Memphis East stays undefeated with win over Raleigh-Egypt
Raleigh-Egypt was shooting and missing 3s, while Memphis East was scoring from different areas of the court.
Because of James Wiseman and Malcolm Dandridge in the post, the Pharaohs couldn’t score in the paint because they lacked the size. Wiseman had one highlight dunk after another, finishing with 31 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Mustangs to the 83-64 win to keep the team’s record unblemished (4-0).
Before the end of the first quarter, East had jumped out to a 22-10 lead after Wiseman’s two foul shots. A 3 by Coryontae Griggs had cut Raleigh-Egypt’s deficit down to 32-25 in the second quarter. Wiseman, then, scored five straight points to put the Mustangs back up 37-25.
Wiseman went 9 for 11 from the free throw line to go along with his three blocks and one assist.
The Pharaohs (4-1) played zone throughout the game then would switch to man-to-man when Wiseman nor Dandridge were in the game. Wiseman saw his usual double teams, but was still effective, catching lobs at ease, slamming it home while looking down at a smaller Raleigh-Egypt team.
Senior shooting guard Dee Merriweather is probably East’s best outside shooter. He made 6 of 9 from 3-point range, finishing with 24 points. Merriweather was 8 of 15 from the field overall and had three assists in 27 minutes of action.
Antonio Thomas, another senior point guard, played aggressively on defense, not allowing any easy buckets. On the offensive end, he didn’t settled for jump shots. He used his upper body strength to get to the basket.
Thomas finished with 13 points and 10 assists.
“I was pleased with the effort,” Mustangs head coach Javonte Holmes said about his backcourt. “They knew what it was. They have been playing against those guys for a long time. It’s a competitive thing.”
East kept a double-digit lead the rest of the way, and kept forcing the Pharaohs to shoot the long ball. As a team, Raleigh-Egypt went 10 for 34 from long range. Quintavious Bailey led the Pharaohs with 23 points. Deovaunta Williams finished with 21.
Bailey and Williams combined to shoot 16 for 39 from the field.
After a great showing on the defensive end, Holmes wants his team to continue to play hard on defense and wreak havoc.
“The main emphasis is to continue to be better defensively,” said Holmes, who’s in his first-year at East after Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway led the program to three straight state titles.
3 takeaways
Raleigh-Egypt had to live and die by the 3 against Memphis East Wednesday night. The Pharaohs doesn’t have the size the Mustangs have but have the aggressive guards that will keep them competitive throughout the 2018 season.
The backcourt for East kind of got away from feeding James Wiseman and Malcolm Dandridge during moments of the game. Coach Holmes feels it’s important for the offense to run through the team’s frontcourt.
The Mustangs got some good minutes from junior forward Kylan Haywood and freshman guard Tadarius Jacobs. Haywood made 3 of 6 shots from the field to finish with six points. Jacobs added five.