Ten Best: Ouachita vs. Wossman
If this pivotal non-district game was any indication, no lead is safe against Wossman. Ouachita led the Wildcats at home by double-digits for most of the second quarter, but the Wildcats erased that to make for a thrilling fourth quarter.…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIf this pivotal non-district game was any indication, no lead is safe against Wossman. Ouachita led the Wildcats at home by double-digits for most of the second quarter, but the Wildcats erased that to make for a thrilling fourth quarter. Ouachita ultimately won 62-57.
MVP: Ouachita F Willie Lapoole
It may be easy to go with the leading scorer for the winning team here, but it was more about when his buckets came: he tallied several quick putback scores in the first quarter, giving the Lions the lead they enjoyed for the entire first half. As the Lions passing got better (more on that later) he was a big beneficiary with several easy looks on the post, scoring crucial points down the stretch when it was tight in the fourth.
Play of the game: Ouachita free throws
Ouachita forward Jay Head and guard DJ Williams – both of them coming off the bench – made free throws in the final two minutes or so that kept Wossman at arm’s length. Ouachita’s four-point lead with 2:17 left could have easily disappeared if these free throws didn’t fall and gave Wossman another shot.
Best offensive performance: Wossman F Darrell Comanche
Wossman needed double-digit scoring from places other than CJ Jones, our No. 13 senior in the state, for reasons that are explained below and he delivered. He was never particularly explosive in terms of a scoring spurt, but his scoring did pick up in the third quarter, conveniently while Wossman was erasing a double-digit margin. Do with that information what you will.
Best defensive performance: Ouachita’s Kenderius Wallace
Ouachita’s defensive gameplan was pretty simple from the get-go: don’t let CJ Jones beat them. He was held primarily silent for most of the game, and Wallace was CJ’s personal defender for the night. When CJ Jones got a few quick baskets at the beginning of the third quarter, Wallace began faceguarding him fullcourt as opposed to picking him up at halfcourt.
Best guy off the bench: Ouachita F Jay Head
One would think a guy like him – our No. 15 ranked senior in the state and a consistent starter on last year’s team – would start a game like this, but he came off the bench and had a big impact, especially in the second half. Wossman’s primary issue remains a lack of size, giving them very little answer for Head (despite the admirable efforts of Darrell Comanche). Head’s post presence went both ways: he made a very athletic block late in the fourth quarter, after which Wossman intentionally fouled, sending Ouachita to the line for free throws that may have put the game out of reach once and for all.
Best intangibles: Wossman G CJ Jones
This game means a lot to him – he used to play for Ouachita while his father, Casey Jones, was the coach at Ouachita (when Casey took the job at Wossman last year, CJ followed). On the road in a wild environment at Ouachita, CJ Jones showed nothing on his face – not when the crowd came alive in pregame, not when he came out of halftime with just a few points and being faceguarded fullcourt, not when Wossman went down by double-digits in the first half. In a lineup with three new starters and several more new faces on the bench, his calm demeanor had to help the Wildcats come together for the comeback.
Best under the radar performance: Wossman’s Peanut Turpin
Turpin is best known as the brother of current TCU wide receiver Kavontae Turpin, so his football season drew the spotlight, but much like Kavontae, Peanut looks like a pretty good basketball player, too. Turpin put a nasty isolation stepback move on one defender and otherwise showed potential to be a valuable weapon as coach Casey Jones develops him through the non-district schedule.
Best rebounder: Let’s call this a tie
Wossman’s Zach Smith and Ouachita’s Willie Lapoole – the latter named the MVP of the game above – both had significant rebounding performances. For a while in the second quarter, it felt like every Wossman defensive rebound was a minor miracle, and Smith was a big factor in changing that; Lapoole’s offensive rebounding set the tone for this game early on.
Best passer: Ouachita PG Rod Hall
It was not the smoothest of starts for this season, but his passing returned to form in the second half and opened up everything for post threats like Jay Head and Willie Lapoole.
Best coaching strategy: Casey Jones’ halftime adjustments
Wossman’s coach saw two things when it came to Ouachita’s plan to defend his son, CJ Jones: first, one man was going to be faceguarding him at all times; two, the Lions were also overaggressive in helping on him, bringing double teams a few steps earlier than usual. This created a lot of 4-on-3 situations in the halfcourt, and Jones’ adjustments in that game were masterful. Everytime you picked your head up in the third quarter, Wossman had a wide open cutter streaking to the rim, especially on the backside.