Scoreless 3rd quarter leads to defeat
Whenever you go scoreless in a quarter of a basketball game, that never bodes well for the final outcome. For Reynolds it spelled disaster as a scoreless third quarter led to a 73-27 defeat by the hands of the East Forsyth Eagles last Wednesday.
Throughout the game, the full-court press from East Forsyth gave Reynolds fits, but after intermission it allowed them to seize control of the game. The Demons had difficulty getting the ball across half court and committed a plethora of turnovers that led to easy shots.
“I have coached on the high school level for 24 years and I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that didn’t score in the third quarter,” said Reynolds head coach Mike McCulloch. “That was definitely due to us not being aggressive and a really good press from East Forsyth that they obviously worked on a lot.”
Watching the first half one would have never have guessed the game would have gotten out of hand as it did. After the first quarter, it was only a two-point game. with the Eagles winning 14-12.
Even though the Eagles took a double-figure lead midway through the second quarter, the game still had the feel of a close ball game. The Demons were still within striking distance, only behind by the score of at 36-25 at the half.
“I thought we came out really fast tonight but we did have a spurt in the first quarter where we got a little sluggish and let them get back into the game on second chance points and foul shots,” said Eagles head coach Rodney Minor.
Minor said at halftime he told his guys if they eliminate the foul shots and second chance points the Demons would have a hard time scoring the ball. His team listened as they went on a 37-2 run during the entire span of the second half.
“I was preaching a lot of hitting the middle guy in the press break and trying to throw opposite but I don’t think we hit the middle guy enough, and I think we made some weak passes,” McCulloch said. “You have to make strong passes when you have an aggressive team because coach Minor has done a great job with that over the last three years.”
McCulloch thought once the Eagles went on their run during the third quarter, his guys started to play “hero ball” by trying to make the big shot to get them back into the game.
“We stopped making the extra pass and just started trying to drive in and score or take bad shots,” McCulloch continued. “They say the first four minutes of the second half are the most important and the Eagles were on top of that.”
McCulloch was happy with the effort of some of his players, such as Dwight Jackson and Myles Sims. He just felt the players did not execute the game plan as expected.
The Eagles had a balance offensive attack by having three players score in double figures. Zyon Reeves led the defense with six blocks and 13 rebounds while also chipping in 7 points. Ty Lyles led the offensive surge with 15 big points.
“I just wanted to make it hard for them to score their first time down the court,” said Reeves. “We tried to limit that in the second half by getting all the rebounds and blocking shots.”
Lyles added, “They played a lot of one-on-one defensively, so I knew I could get past my defender and get to the basket. Coach told me that I had to score, and that’s what I did. I know Coach looks for me to score points, so I like to show up every time I am on the court.”
Minor says the season is starting to become “fun” because they are starting to do all of the things the coaching staff has been asking of them. He says he is proud of the progression of the team and hopes the young men continue to head in a positive direction.
