Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 06
Friday, February 6, 2009
Highlights of Leech’s 52-point night
North High School grad Tryvan Leech scored 52 points against Wheeling Jesuit on Jan. 22.
It was the highest point total of any player in D-II this season.
It’s also gave Leech reason to tease his teammates, most of whom call West Virginia home.
“That was pretty weird,” Leech said. “I’ve been running my mouth about Springfield. I rub it in the West Virginia guys’ face a little bit.”
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Live updates from Springfield-Wayne boys hoops
9:45: It’s over. Wayne wins 75-40. Trice had 19 for the Warriors.
9:30: After three quarters, Wayne leads 63-35. Freeman has 11 for the ‘Cats, while Robert Moss has 10 points.
9:04: At the half, Wayne leads 42-23. Trice has 17 at half for the Warriors.
Freeman has nine for Springfield and Robert Moss has eight points.
8:50: Springfield assistant AD Greg Newland just worked crowd control, breaking up a fight in the Springfield student section.
8:46: After the first quarter, Wayne leads 17-10.
Travis Trice has nine points for Wayne, all-3-pointers. Akeem Freeman has nine points for the Wildcats.
Springfield led 8-5 midway through the first quarter, but Wayne used a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap to force the ‘Cats into all kinds of careless turnovers. They outscored them 12-2 to end the quarter.
8:20: We’re 20 minutes late, but we’re about five minutes away from tip here at Springfield High School.
Here’s the starters for each team —
Springfield: Akeem Freeman, Letrell Leslie, Robert Moss, Trey Depriest, Zack Burks.
Wayne: Brandon Williams, Travis Trice, Lamar Mallory, Dominique Fowler, Markus Crider.
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Tigers hoops team is maturing fast
But even though the Tigers have a young squad, by this point in the season, Brown believes they’ve matured.
“We have little experience, but we took a trip to Seattle which was an extended road trip for sure and we took trips to Cedarville and Wooster,” Brown said. “I don’t think its probably accurate to call these people freshmen any more.”
Defense and rebounding is key on the road, Brown said.
“You have to play good offense and make shots,” Brown said, “but in a foreign environment, if you go in thinking defense and rebounding, which can be fairly constant I would hope regardless of the environment, and mental and physical toughness as being the keys to winning on the road, that’s where it’s at.”
“We really need to believe in defense and rebounding,” Brown continued. “We have to refuse to not play with great effort. We have to refuse not to play some of our best basketball individually and collectively.”
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Tecumseh’s Jones honored
Tecumseh football player Jordan Jones, a defensive end and guard, was named an Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year.
Jones was one of 50 football players across the nation honored by as a top player. Jones had his picture in the Thursday, Feb. 5, edition of USA Today.
Over 9,000 players were nominated. Jones was named Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division Athlete of the Year. He was also named to the Division II All-Ohio second team.
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On this date in area sports history…
On this date five years ago, Feb. 6, 2004, the News-Sun published a story on how the 3-point line has kept young players from learning how to rebound.
Published in the Feb. 6, 2004 edition of the News-Sun:
WANTED: WINDEX WARRIORS
EMPHASIS ON HITTING THE GLASS DOWN AS MORE 3-POINTERS ARE LAUNCHED
By BRIAN PLASTERS, News-Sun Sports Writer
The call of the 3-point line is strong _ often too strong to ignore.
Starting at an early age, potential basketball stars dribble outside the 3-point line, turn around and launch up a long trey.
“The younger kids see that line out there and they automatically go out there and shoot it,” Southeastern coach Aaron Perry said.
The development of the 3-point shot has detracted from the emphasis on rebounding.
Either teams have one main rebounder _ consider South’s Nate Miller and Southeastern’s Matt Poole, who gobble up prodigious amounts of boards _ or teams rely heavily on the 3-point shot, spreading rebounds around to all corners of the court.
With their eyes on the larger prize, more players than ever are launching shots outside the 3-point arc. It’s not just the guards, either, it’s the big men, as well.
A quick tour through the News-Sun’s weekly statistics shows twice as many players are chucking up 3-pointers _ successfully _ than working underneath for the rebounds. In this week’s statistics report, 23 local players qualified for the 3-point shooting requirement (two attempts per game with 30 percent made), while 13 grabbed more than the minimum of seven rebounds.
“(Rebounding’s) something that’s a lost art, and I think it’s gotta be taught,” Mechanicsburg coach Darren Long said. “It’s gotta be a mindset for the kids in the younger ages, and they have to understand it’s just as important to rebound as to shoot.”
Mechanicsburg fits into the mold of both the big rebounder and outside shooter. The Indians have 6-foot-5 forward Todd Marsh underneath scooping up 9.3 rebounds per game. Outside, Tim Patten has been lights-out all season, making 45.8 percent (27 of 59) of his 3-pointers.
Marsh has taken one 3-point shot in three years on the varsity squad, and that’s the way Long has built his team. Marsh averages 11.2 points per game as the Indians’ top inside scoring threat.
“(Marsh) knows what he’s gotta do to be a basketball player and be successful,” Long said.
While trey’s light up a scoreboard, rebounds light up a coach’s heart. Playing defense, scrambling after loose balls and pulling down missed shots is often the safest way to stay on the floor.
Southeastern coach Aaron Perry said the Trojans were having difficulty rebounding earlier in the year. Poole, easily the tallest player on the team at 6-5, has averaged a steady 8.8 rebounds per game, but it hasn’t been until recently the rest of the squad has picked up its rebounding output.
“I think when you’ve got one really good big man, I think naturally other kids stand back and let him do his thing, because they’re used to Matt getting them all,” Perry said. “Sometimes when you’ve got one great rebounder, it actually causes your overall team rebounding to go down a little bit.”
Perry said an increased focus on grabbing boards has helped the team in the second half of the season.
“As a coach, it’s my job to make them do it. In the second half we’ve really improved our rebounding stats, and that’s from restructuring it, and putting an emphasis on it,” Perry said.
One team that’s rarely worried about a lack of rebounds is South. The Wildcats lead the Greater Western Ohio Conference with 34 total rebounds a game, followed closely by Troy (33) and North (32).
“We just tell our kids, basically, you’ve gotta board,” South coach Larry Ham said.
As simple as it sounds, it works. On defense, all five Wildcats on the court go after the rebound. On offense, one player is left to guard the outlet, but everyone else heads after the ball.
It helps that Miller, 6-3 and blessed with a tremendous gift of anticipation, seems to be always around the ball. The rest of the team reinforces Miller.
“We talk a lot about leaning on people, how to pin guys,” Ham said. “We’re not the biggest guys, so we can’t always box somebody else out.”
Ham also limits the players who can shoot 3-pointers. James Cooper and Jabril Thomas generally have the green light, but he wants the other players to shoot closer to the basket.
If it was up to Perry, he wouldn’t allow any players younger than middle-school age to shoot 3-pointers. At the middle school level, he said only a select few should be allowed to put up the longer shot.
“I don’t even agree with the 3-point shot in the junior high,” Perry said. “I think they shoot too many of them. They stopping shooting the ball and they become heaves or throws.”
Which leads to longer rebounds at an early age, and players don’t learn proper rebounding techniques. Once they do learn correct techniques, playing time becomes more plentiful.
“If you’ve got a kid who can play defense and can rebound, he’s going to make a coach very happy,” Long said.
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