Despite a hot start offensively, St. Louis Community College was unable to withstand a 41-point, second-half onslaught by Arkansas State Mid-South on Friday evening in a 74-67 loss to the Greyhounds.
It didn’t take long to realize the Archers’ result on Wednesday night was going to weight heavily on the left arm of sophomore guard Nate Rigmaiden and the Archers’ other long-range options. The sharpshooting southpaw looked at home from beyond the three-point arc early on in, connecting on 4-of-7 three-point attempts. But that success rate waned throughout the second half, as STLCC drained 10 of their season-high 36 three-point attempts.
Rigmaiden, who scored 16 points in the first half, was limited to just two in the second. STLCC struggled to work its way to the free-throw line throughout, as they attempted just five attempts from the line all evening.
While the Archers struggled through occasional shooting woes in the second half, head coach Terry Collins placed Friday’s loss primarily on the team’s defensive performance. The Archers allowed Mid-South to shoot 84 percent (16-for-19) from the field in the second half. Guard Tyler Armstrong was the most prevalent culprit, scoring a game-high 31 points for Mid-South on a 12-for-16 performance from the field.
“We just didn’t guard well enough,” head coach Terry Collins said. “You see it right in the box score. When you allow a team to shoot 30-of-44 from the field, there’s just no way. We didn’t guard nearly well enough, and it’s how we perform in practice. We haven’t worked hard enough on guarding and playing defense in practice and it showed tonight. We’ve had four games like this, and when you get in a rut like this, it becomes even harder to work your way back out.”
The Archers (1-4) will get their first shot at doing just that Saturday, when they travel to Danville Area Community College. Game time is 7 pm.