The Rundown: DeLaSalle vs Cooper

DeLaSalle knocked off Cooper Tuesday night in a 65-59 battle. The Islanders earned their 9th win led by the 25 points of Dartmouth bound senior [player_tooltip player_id="774736" first="Cade" last="Haskins"] and 20 points from Casmir Chavis. Today we look at that Islander victory in The Rundown.   Prince Appiah of Cooper (6’0 junior guard). There are players that scramble wildly on defense, and there are players that actively play good defense. From what I could see last night Prince was the second one. His chase downs, fight to spots, and retreats to make a play on the ball caught my eye. As did a couple touch scores on the move. Hit a big corner three in the second half as well. Casmir Chavis of DeLaSalle (6’2 freshman guard). If a fan didn’t have a roster or a previous knowledge of how Chavis was, I think you would have a hard time convincing them that he’s a freshman. Cooper pressures all over the court in various ways but it didn’t seem to bother Chavis. He made a couple early passes (one skip, one lead to a cutter) that were on target and ahead of a moving defense. Then he went at the basket and took contact from older players (although Chavis was a couple inches bigger than most) before finishing on the move. There were physical plays and there were matured plays that you don’t usually see 14/15 year old players make at this level. Another memorable play was Chavis at the top of the key alone with Evans. Evans had the ball and tried to cross Casmir over but Chavis quickly poked the ball away earning a steal and lay-up. Then he got back in a stance ready to go again. A matured young player. Another part of Chavis that is key, he goes at the rim and gets great lift so when Cooper challenged Casmir at the cup it was still made baskets. He also had what I believe was the dagger late catching a deep outlet and finishing while being shoulder blocked. Casmir scored 20 points for the game. [player_tooltip player_id="958641" first="Davion" last="Evans"] of Cooper (6’0 junior guard). Evans led Cooper in scoring last year and is this year. On a balanced team with a lot of similar sized guards Evans separates himself in two ways: confidence and speed. First the confidence. In this year’s Breakdown book interview of Davion he was asked what his strengths are on the court. Davion’s response? “Everything”. At first I thought “well that won’t be a good read” but after a moment I changed my mind thinking “that will be the answer I remember the most!”. That’s the type of confidence Evans plays with. Then the quickness. Late in the first half there was a simple transition but the Islanders looked a bit tired. Evans noticed. He quickly blew by his man and then blew by the hard breathing help for a lay-up. Next time down? The Islander help was aware so Evans dribbled separated with a lightning quick crossover into a fast releasing three pointer. Late in the half Cooper needed a score and the ball was rotated. The Islander defense arrived to position but Evans beat man one with a hard dribble right and that quick first step led to a pair of help defenders stepping to Evans. The reaction from Evans was a nice baseline feed to a cutting [player_tooltip player_id="774791" first="David" last="Osayameh"] of Cooper (6’4 senior forward). Early in the second half Cooper rotated the ball to the opposite wing and there was Davion with the catch and attack. His man was cheating a bit because of the Evans threat of speed but it didn’t matter, the attack was there. And with the Islander defense rotating late against the Evans blitz it was two easy lay-ups. Evans had 20 on the night. [player_tooltip player_id="774736" first="Cade" last="Haskins"] of DeLaSalle (6’6 senior guard). Cooper defenders gave up multiple inches to Haskins therefore mistakes had to be minimal in defending him. Unfortunately for the Hawks there were too many. Early in the game Cade’s man sank too deep on an attack, Haskins caught and hit a corner three. Possessions later Haskins hard cut off a screen and the screener’s man was sinking so Cade’s man had to chase over the top. That didn’t work, it was a Haskins three. With eight minutes to go in the half Cooper was pressuring full court but the backside defenders had to scramble once it was beat. It was way too late, Haskins three. So here we are late in the first half and Haskins has knocked out three threes. Hawks defenders were alert to Cade’s perimeter threat. They closed out hard on Cade who changed it up and went baseline for an attack. Cade’s defender was behind the play and the help defender was late and too short so the 6-foot-6 Haskins dunked over the top of both players for an And1 thunderous finish. Little changed in the second half. Twice the Islanders beat the Cooper defense to the left side and the Hawks help collapsed so hard that Cade was standing all alone on the opposite wing. And twice he sunk threes bringing his total for five for the game. Broderick Powell of Cooper (6’0 senior guard). I would say that Powell has become one of the better passers in his class. Based on what I have seen from him here and in previous extended game highlights/games, Powell is hits cutters and rotates the basketball with the best in the senior group. Also, Powell is a player you just don’t want to have pressuring you full court. He beats guys to angles with his quick lateral steps. [player_tooltip player_id="962218" first="Nasir" last="Whitlock"] of DeLaSalle (6’1 sophomore guard). In watching Nasir I often wonder if he invites the contact because he really thrives once a player puts a forearm or body on him. Nasir has such a great feel for leverage and then moving off of players using his skill to make a play while holding a man off with that leverage. For instance on one sceond half play Whitlock stepped out with the dribble has man stepped forward, and Whitlock quickly attacked on got his opponent on his hip. Once there were saw a Whitlock jumper make, a Whitlock assist to Haskins, and a Whitlock attack taking contact from the help and finishing. Whitlock is like a cat in that he’s always on balance to make a play.