Gallery by Tina Laney
New Richmond – Head basketball coaches Derek Brooks and Shawn Jenkins have led their teams into numerous battles against each other.
The one Tuesday night was a little different.
Brooks was still leading Wyoming East, but Jenkins was not in his normal position as head coach at county rival Westside.
After stepping down in Clear Fork following last season, Jenkins was named head coach at Independence.
Fate would have it that Jenkins’ time in Coal City was ushered in with a battle against the Warriors in New Richmond.
As was expected, Wyoming East held the early season advantage amongst the two teams in regards to experience and it showed.
Powered by 23 points from senior Garrett Mitchell and an 11-0 run late in the second quarter, the Warriors took round one with the Patriots 66-47.
“They played hard and they are giving me everything they have, so I am not overly upset,” Jenkins said. “You never like to lose, but this group plays hard and they are coachable. We just have to fine tune some things.”
Although the Warriors held the upper-hand in experience, with just over two minutes to play in the opening quarter, the game was tied 2-2.
“It was a slow start for us offensively. I kind of knew they were going to throw the 1-3-1 defense on us,” Brooks said. “We spent an hour on it yesterday in practice, but I thought we came out and didn’t quite do what we worked on in practice.”
That all changed in less than 90 seconds.
Two 3-pointers from Mitchell and an old-school three-point play from Tanner Cook pushed the lead to nine points as the clock ticked under a minute.
“We had two points in the first five minutes, then we scored 64 the rest of the way, so that is pretty good. We will take that,” Brooks said. “I thought we played well defensively. We have a few things to work on with the ball screens, but we will get there.”
Trailing by eight points after the first quarter, Independence cut the lead back to three points on a triple from Ashton Arthur with 5:08 to play before the half.
Unfortunately for the visitors, prior to Arthur’s 3-pointer, Indy big man Corey Shumate was whistled for his second foul and did not return until the second half.
Over the next three minutes, Wyoming East used solid work in the paint by Jacob Howard, Bryson Huff and Jackson Danielson to run off 11 straight points for a 28-14 lead.
“We have to get production from the Jacob and Bryson especially, but we need production all through the lineup. We lost about 30 points and 20 rebounds per game from last year. That is a lot to cover,” Brooks said. “We want them to do their role, take what is given to them and score where they can. I would like to have three or four people in double figures.”
Huff ended the night with nine points, while Howard had eight and Danielson scored six.
“I thought Jackson Danielson really played big for us. He hasn’t played basketball since eighth grade, but he is a strong kid and he goes after it,” Brooks said. “He is going to help us and he can finish around the rim.”
A tough straight-away 3-ball from Jordan James snapped the run, but the Warriors maintained a 14-point lead at the break.
Not having Shumate for the final portion of the second quarter was the difference in the game.
“He is an impact player,” Jenkins said. “When we had to pull him out it hurt us a little but, but we were trying to save him for the second half. The second half he played really well. Very happy with how he played.”
After scoring three points in the first half, Shumate returned to score 13 points in the second half and ended the night with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
“We knew we would have to play hard because Corey is a big force inside. He is a big kid that moves well,” Brooks said. “We knew we would have to throw bodies on him and team rebound once we boxed him out. We didn’t feel like the others crashed the boards too hard, so we had to keep him off the glass and go get it.”
Six points from Huff in the first four minutes of the third quarter helped East build a 20-point advantage, but Indy responded quickly.
A 3-pointer from James and five straight from Shumate trimmed the lead back to 13 points before corner 3’s from Dacoda Cooper and Zach Hunt stopped the Indy spurt in its tracks.
The Patriots could get no closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
Jenkins admitted he knew his team would be a work in progress considering he still has some players from the state champion football team to work into his lineup.
“At first when I looked at my schedule, we play a game on the 20th (of December) and then we don’t play again until Jan. 3. I have never done that before, but as I looked at it now, I like that,” Jenkins said. “That is practice time that we are going to need, especially with some of the other kids that have come in now. It gives us time to get acclimated.”
Both teams are back in action next Tuesday. Wyoming East hosts Greenbrier West, while Independence hosts county rival Liberty.
I: 5 12 13 17 – 47
WE: 13 18 17 18 – 66
Independence
Corey Shumate 16, Jordan James 11, Chris Lilly 2, Colton Hughes 11, Ashton Arthur 7.
Wyoming East
Garrett Mitchell 23, Cole Lambert 6, Bryson Huff 9, Jacob Howard 8, Tanner Cook 4, Jackson Danielson 6, Dacoda Cooper 3, Zach Hunt 7.
3-pointers: I: 5 (James 2, Hughes 2, Arthur); WE: 7 (Mitchell 4, Cooper, Hunt 2)