5A Playoffs Round 2: Dutchtown at Riverwood Takeaways
When the GHSA brackets came out, my eyes turned quickly to this potential 2nd round affair, and it came to be much to my delight. Having seen both squads before, I knew the athleticism on the floor was going to…
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Continue ReadingWhen the GHSA brackets came out, my eyes turned quickly to this potential 2nd round affair, and it came to be much to my delight. Having seen both squads before, I knew the athleticism on the floor was going to be impressive, and neither disappointed, although it wasn’t the scoring affair one might have predicted from two teams who’ve posted solid scoring numbers all season.
But playing without star wing Cam Bryant (undisclosed suspension), Dutchtown coach Jordan Griffin did a masterful job with his rotation, dialed up some slick defensive changes, and his other stars came up big late as the visiting Bulldogs got a stellar 59-55 road win over host Riverwood in a 5A Sweet Sixteen matchup Wednesday night.
Here are some standouts from the evening:
Kameron HobbsKameron Hobbs (Dutchtown, 2020) – You could see in Hobbs’ play right out the gate that he knew he was going to need to do more offensively with Bryant sitting, and the 5-11 senior point guard was confident and poised all night. Riverwood plays a long guard rotation, so Hobbs faced relentless pressure from a multitude of defenders, but fought through it all to get 22 points on the night (four 3’s), including 4 for 4 from the stripe in the 4th to help seal it. He’s such an impressive floor leader who can also make you pay from the outside, and will be a huge asset with that superior ball-handling and scoring punch from the 1-spot to whoever signs him.
Jamaine Mann (Dutchtown, 2020) – The Gardner-Webb signee is a handful for any club at this level at 6-5 with a very strong build, but Riverwood did have the bodies to run at him, and that they did in the first half, stifling his touches and shoving him off the block as much as possible. But Griffin altered his attack approach, found Mann some openings, and he didn’t falter, getting 16 of his 18 in the last 16 minutes and affecting the game by drawing contact from the Raiders bigs and getting to the line.
Isaiah Placide (Dutchtown, 2020) – Back over Thanksgiving when I first saw Dutchtown, Placide was coming off Griffin’s bench and impressing the heck out of me with his shooting, defense, and all-around smooth moving. The 6-3 wing did all of that again Wednesday night, netting 11 points, and stepping his game up all over the floor where needed. He scored from deep, mid-range and at the cup, and patrolled the rim like a 7-footer, getting a couple of terrifically athletic blocks. With Bryant in the lineup, Placide’s a crucial piece off the bench for the Bulldogs. Without Bryant, he showed an ability to take over the game in spots, something a next-level program would be silly to miss in this outstanding senior.
Dutchtown was far from a 3-man show, as senior forwards Jaelyn Anderson and Omari Blake and junior guard Cameron Callahan all also made positive contributions, Anderson as a stingy on-ball defender, Blake on the interior filling Bryant’s shoes and Callahan as a secondary ball-handler and facilitator.
Korbin LaneFor Riverwood, among the standouts on the night were a group of seniors playing their last game, and giving everything they had in the effort. Credit to coach Buck Jenkins for playing a ton of guys, and he has capable talent going down the bench, but in seeing the Raiders more than once this year, to me that long a rotation in a game like this had detrimental effects on the flow of the game, and it stung them in my opinion against an evenly matched Bulldog squad. Still, kudos to senior guard Korbin Lane, who was sensational off the pine getting 17 points (including three 3’s) and exciting the crowd virtually every time he touched the ball, as well as his fellow senior backcourt mates Justin Deak, Cody Kaplan, and Asante Smith, Deak at point guard handling some difficult Dutchtown pressure in spots and Kaplan and Smith doing some solid work on the defensive end.
The battle between frontcourt seniors Nathan Henderson, Jared Nalls and Jermyle Jones and Dutchtown’s Mann as fun to watch all night, and the three athletic youngsters were superb defensively and on the glass while combining for 21 points. Jenkins has some pieces to build with going forward, junior Jonathan Brown is a good-looking interior player and athlete, while junior 2-guard guard Antonio Armstrong can score in bunches and junior Braxton Tucker will provide him more athleticism as well as most likely sliding into the point guard role.