Five Takeaways: Park Center bench shines in win over T-G
Today’s Saturday afternoon NWSC matchup in the backyard consisted of Park Center hosting Totino-Grace. A choppy first half ended with PC holding an 11-point lead even while Dain Dainja and Tommy Chatman were limited due to fouls. DT Frierson led…
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Continue ReadingToday’s Saturday afternoon NWSC matchup in the backyard consisted of Park Center hosting Totino-Grace. A choppy first half ended with PC holding an 11-point lead even while Dain Dainja and Tommy Chatman were limited due to fouls. DT Frierson led the charge of Pirate reserves in most of half two to extend the lead to 28, and by the time the buzzer sounded the score was 75-63 in favor of PC.
No primary scorers available? Spread it around. Dain Dainja and Tommy Chatman both accumulated early fouls that hindered their aggressiveness. They combined for just 16 points on the day compared to their average total of 30 combined. Did that leave holes to be filled and roles to be stepped into? For sure, and the Pirates did just that. DT Frierson continues his eye-popping efficiency with a 17 point performance, shooting 8-8 from the field. Khari Broadway actively fought his way to 13 points and the junior Joshes (Brown and Lewis) ramped up defensive pressure for fast breaks and 15 and 7 points respectively. This is why I’ll take PC over anybody else right now.
Tamba returns, so does the talk. Emmanuel Tamba missed a few games over Christmas and into the New Year due to a trip to Africa. His legs don’t seem to be missing at all as he’s become the stopper and talker needed for the bench unit and the starters. He was seen picking up teammates after mistakes, talking defensively for full lengths of the court and begging to move the ball around the perimeter for open swings. If he moves back into the starting lineup, great. If not, he’ll have the same impact.
Sophomores bring the composure. Not many 2021 duos have the calm nature that Carter Weierke and Devin Burger do. Both knocked down set treys, drove to the basket with purpose and didn’t look rushed through it all. Weierke scored 10 (3 bombs) and Burger led the Eagles with 17. I like the future for these two and point guard DJ Akpati (14 points).
Josh Brown and Josh Lewis: the extra edge! These two juniors are instant-impact guys off the bench who fully embrace their jobs: pull the trigger on threes and wreak havoc on opposing guards defensively. Brown scored 15 on 6-11 shooting (3 treys) and Lewis came in for Chatman to run the offense at point and sparked the ball movement with four assists. Lewis added three steals as well. With Tamba, Chatman and Broadway graduating, the spots are there for Brown and Lewis to join David Ijadimbola next year as a feared senior trio of guards.
What’s next? Park Center is now 17-1 with the worst parts of their schedule behind them. The way they’re playing from guys 1-9 I bet they’ll run the regular season unbeaten the rest of the way. They’re running away with section 5 favorite status and my guess is if they come into State with the lone loss to Armstrong (who is a good team by the way) they’ll grab first seed. But we’ll see.
Totino-Grace has lost five in a row but all of those games were against teams in AAAA I would categorize as top 25 in their class. They sit at 8-9 and with their bear of a slate it should favor them in section 4AAA. They have talent and decent size; don’t count this team out because of the large margins in their losses. I expect them to play their best ball by the end of the season.