Scribbles from the Notebook: Willoughby South @ Gilmour Academy
Willoughby South Rebels (17-5) traveled to Gilmour Academy (17-4) on Tuesday night to take on the Lancers in one of each team’s final games before the OHSAA Playoffs commence. The game featured a lot of back and forth for the…
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Continue ReadingWilloughby South Rebels (17-5) traveled to Gilmour Academy (17-4) on Tuesday night to take on the Lancers in one of each team’s final games before the OHSAA Playoffs commence. The game featured a lot of back and forth for the 1st Half. More notably, both teams played stellar defense, covering all the gaps and not allowing anything easy inside.
Neither team had a great shooting night, leading to a Halftime score of just 20-19 in favor of Gilmour Academy. This was all before we saw some of each team’s stars start to shine.
The same problems that plagued Willoughby South early continued to haunt them throughout the first half. The Rebels struggled to take care of the ball, resulting in a number of forced as well as unforced turnovers. That issue persisted throughout the game. The issue they did fix however, was managing to get the ball in the paint.
Between Damion Williams and Xavier Hopps, the pair of Willoughby South forwards had had enough and began to take over. Hopps was able to beat any defender Gilmour threw his way off the bounce en route to bucket after bucket. To add to that, Williams started to get post feeds from the perimeter, and collectively, the pair of 2019 prospects could not be stopped once Willoughby South started pushing the ball downcourt in transition.
Hopps scored 23 or his 27 points in the 2nd Half while Williams added 18 for the game. Those two were the only Rebels to score in the 2nd Half, but with the ease they scored with, there was no need to look elsewhere.
This game was played primarily in the paint. Both teams had plenty of second chance opportunities, wreaking havoc on the offensive glass. Though Gilmour Academy played a very fundamentally sound game, their inability to find an answer for Hopps and Williams 1-on-1 combined with an off shooting night did not give them much hope.
Once Willoughby South opened the game up a little more in the 3rd following a low scoring 1st Half, Gilmour Academy was going to need an answer. That answer was 2019 prospect Guard CJ Charleston.
If the game was 2 minutes longer, they may have etched something out. But that just speaks to Charleston’s 4th quarter brilliance. Charleston muscled the Lancers all the way back from down 14, scoring 11 of his 22 points in the 4th Quarter. Despite a smaller frame, Charleston did not back down from any matchup, displaying great explosion off the dribble, and penetrating anytime he saw a gap in the defense. He even contested a few shots at the rim.
Willoughby South must have gotten the memo that 2020 Guard Connor O’Toole went off for 9 triples last week, because after contributing a pair of 3’s in the 2nd Quarter, his scoring was done for the night, despite having a green light from practically anywhere on the floor and a quick trigger.
OHSAA Playoffs begin next week. Gilmour Academy will have their final tuneup this Friday when they host Benendictine High School. Willoughby South will cap off their regular season by traveling to Euclid High School on Saturday.