Five Thoughts on West Creek-Dyersburg Scrimmage
MURFREESBORO, TN-
Dyersburg and West Creek clawed out a low-scoring scrimmage in the Blackman High School auxiliary gymnasium Saturday.
Dyersburg ventured 200 miles east to compete with many of Middle Tennessee’s top teams Saturday. The Trojans glistened in 2017-2018, winning 82.1% of their games and sweeping their district regular season. West Creek found late season success by winning 13 of their final 17 games. For the Coyotes of West Creek 2017 was a learning experience necessary for growth.
That painful November-December 2017 growth made West Creek a better team. And Dyersburg’s stout Trojans witnessed that Saturday.
Unlike West Creek, DHS fields a very different team from last season. While WCHS returned almost their entire squad Dyersburg
graduated three deeply impactful seniors (Brandon Williams–Blue Mountain College, Kevin Spencer–Army FB, Niko Mann). All three were good students and great leaders. Their absence will be noticed.
Scores are not as important in scrimmages as trends, cohesion, unity, character, etc.
Check out five emergent themes from the clash.
- The D 13AA Dyersburg team hung close to West Creek with strong defense around the rim. West Creek isn’t especially big and not wonderful shooting away from the lane. Because Dyersburg committed defensively inside they kept the game close.
- Jaylen Negron is ready for a big season thank to an incredible knack for the scoring. Jaylen slithers into the lane around defenders consistently.
- West Creek runs smooth sequences offensively. Negron and Montre Boddie need to be better finishing in the trees. Boddie is at his best when he draws and threatens to finish a layup in the lane, but finds a quick pass recipient.
- Dyersburg’s best player in attendance was clearly Class of 2020 guard Nate Spivey. Clearly a frequent weight room guest, Spivey has a satchel of go-to moves at the ready. When Spivey sat out the team lacked some offensive leadership.
- Dyersburg lacks frontcourt options. They played very well as a unit defensively inside the lane. On the attacking end there just didn’t seem to be any reliable post options.
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