Heritage Academy boys basketball coach Yandell Harris could see his team”s advantage before the game started, so he decided to “go big.”
With a three-post setup on offense, Heritage Academy dominated the boards en route to a 54-46 victory against Oak Hill Academy on Monday night in non-division action.
“We went big on them with an inside triangle,” Harris said. “We did really good working three posts inside.”
Heritage had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half compared to eight on defense for Oak Hill Academy. Raiders coach Stan Middleton said he knows what his team will work on the next few days.
“We didn”t block out, didn”t rebound, and their size is a lot bigger than we are,” he said. “It”s tough to win when they are putting up three and four shots each time they go to the basket. We didn”t block out. We didn”t help ourselves at all.”
Harris also praised his team”s early quickness in moving the ball up the floor and in transition.
“We had some speed going early, young speed, sometimes out-of-control speed,” he said. “We were inside tonight with the three posts and we had some help from the other players. It just helps when they just really try to jam that middle up. I feel like we”ve got people outside that can really shoot it.”
Harris agreed his team”s early offensive rebounds helped the Patriots build a 28-14 halftime lead.
“Offensive rebounds just tore them (Oak Hill) up the first half,” Harris said. “Once we got that far ahead, it was tough for them to catch up.”
The Raiders played stronger defense in the second half. Both coaches acknowledged that effort changed the complexion of the contest, but Oak Hill Academy couldn”t sustain the momentum.
“Our defense was better to start off the third quarter,” Middleton said. “I thought early our defense was OK, but we just gave them second chances. When you give them 10 offensive rebounds, it”s tough to overcome.”
Harris agreed his squad was pressured more after intermission.
“In the third quarter, we couldn”t get anything to fall,” he said. “We came out and really played four or five minutes. We started running our man offense. Then we went back to it and it started to make a difference. Once we took the rebounds out of their hands, we were able to control the game.”
Cole Walker led the Patriots with 18 points, while Parker Dunaway and Bobby McGrath each had 13.
Reid Posey led Oak Hill Academy (9-12) with 13 points.
“The guys played hard. We just didn”t execute,” Middleton said. “I can see we are going to need to work on blocking out.”
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