Five Takeaways: Blackman-Oakland
Blackman stepped on another visitor’s throats immediately. There was no playful sparring early as the Blackman Blaze (20, 6-0) obliterated district rival Oakland, 66-39.
In their 20th win of the season, the Blaze held their tenth team under 40 points.
Quick Start
Numerous times Blackman brought a good foe into “The Furnace” and instantly pounded them into submission.
Remember Riverdale? Siegel was ugly. Oakland fell into the same trap.
The Patriots played sloppy and spotty in the first quarter. As quickly as the jump ball came, the Blaze rattled off fastbreak after fastbreak.
Early on @BLAZE_HOOPS completely lambasting the Patriots of Oakland. 17-4. @tgthepg with 5p, 1 I think. 2 blocks from Nathan Nelson. Yet another team failed to match Blackman in 1Q.
— PrepHoopsTennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) January 26, 2018
Zone Strangles BT
Early Oakland did well to limit touches of senior star Brandon Thomas down low. It didn’t hold, but in the first quarter Thomas scored just two points.
“We wanted to stretch them out a little bit,” said Trenton Gibson.
The 3-2 Oakland zone changed when Jordan Burchfield, Gibson, and Nelson hit outside shots.
Eventually Thomas finished with 16 points.
Firestarter
In a largely uninspiring first half, Keishawn Davison finally kicked the visiting Oakland Patriots into gear.
With a little over 4:00 minutes to play in the second quarter, Davison blocked Gabriel Martin underneath. The ball found its way back to Davison, who delivered a wonderful 15′ bounce pass to Ray Tyler. Tyler finished a difficult reverse layup.
Ray Tyler most often created problems for the Blaze defense. Truly nobody else rattled the Blaze.
The sequence was the Patriots best series of the game.
It did not last.
Extra Tries
Midway through the third quarter, Oakland did find some consistent scoring. First, Davison hit a step-back three-pointer. On the ensuing offensive possession, DeArre McDonald hit another.
If only the Patriots could summoned any kind of defensive rebounding, then they might have fought back into the game.
A painful amount of times a poorly-placed Blaze player hunted down an offensive miss, usually leaping over or hustling around a static Patriot.
The Blaze created second chances for themselves. When a team is executing well and getting more chances fighting is feeble.
HT: @BLAZE_HOOPS lead @oakland943 33-19. Oakland is getting virtually no offensive rebs. Worse, the Blaze are breaking out with a purpose and Oakland is not retreating in #'s.
— PrepHoopsTennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) January 26, 2018
Blackman created significant separation with a wonderful first quarter, but they ensured a vicitory with an aggressive late third anad early fourth quarter.
OOPS
The two most roar-inspiring plays of the game occurred int he second half. Blackman ran two plays to create alley-oop opportunities.
First, a Blaze wing lobbed up a baseline out-of-bounds pass to Brandon Thomas. Thomas easily pounded it home. Credit Gabriel Martin with nudging down the lone defender towards irrelevance and the baseline. He cleared the runway for Brandon.
Secondly, James Polite crept along the baseline, rising to meet a perfect 25′ lob from Trenton Gibson.
After Polite’s crushing finish the competition level plummeted. Oakland’s team and coach had nothing left to give. The game was out of reach.
Blackman’s remaining schedule is difficult, but not unmanageable.
Fri | Jan. 26 | 7:30 PM | Smyrna D | ||
Tue | Jan. 30 | 7:30 PM | LaVergne D | ||
Fri | Feb. 2 | 7:30 PM | at #4 Riverdale D | ||
Tue | Feb. 6 | 7:30 PM | Stewarts Creek D | ||
Fri | Feb. 9 | 7:30 PM | at #25 Oakland D |