WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Last week, the Reagan Raiders JV basketball team lost an overtime thriller to East Forsyth.  Twenty-four hours later, they had to regroup and take on Winston-Salem Prep in a second game of a back to back.  Many teams would have a tough time rebounding so quickly after a loss but the Raiders came out focused and beat Prep in a blowout 70-47.

Reagan could easily be 2-0 right now, but the team lost against East Forsyth when the Eagle player heaved a prayer up from three point range with less than 2 seconds on the clock and it went in to force overtime. Feeling deflated they lost by four in overtime.

Coming into the game against Prep, the Raiders looked to fix issues they suffered the previous game. Reagan came out of the gates with an 8-0 lead that included a couple of easy layups by Braydon Grant. Reagan set the tone early by controlling the boards and limiting Prep to shoot contested jump shots in the first quarter.  Prep had a hard time overcoming the size of Reagan and trailed 16-8 after one quarter.

To start the second quarter, Reagan began to establish their big men in the paint.  Patrick Slater, Trevor Willard and Patrick Travatello all had their way in the lane against the Phoenix defense. The trio combined for 32 points on the evening.

Reagan head coach James Stackhouse said they want the focus of the team to be the big men down low controlling the game.

“That’s something we try to emphasize, inside out, is how we like to play,” Stackhouse said.  “We try to get as many paint touches as possible, utilize our size, control the boards and limit the other team to one shot and make the most of offensive rebounds.”

With 3:47 left in the half, Reagan held a 31-12 lead.  Prep attempted to cut into the lead but the Reagan defense contested any shot in the lane and the Phoenix were inconsistent at best from long range.  Heading into the half, the Raiders held a 20- point lead at 39-19.

Coming out of the intermission, the Phoenix turned to a full-court press to try and speed up the game and force some turnovers from the Raiders. Prep was able to cause a few turnovers and some rushed shots but still trailed 49-27 midway through the third quarter.  The Phoenix also had multiple trips to the free throw line but missed multiple shots at the line that would have cut into the deficit.

Still not able to get on track from the outside the Phoenix trailed 51-33 at the end of three quarters. Winston-Salem Prep head coach Willie “BB” Patrick Jr. said the first half of play did not go the way they “drew it up” but was pleased with the efforts of his team.

“We must improve on defense and making open shots,” said Patrick.  “We ran our offense pretty good but we have to get into our sets better and get more stops on defense.”

Prep continued to use a full court press into the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 14.  Jalen Crawley and Essin Arid gave maximum effort trying to get the Phoenix back within single digits.  With the score 55-41 Reagan went back to their bread and butter and scored some easy buckets in the paint.  Prep hit a couple of late three-pointers but it was too little too late and fell by the score of 70-47.

“We are going to go back to the war room and work on getting better,” Patrick added.  “We have to take nothing for granted, and we have to play full speed from beginning to end.”

Coach Stackhouse was happy his team did not fold as they did against East Forsyth and were more consistent on offense and defense.

“We got up last night on East Forsyth, and we let them get back into the game,” Stackhouse said. “Tonight they learned they can get up on a team and not let them get back into the game.”