Defensive pressure leads to win for Glenn
Photo by Timothy Ramsey
There has been an old cliché in sports that defense wins championships. While this was not a championship, Glenn used their defense to overcome a feisty Reagan Raider team last Friday night by the score of 65-46.
The Bobcats lead for nearly the entire game but the Raiders kept it close by hitting some much needed shots when the game looked to be getting out of hand. The fast pace of the game seemed to fit into what Glenn wanted to do on both ends of the floor.
“We started off the game kind of slow, but toward the end, we really dug in and picked it up in the fourth quarter,” said Glenn head coach Richard Daniels.
Glenn used a combination of a full-court press and a 2-3 zone on defense to apply pressure to the Reagan ball handlers. This pressure finally started to pay dividends for the Bobcats in the fourth quarter as they were able to build an insurmountable lead.
“Late in the game, I just told them to not give up because in the games we have lost we were up and then began to play complacent,’ Daniels said. “I told them to keep being aggressive and playing hard and attack the basket, which got us in the one and one early so it played to our advantage.”
The Bobcats were led by Daniel Napper, who scored a game high 20 points. Napper is also a football player for Glenn and was named to the All-County JV Football first team this past season. His hard nose play allows him to do all the dirty work for the Bobcats in the paint.
“He is probably the most seasoned player we have and he is also a good football player, but he is pretty skilled,” Daniels continued. “He has a high IQ and he is really aggressive, so when we play against teams that play man to man, he is the one we look to attack and give us that spark.”
Daniels says he was happy to come away with the win, but was frustrated with the number of turnovers his team committed Friday night.
“We have been struggling with turnovers all season but we are doing a little bit better,” he says. “We struggle with them because we sometimes force stuff and get a little complacent with the ball at times.”
Offensive rebounds were a big reason Glenn came away with the win. Daniels said he likes to have three guys “crash the boards” on every shot. He feels with the big men they have in the post, that gives them a decided advantage over most teams.
The Bobcats are now 9-4 on the season with this win. Daniels says he looks forward to playing against the top teams in the county, including Lash/Chronicle tournament champion Parkland, which they defeated earlier this season.
For Reagan, they continued to fight and play tough throughout the entire game. If not for some late turnovers, they may have had a chance in the latter portion of the game.
Raider head coach James Stackhouse consistently produces a fundamentally sound team that gives their opponents trouble every time they step on the court. Their lack of size is their biggest drawback, but knowing Stackhouse, he will find a way to remedy that before it’s all said and done.
