State Championship Rematch: Olympus at Highland

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This was an intense game from the jump. Student sections were getting personal, and it was heated on the court as well. Great energy from both teams. Definitely lived up to the hype of the rematch for last year's 5A State Championship game. Highland fought hard to get their get back all night. This game was close until the buzzer, but Olympus ended up as the more composed team and pulled away on the road, 77-72. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are the key players to the game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1724356"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6943135e23c07"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Lazarus started off the game playing great 1-on-1 defense against Highland's main scorer and big man [player_tooltip player_id='1278440' first='Soren' last='Ries']. He was able to affect almost every shot by the opponent in the paint and affected the flow of their best player immediately. He does a good job of spacing the floor as well for his other playmakers and hits the shots you need him too. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1278450"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6943135e23c7a"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Drisdom is a dog on the perimeter. He made it a long night for all of the guards on Olympus. He left it all on the court and that helped keep them in it. He was getting to the basket with ease all game, although he struggled a bit to finish early. He came around in the 2nd half and hit a couple 3s along with a breakaway steal and layup to go up by two at the end of the 3Q. His defense was really a highlight of the night. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1278502"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6943135e23cc2"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">A stellar game for Lowe. He carried the Titans offense all game and really helped to keep them within single digits in the first half. There were a few runs for Highland that got scary and no one on Olympus could score, but Lowe kept getting shots off over the hands of defenders to keep the deficit manageable. He had a huge steal capped off with the and-1 to take the lead in the 4th and they didn't look back. He finished with 22 points, but it felt like he had half of the team's baskets. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1598266"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6943135e23d05"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">The lefty was impressive in this game; he had a big night from three and was the main source of creation on offense for the majority of the night for Highland. He had back-to-back 3s early in the 2nd quarter to put his team up 7 and went back and forth with [player_tooltip player_id='1278502' first='Gavin' last='Lowe'] in the 4th scoring the rock. He set up the big Ries as well a few times to get his confidence up after a rough first half offensively. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Notable players also include [player_tooltip player_id='2978706' first='Oliver' last='Clarke'] (10PTS) for his big 3rd quarter grabbing multiple offensive rebounds, a big dunk, and 3-pointer to force a timeout by Highland. [player_tooltip player_id='1278511' first='Adam' last='Bywater'] (15PTS) had great help defense on all of Highland's top scorers and didn't really make a single mistake. And [player_tooltip player_id='1278440' first='Soren' last='Ries'] after a tough first half finished the game strong with 18 PTS.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->