Southwind routs ECS, 73-38
Southwind head coach Paul Edwards wanted to his team to slow down Evangelical Christian School’s sophomore point guard Kameron Jones.
He got his wish.
The Jaguars (2-0) limited Jones to just six points, and their defense forced one turnover after another in route to a 73-38 win Monday night at home.
“I was pretty pleased with it,” Edwards said about his team’s performance. “We knew they would be well-coached. We knew Kam (Jones) would be a headache, so we just wanted to apply pressure to him, try to speed him up a little bit. That was our focus, and we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
Jones would see a different defender each time he had the basketball in his hands. He, often, saw double teams where he was forced to pass the ball. That didn’t bode well for the Eagles, who have relied on Jones offensively to lead the team so far this season.
Without Jones being dominant on offense, ECS (2-1) was stagnant on offense.
“The game plan was to slow down Kam,” Edwards said. “We didn’t know if we would stop him, but we just wanted to pressure him and give him a lot of different looks.”
Southwind quickly jumped out to 10-0 lead early in the first quarter as four different players scored the first 10 points of the game. Senior point guard Ashton Taylor set the tone early for the Jaguars on offense, driving aggressively to the lane that ended up with him either making a layup or getting fouled and heading to the foul line.
Taylor scored nine points in the first quarter alone as Southwind built a 27-7 lead. Taylor finished with 11 points.
The Jaguars built their lead up to 45-19 at the half. The second half featured two one-handed dunks from senior guard/forward Jeremiah Miller and senior forward Kameron Jones. On Miller’s two dunks, the lane was wide open, and he was able to elevate off the floor.
Miller finished with 13, along with combo guard Dionte Anding, who made things look easy at times with his long range shooting.
Jones, who led the team with 14 points, was able to overpower the Eagles’ post players with his 6-foot-7 body frame. Thanks to the maturity of Jones, Miller, Taylor, and Anding, Southwind didn’t have any trouble putting away ECS early.
“It’s their turn now,” Edwards said. “It’s a process. We’re going to try and get better each game.”
Guard Davis Rangi led the Eagles with 10 points. Forward Hadden Burgess added six.
Quick thoughts
- Some, if not many, wondered how the Jaguars’ offense would look without Mark Freeman, who recently committed to Tennessee State University. With Taylor and Anding playing well together, Southwind shouldn’t have any issues scoring the basketball.
- Kameron Jones has potential to be one of the best guards in the 2021 class. He was tested defensively by a veteran group. Hopefully, he can learn from this game and get better. His coach, Willie Jenkins, wants him to average a double-double, and if he doesn’t do so, he will sit on the bench. Jones played with a hamstring injury against the Jaguars.
- Someone else outside of Jones has to be aggressive on offense. When Jones couldn’t get things going, the entire team fell apart.