team was on a bit of a roller coaster ride. One game they would be firing on all cylinders and the next, struggling to put the ball in the basket.
Against Eisenhower they knew it would be a battle having already losing to them 81-52 earlier in the season. "We knew it was going to be tough," Mehlenbacher said.

Going into the game they needed to play well, but a bit of sloppy passing and dribbling early on set the tone. Eisenhower controlled the paint with very few second chances coming the Rocket's way and they seemed to have solid fundamentals, ball control and scoring many points early on with give and go layups.

Despite the lopsided loss, Mehlenbacher chose to focus on the positives. "We kept battling, when some teams would just quit, they kept going," The coach said at halftime he wanted his kids to come out and play hard. "We did some really good things, especially in the second half as far as kicking the ball up the floor," he added. "We had really good ball movement, we got some really good shots and getting to the hoop. We had some steals and layups out of it too."
In the end they lost 71-59 which was a step up from their previous performance against the Knights..

Mehlenbacher said his team played hard and as a coach that is really all he can ask for.

"We did better in the second half so that is something to build on."

The Rockets are down one of their top ball handlers with Colin Wagner out with a concussion.

The Rockets loss now puts them at 5-5 

They had won two straight with a grind out win over Union City 46-43 and they almost doubled up General McLane 67-36.

​Mehlenbacher said against Union City they just didn't bring their A-game. "We played terrible that game, but we grinded it out, which is a good thing. We weren't hitting anything, but at least we pulled out the win. It was a good win."

​He knows that the teams success relies on team scoring leader Isiah Colon being on. "He is where most of our offense comes from, he creates a lot. and when he is hitting, everything clicks."

​Against Ike Colon was forcing shots early trying to make something happen. Coach said makes those shots so he doesn't fault his aggressiveness. "He has the green light to take those, as long as they they are reasonable. I thought they were reasonable." 

For the rest of the season it just doesn't get easy for the Rockets. They have Warren, Oil City and Franklin all down the road.

"We're just going to have to play good every night and hope things bounce our way, but it's going to be a tough one," he said. "We're playing hard, obviously we're not the biggest team in the world, but they are trying and they are giving me everything they have."

Next up is Lakeview on Friday. The following week they host both Oil City and Franklin.

Titusville was led by Colon with 26 points, seven of which came in the last few minutes of the game. Hudson Fratus had a solid game shooting knocking down 18 points. David Leonard had nine and Devon Kurschinske and Cameron Kerr combined for six

Eisenhower who are now 8-1 overall had solid outing from Kyler Black and Kris Bunk who combined for 37 of Ike's points. Austin Hanson added 11, Derek Guiher nine, Maysen Wonderling dropped seven. Four other Eisenhower players scored in the win.

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