Mogadore’s defense is designed to make opponents feel uncomfortable.
The Wildcats’ relentless pressure comes from all players at all times.
On Friday night, it was the Southeast Pirates attempting to manage the weight of Mogadore’s defense.
Like the eight other Portage Trail Conference teams before them, the Pirates failed to find the right answers consistently and Mogadore (11-2, 9-0 PTC County) stormed into Palmyra to a dominating 80-44 league win.
Mogadore pushed Southeast into 31 turnovers for the game, wreaking havoc all over the court and often making every Southeast pass a threat to be snatched.
"We want to get the pace up, we want to play fast, and one way to do that is to have defensive pressure," Mogadore head coach Russ Swartz said. "We wanted to force them into bad passes and even hurried shots, and I think we did that pretty well tonight."
There would be no quicker way for the Wildcats to firmly establish the pace of the game than what they did on Friday night.
Mogadore scored off the opening tip on a designed play that allowed the jump ball to be won and pushed to the top of the Southeast 3-point line to an unguarded player, who promptly kicked it out to the corner and a made 3-pointer by Eli Robertson.
Following a Southeast turnover, the Wildctas’ Lukas Swartz raced down the court, beat his defender off the dribble to a wide-open painted area for an uncontested layup.
Mogadore 5, Southeast 0.
That was just seconds into the game and forced an early timeout by Southeast head coach Todd Taylor.
"I was really disappointed with our start tonight," Taylor said. "That is one thing we constantly harp on is getting off to a good start, and we were really sleepwalking out there tonight for about the first 22 seconds. Once we got ourselves back under control, though, we got settled a bit."
It took Southeast until the 5:02 mark of the game to score and by that point, Mogadore had firmly established itself both offensively and defensively, taking an 18-8 lead into the second quarter.
But that is where the Pirates were able to find some life. The team’s sluggish start buoyed after falling behind 34-12 and running off the next eight straight points to make it 34-20. Southeast even cut into the deficit to as few as eight points midway through the second quarter.
"I was really pleased with how we played in the second quarter," Taylor said. "We chipped away and started to get ourselves back into the ball game. We slowed down, took care of the basketball and got open looks."
However, after a few calculated substitutions, Mogadore was back at the control and extending the lead, which stood at 36-21 at halftime.
"I think we had a lack of focus and a lack of concentration toward the end of the second quarter," Swartz said. "We were not staying within our system, and I think players were trying to do too many things individually. We are about team basketball, and we needed to get back to that."
Attention to detail and getting back to the style of basketball Swartz’s Wildcat teams have become known for was likely a topic of discussion at halftime.
And the Wildcats answered in a big way in the third quarter, outscoring Southeast 26-13.
Scoring came from all over the court for Mogadore on Friday night.
Connor Kerr scored a season-high 21 points on an efficient night around the rim, finishing 9-of-12 from the floor. He added a team-high eight rebounds.
"Connor played a nice game tonight," Swartz said. "We have had a solid season to this point because we have had players step up. I was real pleased with how he played."
Lukas Swartz finished with 19 points, with 12 coming in the first half. He shot 8-of-14 from the field and was 3-of-6 on his 3-point attempts. Nathan Stephenson (5-of-6 shooting) had 10 poitns, while Dylan Jones and Robertson finished with nine points each.
Nearly half of Mogadore’s made field goals (16-of-33) came with an assist attached to it, with Austin Fisher passing out four and Swartz and Kyle Coffman having three each.
Scoring for Southeast came with a bit more of a challenge, shooting 15-of-52 (28.9 percent) from the floor for the game. Camden Proctor led the Pirates (1-13, 0-9 PTC County) with 16 points, including four makes from behind the 3-point arc. He also dished out five assists.
Tim Exline and Jortdan Scott each added nine points for the Pirates, with Exline pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.