Steers struggle in day one of the Bridgeport Tournament

The Steers opened the Bridgeport Christmas Classic Holiday Tournament with a pair of losses Tuesday at Bridgeport High School. The shooting struggles continued in losses against Aubrey and Bridgeport. The Steers could not score in double digits in any quarter of their 63-16 loss to Aubrey. While the passing appeared better at times, points on turnovers along with second-chance points doomed the Steers in a 69-39 loss to Bridgeport.

Aubrey 63, Steers 16

Shooting has been a cause for concern for the Steers this season and those struggles continued in the Steers’ first of four games in the tournament. Rhet Bleemel put the Chaparrals hit a 3-pointer 15 seconds into the game and they never looked back.

Keion Shead briefly cut the deficit to one point just over two minutes later. It was then the Steers shooting went cold. Shead’s basket with 5:43 left in the quarter was the Steers’ last points until a Ty Thompson jump shot with nine seconds left in the quarter. The scoring drought lasted five minutes, 34 seconds. Shead’s basket could have given the Steers a lead. Shead missed a pair of free throws a minute earlier.  The Steers struggled as a team from the free-throw line, shooting 2-10. During the drought, the Chaparrals scored a 9-0 run before Thompson’s basket. Tyler Brown his a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give his team a 16-4 lead going into the second quarter.

For the rest of the story, see the Jan. 1 edition of The Graham Leader.