East Forsyth continues to win with relative ease
Photo by Craig T. Greenlee
Avery Hall comes off the Eagles bench to provide scoring and floor leadership.
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
There’s no denying that East Forsyth is clearly at the head of the class in JV basketball this season. With the exception of a surprise loss to Reagan last month, it’s been smooth sailing for the Eagles.
The 13-1 record says a lot about this squad. But what’s even more revealing is how East Forsyth has continued to win in relatively easy fashion. Coach Rodney Minor’s crew typically comes out on top by double figures.
That’s especially true in league play (Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference). In two conference games so far (blow-out wins over High Point Central and Southwest Guilford), the average margin of victory for the Eagles was 25 points.
“The big plus is that there are no selfish players on this team,” said Minor. “We have offensive balance, but it all starts and ends with defense. That’s how we create our offense. Our pressure forces turnovers, which helps us to generate easy points. They defend, they share the ball, they play together and they play smart. It’s hard to beat this group when they play that way.”
The Eagles are well-equipped to play at a high level, and tempo really doesn’t seem to matter. Josh Mahaffey (15 points, 6 assists per game) and Tanis Samuels are as formidable as any JV backcourt tandem in the area. Avery Hall fills in nicely as a back-up at both guard slots.
At the wing position, Sayyid Dalton provides length, quickness and scoring. Josh Wiley could be this team’s best one-on-one defender. Wiley, however, is not one-dimensional. He operates well in the open floor on the fast break and has developed a dependable perimeter shot when opponents play zone.
The Eagles have a nice perimeter shooting game, which feeds off of Connor Sparrow, a 6-foot-5, 250 -pound post player who routinely claims ownership of the paint at both ends. Because Sparrow (who averages 20 points, 10 rebounds a game) commands so much attention, East Forsyth can play an effective inside/outside game that keeps opponents from focusing solely on stopping one or two players. Dominique Jones and Trenton West contribute as valued back-ups on the Eagles front line.
Whether or not East Forsyth can maintain its winning edge in the coming weeks remains to be seen. At this juncture, it appears that the biggest concern for this team might be complacency because it has been so dominant.
Aside from winning the Lash-Chronicle JV tournament over Reynolds by a comfortable margin, the Eagles are looking to repeat last season’s performance when they finished first in the league standings with a perfect 10-0 record. Perhaps the memory of that loss to the Raiders will be sufficient to keep them humble and still hungry to withstand all challenges to their supremacy.
“We just have to stay the course and keep doing what we’ve been doing all season long,” said Minor. “Part of my job is to keep everybody level headed. But there’s no doubt in my mind that all we have to do to be successful is to continue playing our brand of basketball. As long as we do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
