The Ovid-Elsie Boys Basketball team is reaching the mid way point of their season. Although the season hasn’t been going as expected there are still some bright spots on the team. However if they want to make a push deep into the playoffs, there are also some glaring weaknesses that they will have to fix.
The Marauders are currently 2-8 on the season while being 2-4 in conference play. However all losses this season have been close, the Marauders have been averaging 46 points per game while opponents have been averaging 49 points per game. Scoring has been a big problem for the Marauders as they are only shooting 34% from the field and 24% from three point land. This comes as a surprise to many as they thought scoring would come easy as it has in the past, I’m sure it will come soon but it has been a weakness for the Marauders early.
On the other hand the Marauders have really stepped it up on defense, lowering the amount of points that opponents are scoring per game by 5 points over their last 5 games. Another positive comes from the improvement of junior guard Travis Milner, who has averaged 4.5 more points and 2 more assists per game over the last 5 while also limiting his turnovers. The Marauders also had some struggles from the charity stripe earlier this year, however, they have bounced back and are shooting nearly 70% from the free throw line.
While the team looks subpar on paper, you can tell that over the past few games there has been a difference in effort, energy, and attitude, which will hopefully give them the extra push they need to get out of this slump. The Marauders have been battle tested, and are looking to start a winning streak starting Friday, Jan. 16th against the Lakeville Falcons. Hopefully they can dig deep and realize there is so much more basketball to be played, and flip the script on what initially looks to be like a disappointing season.
