Five Takeaways: Evansville Bosse vs. Evansville Memorial
In a battle that was as interesting as we had seen all year long, Evansville Bosse was able to walk away with a win against rival Evansville Memorial, 79-66. Evansville Memorial was without their head coach due to sickness so former IU standout Pat Graham stepped in to lead Memorial and did a great job. Memorial looked really good in the first and third quarters and was able to run their offense. Only when they weren’t doing that did they start to fall behind. Bosse was led by Mekhi Lairy with 27 points and D’Angleo Ware with 20 points. Dylan Penn led Memorial with 18 points.
Mekhi Lairy Looked Even More Polished
One of the biggest takeaways form this game was how polished Lairy looked, especially with his mid-range game. He’s been able to make plays from three and at the rim but as an undersized guard, you have to find a lot of different ways to score and the mid-range pull up is a huge one. Mekhi was able pull straight up, showed a floater, and his elevation on the jumper is a little better. He was good in other ways too, showing a little more patience and not trying to bulldog everything. He’s made those steps since the summer and given him a chance to max out his skills.
Memorial Looks Close, But Not There Yet
Going into the season, we thought Evansville Memorial could be a very good team with guys like Branson Combs, Sam Devault, and Dylan Penn. Now, to this point they aren’t as good as we thought. They are still good but they will need to dig in and get the offense going. When Dylan Penn was on the ball and going north and south into the lane, he was creating very, very well but that only happened a handful of times. That needs to be their structure for success because they have more shooters than they are taking advantage of.
Evansville Bosse Looks Tougher Than Last Year
Evansville Bosse was pretty tough last year but they might be even more so this season. They have a ton of confidence and more pieces impacting that they did a year ago. D’Angelo Ware is back in Evansville and he’s really good with size on the ball. Jaylin Chinn is stepping up, and Kiyron Powell is adding a post defender ability. Everything starts and ends with Mekhi Lairy but after four years with the core of this group, they all seem to have bought into the style 100 percent.
More Offensive Pieces This Year For Bosse
Bosse has never been a one man show but for the first time in four years, you could see how they could easily win games where they don’t have Mekhi Lairy going off for 20+. Now, they have more guys stepping into bigger roles than before with Jaylin Chinn, D’Angelo Ware, and E’Deviyon Cooper. All looked really good and their offense has taken steps forward. Chinn took over a good stretch of the game, as did Ware. They have more than enough pieces, if they have a problem hypothetically that could arise it would be keeping all of those in place for the remainder of the season.
Sam Devault Adding More Post Ability
One of the biggest skill development things we took away from this game was Sam Devault’s post scoring ability. He’s always been a big kid but he’s much more of a wing than a forward. However, he looked much more polished with his moves and finishing ability. He was able to spin with the ball and finish with his right hand, had the soft touch you need too. If he can continue to go down this direction, along with perimeter shooting and ball handling, that will be a great development that could allow him to jump forward.