Tribe loses home opener

By MICKEY ALVARADOAfter losing its first four varsity boys basketball games of the season on the road, Tecumseh’s varsity boys basketball team stepped to its home court on Monday hoping to pick up its first win against non-conference Dundee but it didn’t work out as planned. The Indians lost 55-44 and fell to 0-5 overall (0-2, Southeastern Conference).The Indians finished the first quarter down 8-6 but came back for an 18-15 lead by the end of the first half. Dundee began using a half-court trap more in the third quarter and was able to come from behind to take a 31-28 lead by the end of the third quarter.“I think we had a stretch where we had five straight turnovers and we didn’t get a shot off from just a little half court trap,” said Tecumseh coach Brandon Schmidt. “We knew what they were going to do, they did it in the JV game, the freshman game. We talked about it but we didn’t execute what we were supposed to adjust.”A main player in Tecumseh’s offensive attack was noticeably missing from the lineup with senior point guard Stephen Bilotta out with an injury. He’s expected to return in a few weeks.“He’s a senior leader that we are missing right now,” said Schmidt. “But we’ve got to adjust to it. We’ve got to roll with what we have.”Sophomore John Terry took over Bilotta’s starting point guard position.In the first minutes of the final quarter the Vikings turned its three-point lead into 10 and then easily handled the Indians’ offensive returns until the final minutes of the game. Tecumseh made a mad dash to catch up but had seniors Jake Moore and Kyle Hooper foul out with less than 30 seconds remaining. Moore led the Indians offense with 14 points. He also added eight rebounds. Three Indians, Terry, Ben Kasper and Kyle Bryan, scored eight points each. Bryan also added five boards and four blocked shots.Tecumseh remains at home and faces Lincoln on Friday, Jan. 14, at approximately 7 p.m.In its previous competition at Chelsea on Friday, Jan. 7, Tecumseh lost 60-42.The Bulldogs took a 10-7 lead by the end of the opening quarter and widened it considerably in the following eight minutes with the Bulldogs adding 20 points to the Indians’ nine in the second quarter.Chelsea continued building its lead in both the third and fourth quarters, adding 16 points in the third and 14 in the fourth. Tecumseh added 12 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth.Brad Vannatter led the Indians with 11 points while Bryan added eight points and nine rebounds. Moore recorded six points and 11 rebounds for the Indians.