Bethel advances to championships
Stricklen propels boys with 20 points, 18 boards, three blocked shots
Double teams are never easy for a high school center.
Jesse Bethel High big man Dwight Stricklen faced that predicament on Thursday night against visiting Hercules in the Tri-County Athletic League Stone Division semifinals.
What's the best way to beat a double team? How about a double-double? And we're not talking about In-N-Out Burger.
The junior scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and added a whopping 18 rebounds as the Jaguars fought off the Titans for a 60-52 win.
The victory sends Bethel to the TCAL finals at 7 p.m. on Saturday against Albany (16-11), a 6751 winner over El Cerrito. Albany lost just twice during the league slate, both of those to the Jaguars.
This wasn't easy one for Bethel (22-5), the TCAL regular season champs and top seed for the conference tournament. Bethel led just 47-42 after three quarters before exploding for an 11-0 run to start the final period. Stricklen scored four straight buckets to end that spurt.
“I think we played a little more defense,” said Stricklen, when asked about the fourth quarter. “We started calling for the ball more. We started putting the ball in the hoop better than in the first half.”
Bethel head coach Billy Davis said he had Stricklen make an adjustment in the second half to get the ball in his hands.
“We told him to get lower, get a wide base,” Davis said. “He was standing up too straight, so we couldn't get him the ball the way we wanted to.”
Bethel got 14 points and three 3-pointers from sophomore Christian Trusclair and 11 points and 18 rebounds from junior Kenneth Brown. Fellow junior Hassan Howard also added 11 points.