It was a tough season opener Thursday night for the Owensboro Thoroughbreds, who fell behind early and could never recover in a 120-83 loss to the Indy Express at the Sportscenter.
A long scoring drought left Owensboro facing a 28-10 deficit after the first quarter, and Indy took a 54-34 lead into the half.
“We came out and we were rushing everything, therefore the shots weren’t falling,” said Thoroughbreds first-year head coach Mark Anderson. “Once your shots don’t fall, that makes everything else look so much worse. Our defense was bad, and to come down and not make shots, it was just piling on.”
Indy continued to pull away in the second half, outscoring Owensboro 66-49 over the final two periods.
“At this level, you’ve got to get scores,” Anderson said. “If you go four or five trips without scoring, it could be over quickly. That’s kind of what happened.”
The Thoroughbreds were led in scoring by Zavier Turner with 14 points. Corey Wilford, Davon Hayes and Robert Crawford scored 13 each, and Wes Hinton added 11.
As a team, they finished 33-for-78 from the field. Indy shot 46-for-84, including draining 12 3-pointers.
Owensboro will play again at 2 p.m. Sunday when they host the Raleigh Firebirds. Anderson is confident they won’t have another letdown.
“We will come out Sunday and be a different team, I guarantee it,” Anderson said. “We’re going to get this corrected. I believe in these guys, and we’ll get it done.”
