3 observations from Christian Brothers’ win over MUS

<p>Christian Brothers took care of business Tuesday night, cruising past MUS for the 68-44 win to lock up a No. 1 seed in the Division II-AA Boys State Tournament.</p> <p>The Purple Wave are still undefeated at 19-0.</p> <p>Here are three observations from Christian Brothers’ win over the Owls.</p> <p><strong>The Purple Wave closed out on the shooters.</strong></p> <p>MUS shoots the basketball extremely well. The Owls’ outside shooting is what makes this team dangerous. A main focus for Christian Brothers was to make MUS take tough shots. Mission accomplished. Each time senior guards <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="537297" first="Gavin" last="Murrey"]</strong>, <strong>Jack</strong> <strong>Jabbour</strong> and <strong>Henry</strong> <strong>Nickey</strong> were running off back screens, the Purple Wave face guarded them. Jabbour went 0 for 2 and Murrey finished with six points on 2 for 8 shooting.</p> <p>"They’re very dangerous," Christian Brothers head coach Bubba Luckett said. "We were very fortunate to get R’Chaun (King) in foul trouble, because that allowed us to tie on to the shooters more. When he’s in the game, there’s a lot of emphasis on trying to prevent him from getting the ball.</p> <p>"But it’s hard to do because you can’t leave any of them. They can all shoot it."</p> <p>King picked up his third foul early in the second quarter and had to sit for the remainder of the second quarter and was on the bench for most of the third quarter.</p> <p>Nickey was the only player for the Owls to score in double figures. He finished with 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Nickey helped MUS, which played without senior guard <strong>Ayman</strong> <strong>McGowan</strong>, erase a 21-5 first-quarter deficit with a 7-0 run of his own to get the Owls within seven (27-20).</p> <p>That was the best offensive sequence MUS displayed. Early in the third quarter, the Purple Wave built a 37-21 lead. Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="996878" first="Chandler" last="Jackson"]</strong> scored 12 of his game-high 29 points during the period.</p> <p>Senior guard <strong>Reese</strong> <strong>McMullen</strong> added 11.</p> <p><strong>Christian Brothers was all over the glass.</strong></p> <p>The Purple Wave were all over the glass. With King on the bench for half of the game, Christian Brothers didn’t have to worry about his 6-foot-5 frame clogging up the paint. The Purple Wave won the rebounding battle, 30-21.</p> <p><strong>Christian Brothers’ defense did more than force tough shots. </strong></p> <p>The Purple Wave’s defense did more than force MUS into tough shots. Their defense also forced 11 turnovers, which led to 14 points for Christian Brothers. Luckett’s team tipped passes, went after loose balls and contested shots for the entire game.</p> <p>The Purple Wave played only one bad quarter of basketball, which was in the second when they committed turnovers and got comfortable with their double-digit lead. Outside of that, Christian Brothers played 24 minutes of great basketball.</p>