3 takeaways from Christian Brothers’ win over Harding Academy

<p><span style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Fresh off a great showing in the Memphis Hoopfest against Christian Brothers out of St. Louis, Missouri, the Purple Wave were on the prowl to get back into the win column.</span></p> <p>Head coach Bubba Luckett’s team did that.</p> <p>Christian Brothers defeated Harding Academy 82-66 behind solid offensive performances from junior guards Harrison Kelly and Reese McMullen and sophomore point guard Chandler Jackson.</p> <p>The Purple Wave made 13 3s in the win, but gave up too many easy scores, even though the game was starting to get away from the Lions midway through the third quarter.</p> <p>Let’s take a dive into Christian Brothers’ win over the Harding Academy Lions.</p> <p><strong>Balanced scoring</strong></p> <p>Junior guard <strong>Reese</strong> <strong>McMullen</strong> led the Purple Wave with 24 points. He made four of the team’s 13 3-pointers. Junior guard <strong>Harrison</strong> <strong>Kelly</strong> was feeling it from deep as well, knocking down five 3s to finish the night with 20 points and five rebounds. Sophomore point guard <strong>Chandler</strong> <strong>Jackson</strong> added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Jackson had to sit for most of the second quarter and part of the third quarter since he was dealing with foul trouble. He picked up his third foul with at the beginning of the third quarter.</p> <p>Christian Brothers (13-5) got solid contributions from seniors <strong>Spencer</strong> <strong>Stalnaker</strong> and <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Spence</strong>, two players that combined to score 12 points.</p> <p><strong>Easy scores</strong></p> <p>The Purple Wave gave up too many easy scores throughout the game. Christian Brothers jumped out to a 9-0 lead, then was outscored 17-8, mainly because of shots being uncontested. Harding Academy kept getting nice looks at the basket going into the second quarter until the Purple Wave’s defense got some stops and turned those stops into points. After senior guard Bobby Parks’ two made foul shots for the technical foul on Kelly for hanging on the rim after his dunk, Christian Brothers ended the second quarter on a 10-0 run that featured two 3s from McMullen and Kelly.</p> <p>Even after Spence’s 3 that put the Purple Wave up 63-39 late in the third quarter, Christian Brothers still got relaxed on the defensive end and allowed easy scores.</p> <p>That can’t happen this Friday against a senior-led Whitehaven team that’s currently 12-0.</p> <p><strong>Lions need balanced scoring</strong></p> <p>It was obvious who the Purple Wave were trying to stop. It was Harding Academy’s leading scorer <strong>Bobby</strong> <strong>Parks</strong>. First-year head coach Greg Eubanks was yelling to his players on the floor to get the ball to Parks. The 6-foot-3 guard delivered, leading the team with 25 points. Outside of Myles Neely’s 14 points, the Lions had to ride Parks to the end. Harding Academy (4-10) will need to find a third scorer, so the offense can have balance, which will take a lot of the scoring load off of Parks’ shoulders.<strong style="font-size: 1rem; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> </strong></p> <p><b>Side</b> <b>note</b>: Delta State University was in attendance Tuesday night to see Parks, Kelly and Kelly’s teammate, junior guard <b>Eli</b> <b>Federman</b>. </p>