Five Takeaways: Morristown vs. Shelbyville
Starting off early, Shelbyville got into a ton of foul trouble. At the break, nearly all their key players at least had two fouls and at the time that seemed like a win. Morristown struggled on offense all game but senior guard Hayden Langkabel took charge on his way to a 37-point outing but it wasn’t enough as they failed to stop Shelbyville from scoring. Led by Josh Williams 16 points, Shelbyville took home a 73-66 win on Saturday night.
Morristown Defense Struggled
In this game, Morristown really didn’t struggle to put up points. They had 66 but the offense was basically Langkabel for most of the game. Where they really struggled was keeping Shelbyville out of the lane. At times, Morristown was solid and had enough toughness to grab the defensive rebound to limit them but those were far and few between. Josh Williams was killing things in the middle of the floor and Kuhn was just as impressive with his shooting ability. Now, I’m not sure there is another 1A team that has as many offensive options as Shelbyville does but it is something to watch when they have to try and contain all five men on the floor because everyone was scoring for Shelbyville.
Shelbyville Failed To Contain Langkabel
Now, there were a lot of strange things going on in this game. From fouls to Morristown’s secondary scoring to defense. The most frustrating one seemed to be Hayden Langkabel picking apart Shelbyville in the second half. He had 14 in the first half which isn’t massive but still pretty good. However, Shelbyville forced him to take over to keep them in the game and he had a field day scoring 23 in the second half and finishing with 37 points. Most of his points were coming in the lane as he is so adept at finishing and bigger and tougher than he looks so guys, even bigger defenders, really can’t body up on him. It takes length and Shelbyville didn’t have much of that. Langkabel is one of the best scorers in the state and just shy of 2,000 points for his career.
Foul Trouble Loomed Large
The first issue that popped up last night was foul trouble. Both teams were in it but Shelbyville was much more in panic mode even before halftime. At the break, Cooper Lewis, Sam Lewis, Zach Kuhn, and Brock Blackwell all had at least two fouls and the Lewis twins had four for much of the second half. Ironically, Hayden Langkabel stayed out of foul trouble for much of the game but he picked them up in a hurry and was the only player to foul out. Much credit has to be given to Shelbyville to be able to stay out of trouble in the second half and not lose their players. That was a big reason why they were able to sustain Morristown’s many runs.
Morristown Looks Primed For Big Run
When looking ahead at Sectionals and based on how they played against Shelbyville, I don’t think they will have that much trouble with teams that could pop up. Their only loss before last night was to Hauser who is the only other real competition in their Sectional. I’m not sure Morristown is the same team as they were back then and I don’t see anyone stopping Langkabel if he really wants to get going. Morristown also put up 66 points last night and didn’t really have Logan Laster or anyone else playing all that well. Eli Streeval was solid but he can be better. If 66 points against a really good 4A team is a bad offense, I would hate to see what they look like when all is going well.
Shelbyville Is Very Potent, Looking For Upsets
To describe Shelbyville is difficult. They are really good, really talented with a guy who can get a bucket whenever he wants in Zach Kuhn. They are also, however, volatile and a bit hectic in their play. They are senior loaded and offensively overpowering. With all of that, though, they have to be a scary team to play in March. Not sure how the draw will go, we will find out in a couple hours, but teams like Bloomington South should hope for a good draw because I’m not sure what you will get. When they are on and locked in, I think Shelbyville is a near Top 10 team in 4A but clearly they haven’t been all year but I think that brings a bit of the allure of a matchup against them. You could be in an easier game than you think, or they could just drop 80 on you and not really blink an eye.