The Erie BayHawks were defeated by the Sioux Falls Skyforce 110-101 last night. With the loss, Erie drops to 1-2 on the season. Sioux Falls improves to 2-1.
The BayHawks have to be disappointed with this performance. They jumped out to a 31-18 first quarter led by as many as 17 points with just 3:49 left in the third. But Sioux Falls dominated down the stretch, outscoring Erie 40-20 in the fourth quarter. To put that into perspective, Erie had only surrendered one 30-point quarter all season up until that eruption by the Skyforce.
On the positive side for the BayHawks, Jackie Manuel had another strong offensive game, scoring 20 points on 8-13 shooting. He also added three steals and a blocked shot on the defensive end. Cedric Jackson also had a fine game. He came off the bench to score 15 points on 7-8 shooting with 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and 4 turnovers. Still, there is a lot to fix for the BayHawks with a rematch against Sioux Falls looming tonight.
They can start by improving in the three areas I highlighted as the keys to success in last night's game:
- Slow the pace.
Heading into this game, Erie was hoping to play it in the 80s or 90s. Sioux Falls is now 2-0 when they eclipse the century mark. That 40-point fourth quarter was an absolute killer. Perhaps the BayHawks wore down as the game went on, considering how Sioux Falls plays a more balanced rotation whereas Erie really had just six players who played significant minutes. - Play more efficiently on offense.
I talked about this being a two-part step. Erie was fairly successful in one aspect, scoring 101 points on 80 shots. In fact, they shot an impressive 52.5 percent from the field. There numbers from 3-point range (3-10) and the free throw line (14-23) were much less impressive. Nonetheless, I'll give them a passing mark for shooting. Their ball control, however, cost them significantly. They had 19 turnovers with just 15 assists. In fact, Cedric Jackson was the only player with an assist-to-turnover ratio greater than 1. - Control the boards.
This was another disappointing area for the BayHawks. Sioux Falls grabbed a whopping 18 offensive rebounds, including 6 from Greg Stiemsma, who also added 6 blocked shots in helping the Skyforce fare much better in the paint than Erie had hoped. John Bryant had 14 boards for the BayHawks, but the next highest total came from point guard Cedric Jackson—good for him, but not good for a team that is built to be overpowering in the paint.
2 comments:
Way too many turnovers that led to easy baskets. The center Bryant needs to take something off of some of those passes. And it looks like they are going to really miss the versatility of Erik Daniels. He could score & rebound.
I agree on all points. You won't win many games turning the ball over like that, and Daniels' absence is definitely already being felt to some degree.
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