(2) CATS Academy defeats (3) Kimball Union Academy

CATS was menacing on the defensive end in this one, limiting all of KUA's big time scorers and applying aggressive defensive pressure throughout the entire 36 minutes. They cruised to a 70-54 victory without much of a sweat. They'll face Worcester Academy in the NEPSAC Class AA finals tomorrow.   Here are my standouts from the game.    Harrell was his usual self in Saturday's matchup against KUA. He made tough shot after tough shot – many of which were contested three-pointers off the dribble – and also attacked the offensive glass for easy put backs. Some of his off-the-dribble shots were just ridiculous – step backs with long, tall defenders right in his face. There's just something about his calmness and the way he never gets too high or too low while playing that his team feeds off of; he's such a leader for this squad and makes big plays whenever they're needed. It seems like in every big game CATS plays, Harrell shoots it very well from three. Coincidence?     Curtis' rim protection was apparent from the start. KUA couldn't get anything going in the paint, largely because of his incredible discipline and length on that end. He has great positioning in the paint and very solid timing, and then there's just certain things you can't teach, like a 7-foot-1 frame with incredibly long arms. He was dominant on that end. Offensively, Curtis had a lot of success on the boards and in the middle of the KUA zone; he made good decisions from the free-throw line and got more comfortable finishing around the bigs in the second half. He'll be massively important against Worcester Academy's guards, who love to touch the paint and use acrobatic finishing moves over the trees.     Before Williams-Crawford got hurt midway through the second half of the game (it looked like a pretty bad sprained ankle), he was putting on a defensive masterclass. In the first half, they stuck him on [player_tooltip player_id='2396720' first='Isaiah' last='Henderson'], who he completely shut down and made life hell for. Henderson will be having nightmares about him. Then, in the second half, he guarded Christian (Mouse) Williams, who had success getting into the paint and leaking out in transition in the first half. But once JWC started guarding him, he couldn't find any room to operate. Williams-Crawford's defense is truly special and will be sorely missed if he can't go tomorrow.     Arnold was one of the only guys who could get anything going offensively for KUA in this matchup. Despite the intense defensive pressure from CATS, he found some success getting to his spots in the mid-range and fading away for jumpers. He has a really nice handle and good change of speed/change of direction, and then he elevates well on his jumper. He also made good decisions out of the pick-and-roll. In the second half, though, Arnold slowed down as a result of some tighter defense on him. Will be curious to see what his recruitment looks like next season.     Williams had a really nice first half in this one. He was active defensively with his hands and was able to leak out on the fast-break for a few really nice finishes. Even though he got some decent looks off from the mid-range and three, his shot simply wasn't falling, which made it pretty difficult for KUA to stay in the game. Something that impressed me, though, was his attitude and body language, which always stayed positive and upbeat regardless of how he was shooting the ball. This game could've looked a lot different if Williams was hitting the shots he normally hits.

CATS was menacing on the defensive end in this one, limiting all of KUA's big time scorers and applying aggressive defensive pressure throughout the entire 36 minutes. They cruised to a 70-54 victory without much of a sweat. They'll face Worcester Academy in the NEPSAC Class AA finals tomorrow.