WEST POINT — Drew McBrayer knew something had to change.
When the New Hope boys basketball coach took stock of his roster in the offseason, he saw plenty of shooting ability and plenty of speed — but not much size.
That led to a fundamental change in the Trojans’ style of play, as McBrayer upped the tempo and installed a run-and-gun type of offense.
“It’s a different style than we’ve run a lot in the past, but it’s a lot of fun to watch them play with the effort that they do and the skill set they have on the floor,” McBrayer said.
The new system is paying dividends for high-flying, high-scoring New Hope, and Friday’s district opener at West Point was just the latest example.
The Trojans held a 10-point lead at the half and pulled away from the Green Wave by scoring 20 unanswered points in 4 minutes, 37 seconds to start the third quarter. The fast and furious run was all New Hope (15-1) needed and more, and the Trojans rode it to a 73-45 win over the Green Wave (2-12) on Friday.
“They have the ability to get on a run pretty quick,” McBrayer said. “It seems like as soon as they see one or two of them shots go down, everybody’s itching to get in, let one fly and knock one down.”
The Trojans’ 20-0 burst was classic New Hope — this season, anyway. Steals, 3-pointers galore and a frenzied pace stretched a 36-26 halftime score to 56-26 before the Green Wave knew what had happened.
“It was really nice just knowing that we can just throw it up and down the court and just shoot 3s and know we can make it,” New Hope senior Taylon Stevenson said.
As the Trojans’ bench cheered on New Hope, West Point was deflated. The momentum the Green Wave had built by cutting a lead of nearly 20 points down to 10 at the half had quickly evaporated.
“We played good in the first half, but coming into that second half, we started overplaying on defense,” said West Point guard Dishoune Cooperwood, who led the team with 17 points. “We started messing up a lot. They got on a run against us, and we didn’t stop it. We’ve gotta get to the free throw line, get some fouls or something.”
The Trojans turned to the full-court press to slow down Cooperwood in the second half, but West Point coach Gary Dixon was still proud of the performance by his senior, whom Dixon said he relies on to run the team on offense and defense.
“He has a good head on his shoulders,” Dixon said. “He’s slowly becoming the leader that we expected him to be.”
But Cooperwood was no match for a multifaceted New Hope attack led Friday by senior Jaylen Smith. Smith made six 3-pointers in the West Point gym for the second straight time, including four in the third quarter Friday. He finished with 26 points.
“He had a really good game,” Stevenson said of Smith. “Knocking down his shots and playing defense and taking the ball down the court.”
McBrayer also credited senior AJ Brownlee, who hit three 3s and finished with 11 points. RL Mattix added nine for the Trojans. New Hope lost senior Jason Peden to an ankle injury — McBrayer said it was believed to be a high ankle sprain — late Friday and played without sophomore Caleb Parr, who was out with a bruised hip, but the Trojans received contributions from pretty much everyone. Nine players scored at least one point for New Hope on Friday as the Trojans delivered a total team effort in their first district game.
“This group is so much fun to coach,” McBrayer said.
West Point, meanwhile, has seen some improvement since the beginning of the season, Dixon said, though it has yet to translate to wins like the Green Wave want.
But Dixon expressed confidence that West Point can compete with any team should it play well for all 32 minutes — not the case Friday.
“We need to put a full four quarters together,” he said. “We haven’t done it all season due to injuries and sickness. We get everybody healthy and put a full four quarters together, I like our chances against anybody. They’re just resilient. They’re a resilient bunch.”
New Hope girls 47, West Point 43
WEST POINT — The New Hope girls almost learned a valuable lesson the hard way in Friday’s district opener at West Point.
The Trojans jumped out to a 26-12 halftime lead over the Green Wave then tried to coast from there.
“We came out and played really well, and then after halftime, we got very lax and went, ‘Hey, this game’s over with,'” New Hope coach Nick Christy said.
The Trojans let West Point off the hook, Christy said, and the Green Wave closed the gap. West Point tied the game and had several attempts at taking the lead but could never pull ahead. New Hope (9-6) did what it needed to do, sinking some key free throws in the closing minutes to pull off a narrow 47-43 win and avoiding a rude welcome to district play.
“Hopefully that taught them the other team’s not gonna lay down,” Christy said. “This is district. They’re not gonna quit playing until the last buzzer. We got out of this game with a win, and we’ll hopefully take that lesson and move forward and realize no matter how many you get up or down, they’re not gonna quit. These games mean more. These are district games.”
West Point took advantage of sloppy play, lax rebounding and plenty of turnovers by the Trojans and erased New Hope’s double-digit lead, tying the game 31-31 with 2 minutes, 26 seconds to go in the third quarter. Most of the Trojans’ errors were unforced, Christy said.
“They’re pressing, but it wasn’t anything great,” he said of the Green Wave. “They hustled hard, and I’ll give them that, but we’re just throwing it right to them. We’re just making bad decisions and bad plays because we thought the game was over.”
But given chance after chance to take the lead or make a big run, West Point couldn’t connect on anything. The Green Wave misfired on deep jumpers and 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and New Hope converted when it sorely needed to.
Reed McGlothin drained a key 3-ball from the right corner to stretch a two-point Trojan lead to five with 3:10 to go and hit two clinching free throws with 13.8 seconds to go to give New Hope a two-possession lead. The junior had missed four consecutive free throws before coming up big when New Hope needed her.
“It was good to make the plays at the right times,” Christy said. “We had people missing free throws earlier that made them at the end of the game, people missing shots that made them whenever it counts. That’s how winning is done.”
Following a 53-49 win at Houston on Tuesday, New Hope has started to turn its luck around in close games, Christy said. It’s a trend he hopes to see prolonged as the Trojans progress through their district schedule.
“I feel like we’re progressing and moving as we get into district and hopefully get into postseason play,” he said. “You want to be playing your best basketball. I feel like we’re getting better. We’re not where we need to be, but we’re definitely going in the right direction on that.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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