FREDERICKTOWN — Fredericktown’s Derek Dibling has something this year most head coaches would kill for:
Experience.
And not just at certain positions. Dibling’s squad has it in spades.
Fredericktown returns eight varsity lettermen and all five starters from last year’s team, which finished 11-12 overall and tied for third place in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference.
Dibling admits it’s a luxury, having a lineup so familiar with his system and the ins-and-outs of varsity play. And on Tuesday, in a home KMAC battle against county foe East Knox, this experience paid dividends once again.
The Freddies (2-1, 2-0) emerged from a slow start to trounce the Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1), 53-29. It was the team’s upperclassmen who led the way, refocusing and rallying the troops before putting away an East Knox club that returns just one starter and two letter-winners from last year’s district championship team.
“It’s nice to have guys who have been there, done that,” Dibling said afterwards with a smile. “They know my expectations. I’d like to think they’re an extension of me (on the floor).”
Fredericktown appeared to be in for a dog fight early, as East Knox used its patented half-court approach to slow the game down and keep the Freddies at-bay.
But that all changed roughly two minutes in.
Behind a suffocating full-court press and a renewed sense of urgency, Fredericktown’s experienced core battled back, forcing five turnovers and scoring 10 unanswered points over the next three minutes.
The run would set the tone for the rest of the night, as Fredericktown led 14-7 after one quarter, 30-13 at halftime and 47-16 heading into the final period.
“Their press just took us out of everything we were trying to do,” East Knox head coach Ryan Powell said. “We couldn’t handle it, we couldn’t handle the ball, and they took it out of a half-court game, which is what we needed. The first three, four minutes were pretty good, but (we ended with) 16 turnovers in the first half. We want less than 10 for the game.
“We have a formula we’ve gotta win (with), and 16 turnovers in a half is not it.”
East Knox won its season opener against Amanda-Clearcreek last Friday, 31-20. The Bulldogs were able to slow things down and grind out a victory.
Fredericktown did not let East Knox follow the same script Tuesday.
“We always start with our attitude and our effort, which I didn’t think were great tonight. I thought we let them take us out of that,” Powell said. “And then we’ve still gotta defend, rebound, take care of the ball – and I thought our defense was alright when our defense was set, but the turnovers just ended the game.
“We had no chance with those turnovers.”
Fredericktown’s full-court, man-to-man pressure rattled East Knox. The home team used its length, athleticism and tenacity to force turnovers and capitalize on the other end.
Dibling said will be Fredericktown’s formula for success this season. If the Freddies can make it an up-tempo, full-court game – using the defense to catalyze the offense – he believes they’ll be hard to beat.
“It’s super important. …” Dibling said. “We struggled in the half-court early on (tonight) – just with some chemistry, with getting some guys on the same page … with some of the timing issues. So I think for some of those guys, seeing the ball go through the hoop a couple times on some easy ones really, really helps us when we get in those half-court situations, because they’re not thinking as much.
“It just allows their ability to take over and (they can) play to their strengths.”
Seniors Brady Lester and Kaid Carpenter paced Fredericktown on Tuesday with 14 points apiece. Junior Trevor Bellman added 7, while seniors Dom Thompson and Teegan Ruhl each added 6.
Junior Ethan Rine led East Knox in scoring with 8 points. Freshman Jaxon Lester and senior Dustin Springer each added 6 for the visitors.
East Knox will return home Friday to take on Northmor in another KMAC matchup. Powell said the new-look Bulldogs will look to use Tuesday’s loss as a learning experience moving forward.
“We’ve just gotta learn to handle pressure and run our press-breakers, and be stronger with the basketball,” Powell said. “I mean, we’ve got a lot of new guys playing at a level … that they haven’t seen (yet) and aren’t prepared for. Hopefully, we’ll be better for having seen it.
“That’s a good team over there (with) seven seniors who have played a lot. I thought we could do better, but once again, we had to take care of the ball and make it a half-court game, and we just did not do that at all.”
Fredericktown, meanwhile, will hit the road Friday for a non-conference matchup against KIPP Columbus. The Freddies – who lost to Highland at the buzzer on opening night before beating Cardington by 3 last Friday – will be searching for their third straight win.
“I think the biggest thing for us (is) we struggled to get out in transition a little bit early on (tonight). I think we’ve got some heavy legs on some guys right now. And I think just moving the ball – we’ve struggled on offense,” Dibling said.
“So just to see some things come together a little bit, now there are some things we can build on, and (we can) take that into practice tomorrow and carry that on to the game Friday. That’s been some of (our) biggest struggles early, is just that transition from practice to games. So it was nice to see some of those things transfer.”
The senior-laden Freddies, now 2-0 in KMAC play, appear primed for another conference title run. But Dibling wasn’t ready to go there yet Tuesday.
He said the team’s focus will remain on the day-to-day process of improvement. The Freddies will remain focused on the present, Dibling said, because “the minute you look ahead is the minute you start to regress.”
“Our goal from day one is really just to find ways to get better every day. I think that’s the biggest challenge you face when you have a lot of seasoned guys coming back,” Dibling said. “We want to make the most out of every day, every drill. And I feel like if we do that, the rest kind of takes care of itself.”
