Charleston boys’ basketball snapped its three-game winning streak, losing 52-43 to the Mattoon Greenwave Saturday evening at Baker Gym.
The Trojans (10-14, 2-4) were outscored by the Greenwave (7-17, 1-5) 28-18 in quarters two and three, and were unable to keep up with Mattoon’s offense.
“Ultimately we just didn’t make shots tonight,” Charleston head coach Brian Deadmond said. “We had a lot of wide open looks. We had a lot of balls that hit the net and came out.”
Charleston had a scoring drought of over six minutes in the first half, allowing Mattoon to score seven unanswered points before senior guard Luke Bonnstetter stopped the drought with a layup.
The Trojans were forced into difficult shots, ones that they were making in Friday’s 60-56 win at Taylorville. However, Charleston couldn’t get those similar shots to go in the hoop over the course of this game.
“On those types of nights, whenever we struggle to score from the perimeter, sometimes that’s kind of the result unfortunately,” Deadmond said.
Mattoon took the lead with the first points of the second quarter and never gave it up. Senior guard Madden Johnson was left open from beyond the three-point arc and connected with his shot.
Johnson made five three-pointers, finishing with 17 points.
“I thought he did a great job controlling the offense,” Mattoon head coach Jimmy McKee said. “His shot was very consistent. It wasn’t rushed and had a good flow. He found the bottom of the hoop more times than not.”
One of Johnson’s three-pointers ended Charleston’s hopes of a comeback, connecting on a shot that ended a Greenwave scoring drought of over three minutes with 2:45 remaining in the game.
Both teams were off to a slow start offensively, with the halftime score being 18-14 in favor of Mattoon. However, both teams picked it up in the second half. The Greenwave scored 18 points in the third quarter compared to the Trojan’s 13. Both teams scored 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Mattoon had three players score double figures, while Charleston only had two. Bonnstetter scored 12 points and junior guard Tyler Oakley led the Trojans with 13 points.
“This one is going to hurt a bit, but we [play Mattoon] again on their senior night,” Bonnstetter said. “We’ll remember how we feel right now and go back at them then.”
The game was part of a full day of basketball between Charleston and Mattoon which included the varsity girls’ game as well as two junior varsity games before it.
In front of a nearly packed Baker Gym, the start of the boys’ game was delayed for over 30 minutes.
The late start was no issue for the fans in attendance nor the pep band.
“They’re definitely loud in here and it gets everybody fired up to play their best, especially defensively,” Bonnstetter said. “It’s a great atmosphere.”
Charleston will remain at home for its third Apollo Conference game in a row, taking on Mahomet-Seymour on Thursday.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.