Ten Best? No. Cleveland vs Hope Academy was The Best
On Thursday night Hope Academy handed Cleveland their first loss of the season 77-74 on a 50 foot buzzer beater off the glass that will be remember forever. What a night of hoops! Today’s Ten Best is going to be…
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Continue ReadingOn Thursday night Hope Academy handed Cleveland their first loss of the season 77-74 on a 50 foot buzzer beater off the glass that will be remember forever. What a night of hoops!
Today’s Ten Best is going to be a little different. This game doesn’t need a format, it was a story that needs to be told without a structure. Thursday was quite an interesting evening so why not walk you throw all of it?
The journey of the Cleveland/Hope Academy game actually started when Kevin Alsteens, better known as TC Hoops Czar, saw the schedule a long time back and said, “Cleveland is at Hope Academy in February!”
The texts continued…”this would be a great game for you to go to!”….”come and spend a night in this league!”….”if I have to drag you…”
Wanting to see both the Erickson brothers of Hope Academy as well as this undefeated Cleveland team it seemed like the perfect chance.
Kevin arrived early and saw part of the junior varsity game. I myself staggered into the varsity game just as Cleveland senior Jaiden Zishka scored his 1,000th career point and what a great moment for him.
The standing ovation he received was thunderous not just from the traveling Cleveland fans but also the home Hope Academy fans too. After photos were taken Jaiden went over and hugged a young man with a sign being held in his honor.
Jaiden Ziska: This is a long armed, heavily active forward who does a terrific job moving his feet within the zone where he is consistently put at the top to create havoc. Moves well laterally and plays hard. Scored 28 points and definitely had a double-double although it’s tough to know what number of boards he had. Scored about half of his points in transition. Good passer too. Hard worker. Seems like he would be an excellent UMAC player as a 6-foot-2 forward.
Cleveland extended a 2-3 zone into a trap and built a huge early lead. This game had blowout written all over it. The Clippers were on a constant fast break and it was often the result of this zone trap that seemed to perplex the Lions.
Oh how things change.
The game went from 33-11 to a 42-36 Cleveland halftime lead in a snap. The gym was energized. The younger non-varsity players and the young kids put together a halftime game with jerseys that included Joe Mauer, Kyrie Irvin Olympic version, and Joe Smith, the Golden State Warrior version.
Joe Smith? Really? I guess it works.
Cleveland pounced on Hope Academy again to start the second half. Same script. Zone trap into transition scores. Lead was at 20 plus again. Within that run Austin Plonsky caught my attention.
Austin Plonksy: A 5-foot-11 guard who was a wing in the zone trapping scheme plus a shooter that knocked out three treys. A player that a defense must locate when playing Cleveland. He had a three and then a floater on the attack that built the half lead to 20 plus. Finished the game with 19 points.
Mitch McCabe: A six foot junior guard that did all of his damage at the arc. He’s a player with good form and some range as a couple of those treys were hit from near NBA range. Made four for the game and finished with a dozen points. Coaches must find him.
Remember when I said the second half was like the first half? It was nearly identical (with the exception of the final 13 seconds). Just like in half one, half two saw Cleveland trap, force a turnover, and either hit a three or score in transition with Zishka.
Then when Hope Academy was able to get through a possession without a turnover they were able to get shots off and get back on defense to get positioned. When that happened the lack of a Cleveland ball handler destroyed their quest to remain undefeated as the Clippers couldn’t get space to do much of anything in the final six or seven minutes.
It was Clipper turnover after turnover in the halfcourt set. Plus some unintelligent play as guys dribbled into traps instead of keeping the ball moving. The pressure from several Lions players forced a loss of Cleveland poise.
Ethan Reed was one of those players working hard to trap.
Ethan Reed: Ethan made likely the second biggest shot the second half run when he knocked down a three to bring his team within three with about 43 seconds to go. Ethan made three of his treys late in the game and was clutch in bringing his team back. He is a 5-foot-11 junior guard who scored 23 points.
Nate Elifson: If Reed hit the biggest three, Elifson hit the two biggest momentum builders. Like Reed, Elifson scored 23 points and many were in a big impact way. His back to back triples cut a ten point lead down to four points with under two minutes left. Nate is also his team’s best defender in positioning, shot blocking, and reliability. He’s a 6-foot-2 senior that I think should get some UMAC calls very soon.
So here is the game. Cleveland is up two points. They have watched Hope Academy put together a 20-2 run and they need a stop. The Clippers could not stop turning the ball over so the game had to be won on the defensive end. This is where HE came into play.
Mr. Clutch. The Game Winner. Johnny Basketball. Big John. Mr. Lion.
Johnny Erickson: a senior guard averaging 26.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 7.8 assists a game. This was actually a quiet night for him early. Those big numbers were slowed down by the Cleveland defense. Heading into the final two possessions of the game Johnny had 13 points and more turnovers than usual. But Erickson is a speedy guard that is tough to keep in front. When he got to space usually he attacked deep in the lane to shoot or kick to the wing in the corner. He’s a player several D3 schools should be in on (a star in the UMAC, a solid player from some MIAC schools). And, last night, he was Mr. Clutch.
With 13 seconds to go Erickson attacked and was knocked off balance but with no whistle he continued and touched in a difficult four footer over the contesting defender. Tie game. Cleveland Ball. The Clippers halfcourt offense couldn’t produce anything of substance and a desperation attempt was off, and the final buzzer sounded. No good.
But wait! No way should it have sounded. Easily there should have been a second left on the clock. A second was correctly added. Then after catching a pass on the baseline Erickson caught on the curl and heaved the ball from 50 feet.
Late game drama time. SC top 10 time. I moved to the baseline to get a good look with the I7.
Meanwhile Erickson had just released from 50 feet and the buzzer sounded while the ball was in the air. Erickson’s shot hit the backboard and went in. The Lions bench went wild. They chased down Erickson and group bouncing hug commenced. A couple dads and/or friends thought they were in high school again so they ran out on the court like Hank Aaron just hit number 715.
The Hope Academy parents were overjoyed. The coaches hugged the players. Hope Academy won 77-74. A beautiful night and a drama filled game that will never be forgotten for many reasons. So much fun.
This is why we love high school basketball.