The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
South pulls away from NDCL
South broke open a game that was tight early and seized control for good in the second quarter of its opening-game matchup with NDCL at the Perry Holiday Tournament on Dec. 22.
Holding a slim, 19-18 advantage early in the second frame, the Rebels embarked on a 15-3 run and went on to lead by double digits the rest of the way in an 80-65 victory.
Norman Hughes led the Rebels win a game-high 27 points, including five 3s. The win puts South in the championship game of the tournament on Dec. 23 against Cleveland JFK, which knocked off host Perry on a buzzer-beating shot in the nightcap.
First-year Rebel coach Doug Barber was pleased with the win, especially the rebounding advantage his team had and the play of his bench, but also saw room for improvement.
“I thought we did a good job in the first half defending, and I thought we pushed the pace a little bit offensively,” Barber said. “We were able to get some stuff easy in transition. In the second half we didn’t do as good of a job defending, especially in transition, and they were able to make some 3s. We did some good things as well. Obviously Norman had a good game, and Xavier (Hopps) did as well.”
Hopps added 13 points for South, while Damion Williams pulled down eight rebounds, and Mitch Ruple corralled seven. The Rebels outrebounded the Lions, 36-23.
South (5-1) led, 39-24, at halftime, and didn’t allow NDCL to get any closer than 12 points in the second half. The win was the fifth in a row for the Rebels since a season-opening loss to Lake Catholic.
“I’m very happy with our start, and happy with the direction that we’re progressing (toward),” Barber said. “We’ve just got to keep doing the things that we’re doing right now. We can’t let up. There’s obviously areas that we need to fix, but as long as our effort’s there, we’re going to be fine.”
Peyton Bissler paced NDCL (2-4) with 18 points, and Kameron King backed him with 14. The Lions got five rebounds from Brian Carney, and four each from Eddie Zucker and King. The 20-8 advantage for South in the second quarter did in the Lions, who kept it close otherwise. It was the third consecutive loss for NDCL, who will play Perry in the consolation game Dec. 23.
“That’s what we just talked about in the locker room, we’ve got to figure out what happened in the second quarter,” NDCL coach Chris Poulos said. “As far as our energy, we went cold there, but that’s no excuse. That happens in basketball games, and we have to find another way when that happens. We played them pretty even the rest of the game, but we lost the second quarter, 20-8, and that’s really where we lost the game.”