Style Points: Part II
The players make the plays and the games are won on the court, but teams make high school basketball riveting to watch and to cheer for. Monday night we watched an assortment of games. During these scans and scours the…
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Continue ReadingThe players make the plays and the games are won on the court, but teams make high school basketball riveting to watch and to cheer for. Monday night we watched an assortment of games. During these scans and scours the character, the essence of these following programs surfaced. Tonight we take a look at Style Points.
Lenoir City vs. Sweetwater: December 7
Lenoir City’s Style
Lenoir City won a mere seven games last season and just eight the season before. Perhaps the most soul-crushing statistic unearthed is that the Panthers of Lenoir City have managed just two district victories in the last 30 games!
This year the Panthers are considerably better. Will they knock off Bearden? No, but this team will win some games in D4AAA on the backs of some skilled guards.
Scory Correa played disruptive, feisty basketball Monday night.
Lenoir City sat back in a 2-3 zone against a program in Sweetwater that loves to run, trap, and run some more. Instead of passively, perhaps wisely sitting back in that 2-3 zone and letting Sweetwater dribble into trouble, Correa personally extended a little bit. He popped the ball free and dashed up ahead to easy, well-earned buckets.
Correa was a revelation against an up-tempo team with some decent athletes. Correa is going to have a great senior season and Lenoir City just might have a good one, if he can find several players to support his scoring prowess.
Sweetwater’s Style
Sweetwater played best when they forced the issue. They feel like a team that thrives on emotional energy, passion. Most teams thrive on positive energy as Sweetwater does, but the dead patches of scoring are more prolonged than most teams endure suggestive perhaps Sweetwater allows the misses and bad decisions to linger longer within their collective soul.
During the first half, Sweetwater looked pretty terrible. They couldn’t finish in the lane and they failed to create turnovers. When finally Sweetwater created some loose balls and pushed misses up with purpose the game changed. Lenoir City wilted quite a bit in the face of Sweetwater’s third quarter pressure.
This Sweetwater team is ok, but does not boast scoring dominance in a single individual. Austin Long played quite well. Austin is spry and active. He can score via the slash. They will need to summon constant, unwavering defensive intensity, which they absolutely can do, to be consistently victorious.
Energy is key for this year’s team.
Alcoa vs. Grainger: December 7
Alcoa’s Style
Tai Cates Tai Cates 5'11" | PG South-Doyle | 2023 State TN is coming off a tremendous freshman season and strong AAU campaign. He earned his way into the PrepHoopsTN rankings. Alas, he is merely one of several strong players for Alcoa.
Jahvin Carter will be special. The young guard made a glistening show on his very first night of high school hoops. Expect massive success in his near and distant future.
Alcoa might not always play this fast, but facing Grainger they swarmed the ball and created constant problems. Grainger was way, way overmatched and the game lacked a competitive balance.
Tai ripped free plenty of dribbles and the entire Alcoa team created simple turnovers. Alcoa looks as if they are going to be among the best Class AA teams in the eastern third of the state. It is merely one game, but it was assuredly convincing in its domination.
Grainger’s Style
Grainger could not get the ball safely to the basket. Jaxon Williams was mildly successful intermittently. Tyler Overbay found some second half success. Overall, the team lacks backcourt foot-speed and frontcourt cleverness. The ball typically swung around the arc incapable of probing.
In the second half, Alcoa appeared to lose some interest in defending. Grainger did not play well for the majority of the game and it just might be a frustrating season for the Grizzlies.
Players to Watch
2021 Scory Correa, Lenoir City
2021 David Ross, Lenoir City
2021 Tank Jackson, Alcoa
2024 Jahvin Carter, Alcoa
2023 Tai Carter, Alcoa
2023 Bryson Stewart, Alcoa
2022 Jaxon Williams, Grainger
2022 Tyler Overbay, Grainger
2021 Austin Long, Sweetwater