Five Themes: Maryville-Dobyns Bennett

Andrew Force March 9, 2020 @ 07:25 PM

Maryville hosted the spunky Dobyns Bennett Indians with an equal chance for each to advance to the state tournament. As both the hosts and the much more successful team all season, MHS entered the favorites. Favorites maybe, but that mattered little when Maryville trailed 51-43 midway through the fourth quarter. It took a mighty close to help [player_tooltip player_id="643290" first="Joe" last="Anderson"] and Maryville High to advance to the Class AAA State Championship, 61-55. https://twitter.com/PrepHoopsTN/status/1237154106705424384?s=20 <h2> </h2> <h2>Hot start</h2> Mighty Maryville brought one of the top offenses statewide to the battle. Counter-intuitively the Indians attacked with more purpose and more precision early. Maryville, despite a late first half surge finished the opening half with a mere 20 points. The score was 20-20 after one half of play. Specifically, Abiah Releford created with a fury. Releford was the only senior in the DBHS starting lineup. His confidence and capacity for scoring drove the tempo of an ordinarily paced, patient offense. Releford made the Maryville defense really work. <h2>Browder versus Maples</h2> Dobyns Bennett started with their chests out and plenty of post bravery. Jack Browder (2022) attacked Ashton Maples (2020) early to establish some floor balance. Browder didn’t score consistently down low, but he did prove a willingness for the Indians to establish. Clearly, attacking the thin front line (Maples and Maples) of Maryville was a scouting decision. Browder attempted two short shots in the third quarter. Both moves looked crisp. He made just the second. Conversely, Maples pulled his defender out away from the basket to open up the lane. This did help, though Maples’ scoring and willingness to create his own shot lagged behind Browder. To be fair though, Maples is not a selfish player and MHS is loaded with scorers. Maples turned the ball over a couple important times in the second half. First, he took a couple steps before bouncing the orange (travel). Secondly, Maples charged into the mass of bodies in the paint (charge). The best look Maples found was a corner three pointer. It missed long and the Dobyns Bennett coaching staff glowed with that shot selection. Throughout the game Maples did rebound with his customary tenacity. For a Maryville team desperately missing three pointer after three pointer this hunger helped tremendously. <h2>Stumped!</h2> When Brady Stump hit his second three-pointer of the night Maryville finally elected to respect the freshman. Stump’s confidence climbed extremely high. The first Indian points of the fourth quarter fluttered off the hot hand of Brady. He made the shot despite [player_tooltip player_id="643290" first="Joe" last="Anderson"] soaring out to swat at the ball. Anderson was too late to cover the corner. <h2>The Spark</h2> Of all the sensational shooters donning the white Maryville jerseys A.J. Davis provided the biggest three-pointer of the night. Out of a timeout, Davis hit an uncontested wing three-pointer to give Maryville a rare lead, 56-55. Maryville didn’t generate points at their normal rate early on. They resided upon the lowly 12 point mark for an eternity. Though the Rebels entered the second quarter down 15-12 they were unable to score again until just before 4:00 left in the half. A.J. Davis buried a three-pointer to bring the subdued but hopeful fans to life. After a team steal, A.J. Davis completed a tough and-1 seconds later. Two minutes later Davis hit the deck to scramble for a loose ball. Davis followed an Anderson layup miss with a bounding second effort. His energy truly set him apart from his fellow Rebels. <h2>Jump on Joe</h2> A.J. found himself open constantly. It appeared doubling [player_tooltip player_id="643290" first="Joe" last="Anderson"] was a prioirty. It is difficult to argue against the strategy considering the earned reputation of [player_tooltip player_id="643290" first="Joe" last="Anderson"]. Joe didn’t earn his way to his favored free throw line until the first play of the second half. He and the Maryville, historically, lived off turnovers, but they didn’t create many in the first half. Anderson’s very first steal of the second half forced a foul by the Indians. Anderson helped his team score several simple layups with difficult passes. https://twitter.com/PrepHoopsTN/status/1237166556968255494?s=20 Anderson missed his second and third shots of the important second half. All three attempts were quality looks, but Anderson’s touch on an off-balanced layup and then during a top-of-the-key three-pointer betrayed him. Anderson finished with 10 points in the third quarter. The sterling senior summoned just a little bit more in the third quarter. With the spark and late scoring of A.J. Davis, Anderson finished off the basketball game where he always seems to...at the free throw line. Follow @PrepHoopsTN for the latest.