Three reasons why Heritage Hall cruised to Regional Finals
Heritage Hall and Newcastle met for the second time of the season after the Chargers defeated the Racers in the championship game of their annual Sweet Pea tournament. This time the stakes are higher. It was the first round of…
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Continue ReadingHeritage Hall and Newcastle met for the second time of the season after the Chargers defeated the Racers in the championship game of their annual Sweet Pea tournament.
This time the stakes are higher. It was the first round of the regional tournament. Both teams are a little different than a month ago. Newcastle has gotten better as the season has progressed, specifically since their loss to Heritage Hall, but unlike the last matchup, the Chargers had their star sophomore guard, Trey Alexander who sat out the first matchup with a bruised quadriceps muscle.
This time around Trey Alexander’s presence definitely made the biggest difference as the Chargers cruise past Newcastle 68-49 and advance to the regional championship game on Saturday.
Alexander’s big game wasn’t the only thing that worked for the Chargers. Newcastle was beaten thoroughly by the Chargers because of their balanced attack. Having star power like Alexander is a great luxury to have in the high school ranks but what makes teams great is what’s surrounding the big talent. Thursday night’s game was the perfect metaphor for that.
They developed their inside game:
In the first quarter, the Chargers took advantage of the Racers over-defending the perimeter by catching both Phillip Smitherman and Melvin Swindle off back-door slips. Smitherman got started first with six of the Chargers first eight points, then after a Newcastle timeout the gameplan was to sag off the perimeter and pay more attention to Smitherman. Heritage Hall made the in-game adjustment and started feeding Swindle, who scored the ensuing six points in the paint.
Smitherman and Swindle combined for 12 of the Chargers 14 first quarter points.
Decision-making by the guards:
The reason Smitherman and Swindle were able to have such a big first quarter was due to the analyzation and unselfish decision making by Will McDonald and Jack Spanier. Although neither had big scoring nights, only combining for 11 points, their impact in this game played a highly significant role in the Chargers success. Additionally, their awareness of Newcastle’s defensive scheme to start the game was an underrated, yet impressive detail.
Star-power pushing the Chargers into a blowout victory:
Once Spanier and McDonald drew the defense off the perimeter is when Alexander had the green light. After only scoring two points in the first quarter, he scored 14 in the second in dominant fashion. His ability to score from anywhere on the court, mixed with the way he played defensively blew this game open by halftime and deemed it a blowout by the end of the third. Alexander scored 25 points in two quarters, 27 in three and reached 1000 career points before his sophomore season has ended.
These are the type of games that can get misunderstood as one player doing it all but little things like what Spanier, McDonald, Smitherman, and Swindle did paves the way for players like Alexander to have these big games.