Gallery by Tina Laney
Monday night when the visitors from Graham, Va. rolled into Dave Wills Gymnasium, Shady Spring could have been caught looking ahead to the big time showdowns against Beckley and Greenbrier East still upcoming this week.
Jack Williams and Jalon Bailey made sure that did not happen.
Scoring 22 points apiece, the senior duo guided the Tigers to a 70-60 win over the G-Men (10-2).
Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson was not necessarily worried about his team’s focus Monday, but Graham did provide some serious concerns for the defending Class AAA state champions.
“I knew coming in that they were a well balanced team, kind of built like us,” Olson said. “They are not overly big, but really physical with their guards and their swing guys. I thought it was a good matchup for us as far as that standpoint. We didn’t have to worry about guarding the post.”
“I knew watching film, they were a well coached team, that liked to run their sets,” Olson continued. “I was worried about the way that they ran their sets. They have some great players that can beat you off the bounce and make it hard. But, we really went downhill on their defense tonight and that is something we haven’t seen consistently out of us. For four quarters, we really got what we wanted offensively.”
The game was close early on as expected with the G-Men taking their final lead at 12-10 late in the first quarter.
Rebounding to go in front by two points heading into the second period, the Tigers separated the game in the second quarter for a 37-28 lead at the break.
“I just thought they made more plays and played harder in the first half. I thought we matched the intensity in the second half, but they just converted more on the offensive end,” Graham head coach Todd Baker said. “Our defense wasn’t too sound, but sometimes good offenses make your defense look a little weak. We didn’t rotate well, but I loved our fight all the way to the end.”
Williams and Bailey were extremely efficient in the second half. Williams was the first to frustrate the G-Men scoring nine third-quarter points, mostly from point blank range.
“I think some of it was execution. Williams is an extremely good ball player, who makes plays for them,” Baker said. “Two starters getting two fouls and then a third foul was tough. We have a very small rotation. I just give (Shady Spring) credit. They played really well today and they deserved it.”
Baker was particularly frustrated with the ease that the Tiger senior found open lanes to the basket.
“That was very frustrating to us. Our tag man is in help position and we weren’t in help position,” Baker said. “We had three sophomores and freshman out there at times and they are still learning. Williams has been around a long time and has played a lot of ball games. He knew if the second level wasn’t there that he could finish at the rims and he did.”
Bailey saved his biggest damage for the final quarter where he scored nine points by also working his way to the rim, frustrating the Graham defenders.
“That was what we were looking for, some patience. We were worried about them going downhill, but we have guys that can go downhill too. We just have to know when we should go downhill,” Olson said. “I think we are starting to learn that and play off of each other. When we get the ball moving from side to side, more good things will happen. We were more patient and had less turnovers. I was really proud of the maturation.”
The veteran Shady Spring coach also praised the defensive effort put forth by his team Monday.
“I think we made a conscious effort to do it as a unit,” Olson said about the defensive effort. “For the most part, they were all in as one unit playing defense. All guys were communicating, staying attached and working off of each other. You can’t just play man-to-man with one guy, you play as a unit and a group. We have seven guys that can just flat out play. They did it tonight on both sides of the ball. It was a complete game. We didn’t create a ton of turnovers, but we were really solid in the half-court defense.”
Freshman Eli Sexton scored 10 points for Shady with some acrobatic moves in the lane, while Braedy Johnston added nine, including two long balls.
Markelle Ray led the G-Men with 21 points and Cambel Fix had 12.
G: 12 16 10 22 – 60
SS: 14 23 14 19 – 70
Graham
Markelle Ray 21, Channing Disibbio 9, Ty Martin 8, Cole Sexton 6, Blake Goodman 4, Cambel Fix 12. Totals: 23 6-7 60.
Shady Spring
Jack Williams 22, Brady Radford 4, Jalon Bailey 22, Braedy Johnston 9, 9, Eli Sexton 10, Gabe Short 3. Totals: 26 15-22 70.
