The Shadow
HOT SPRINGS — Coach Steve Shaver is hoping more court time will add up to a few wins in the coming weeks.
But for right now, improvement has the Bath County head coach still smiling.
Thursday night in Charger Gym, the Bath boys committed 30 turnovers and suffered a 53-42 loss to Grace Christian.
David Heishman poured in a game-high 16 points for the Warriors, who are 4-4 on the season and beat the Chargers by 32 last week.
But Shaver found reasons to compliment his club following the loss.
“It’s much improved,” said Shaver. “We played better, we played with more intensity, we played more as a team tonight. Hard work in practice — it showed tonight.”
The Chargers dressed just eight players for the contest.
“We have nobody now that played together last year,” Shaver added. “We’re still learning to play together. Tonight was a positive step.”
The Chargers trailed by as many as 12 late in the first half before Caleb Fry nailed a three and Max Watkins scored in transition in an eight-second flurry that cut the Warrior halftime lead to 24-17.
Six Fry points sliced the lead to just four early in the third, but the Chargers misfired on three possessions — two ending in turnovers — that could have drawn them closer.
“Still too many turnovers,” Shaver said.
An 11-4 Grace run ended the quarter and put it out of reach.
Tanner Plecker led the Chargers with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Fry chipped in 11, Jesse Skovira pulled in a team-high 10 frebounds.
The Chargers (0-3) host Riverheads on Tuesday.
Thursday’s JV game saw Grace Christian post a 41-32 win over the Chargers.
Blake Woodzell, Hunter Brown and Dylan McComb all had six points for Bath, Duncan Hupman and Patrick Chestnut had four apiece, Ryan Burns scored three, Shawn Gardner had two and Christian Jessee added one.
