Photos by Karen Akers
Shady Spring – Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson wanted to see how his team would perform in the half court on offense and defense.
The Tigers, accustomed to turning teams over with pressure defense and generating easy buckets off of it, haven’t faced much resistance as of late in those facets.
It’s safe to say Olson likes what he sees.
The Tigers generated nine first-quarter turnovers and held Wyoming East to 23 percent shooting on 13 shots in the opening frame, finishing a season sweep of the Warriors with an 84-41 victory Tuesday night at Shady Spring.
“I was really surprised how much we turned them over,” Olson said. “We’ve really been working hard on separating our pressure from our half-court defense and our transition game from defense to pressure to keeping people in front of you. We really talked about it before the game and worked on it in practice. They pressured and then they were able to keep them in front of them which I thought was great.
“That right there is what’s going to bring another state championship to Shady Spring. I don’t care who we play on any night with the half-court defense and the full court. And the energy was there”
In a rematch of a Dec. 10 game between the two teams – a 65-29 Shady win – the Warriors hoped the presence of their all-stater Tanner Whitten, who missed the last matchup, would make a difference. It didn’t with the hosts shutting the East star out in the first quarter.
He finished the game with five points on 10 shot attempts will all five points coming in the second quarter.
“We try not to focus on one player because we play team defense but he is a focal point of our defense,” Olson said. “We talked about not leaving him and letting him go off. He has done a really good job of when they pass, cutting and posting up. We didn’t want to get caught in that. He moves great off of the ball and that’s where we did a great job of being alert off of the pass and they were still with their man. To hold him to that was impressive because he’s one of the best players in the area.”
Meanwhile Shady center Jaedan Holstein benefitted early and often on offense, scoring a game-high 22 points. The junior scored the first two buckets of the game followed by a steal and a bucket from Cole Chapman.
East’s Chandler Johnson got the Warriors on the board with a layup but the barrage was just beginning. After trading points Holstein again found the bottom of the net, igniting a 7-0 run that featured five straight from Braden Chapman.
Johnson again quelled the run but another 9-2 Shady spurt to end the quarter put the visitors in a 24-8 hole after one.
“We turned the ball over too much. Way too much,” East head coach Derek Brooks said. “That’s the best defensive team that I think any team will see. They play very good man-to-man team defense. There’s no openings. The only time you’re going to get open is if there’s a mismatch because they switch everything so there’s no going to the bucket off of a screen and it’s tough to attack it. Hats off to them. That’s a great team.”
Whitten finally broke his snide with a bucket early in the second quarter but by that point the 16-point deficit was too much to rebound from. Making matters worse was the play of the Shady offense which operated like a well oiled machine. The Tigers dished out 17 assists on 35 made field goals, converting on 65 percent of their attempts inside the arc.
“You look at the offensive end where we were trying to find our identity with Todd (Duncan) being gone,” Olson said. “We don’t just score in transition now. I was concerned at the beginning of the year especially after the loss to Logan. We couldn’t score in the half court and now we’re able to on sets inside and outside and I think that makes it tough to defend. It’s impressive the way they share the ball.”
The Tigers extended their lead to 24 points heading into the half, never looking back in the rout.
Holstein was one of four players in double figures for the Tigers, leading the way with 22 points. Braden Chapman finished with 13 points and nine rebounds while Cole Chapman added 14 points and eight assists. Sam Jordan rounded out the group with 10 points.
“We had zero on-ball defense,” Brooks said. “They were straight-line driving us. They didn’t have to have a screen and even when they did Chandler would come and help and our guy wouldn’t get back to help him so we were giving up wide open layups to Holstein because Chandler had to help. We’ve got to do better than that on defense because you can’t give those up without them even making moves. You’ve got to be stronger than that and slide your feet. That’s effort. Defense is all heart, energy and effort. Anybody could play defense and we didn’t tonight.”
Jacob Howard led East with eight points in the loss.
Shady moves to 11-1 and will look to cap the Wyoming County sweep Wednesday when it travels to Westside. Wyoming East drops to 6-6 and is scheduled to play Bluefield at The Greenbrier on Friday.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
WE: 8 11 17 5 – 41
SS: 24 19 24 17 – 84
Wyoming East
Tanner Whitten 5, Garrett Mitchell 4, Cole Lambert 5, Tucker Cook 5, Chandler Johnson 7, Bryson Huff 2, Eli Fralin 3, Jacob Howard 8, Tanner Cook 2
Shady Spring
Braden Chapman 13, Cole Chapman 14, Jaedan Holstein 22, Cameron Manns 6, Ammar Maxwell 8, Sam Jordan 10, Gavin Davis 2, Jalen Bailey 1, Ty Austin 2, Lattreal Hairston 6
3-point goals – WE: 3 (Whitten 1, Lambert 1, Cook 1); SS: 4 (C. Chapman 2, Manns 1, Maxwell 1)
