Reynolds ends season undefeated
The future of the Reynolds Demons basketball program seems to be bright. Last Friday night, Feb. 9, the Demons ninth-grade team capped off an undefeated season with a win over the Eagles of East Forsyth in blowout fashion winning 73-39.
The Demons finish the season 18-0 with their win against the Eagles. The motivation to finish off a perfect season seemed to fuel them to victory as Reynolds continually played better as the game progressed.
“It feels good but I am really just happy for the kids, said Reynolds head coach Rod Dunlap. “I have really enjoyed the season and they had fun while learning, so I can’t complain about much finishing undefeated.”
Dunlap says he has preached defense to his guys all season long. Those principles he has instilled in his team really came to the surface as the game progressed. They were also on fire from three-point land ,which made their bid for perfection a lot easier.
The Eagles seemed up to the task to begin the game. They were able to break the full-court press with some regularity that lead to some easy shots at the rim. Couple that with their effectiveness on the boards and their 27-20 deficit at halftime did not feel insurmountable.
Coming out of the locker room for the third quarter Reynolds was 16 minutes away from perfection. The Demons immediately went on a 12-0 run to open up the half and led by more than 20 after three quarters. Their full-court press began to cause multiple turnovers from the Eagles.
“At halftime I preached defense and rebounding because we are real athletic and have a lot of guys that can handle the ball,” Dunlap continued. “When we started off fast like that in the second half, I knew what time it was.”
The Demons did not let up in the fourth quarter. They kept chucking up three-point shots along with playing strong defensively. The Eagles could not find an answer for what Reynolds was throwing at them but fought hard until the final whistle.
“We didn’t help ourselves and had a lot of turnovers and did some things that were self inflicted,” said Eagles head coach Ron Horton. “I compelled them to keep playing hard but we kind of got hit with a perfect storm because they were on a mission and you could tell by their play so congratulations to them.”
According to Dunlap, the full-court press is their bread and butter. He consistently tells his guys that even though they might not get a steal every time eventually the press will have its desired effect.
“The press really wears teams down and I have to tell my kids not to get down if we don’t steal the ball because what we are trying to do is make the other team play fast,” Dunlap said. “Most teams are used to playing slow and get into their sets but we want you to play fast and get some organized chaos, as we call it.”
The Demon players were ecstatic after the win. They instantly ran into the crowd to celebrate with family and friends.
“It feels good and we are making history at Reynolds, said Demon guard Antonio Yates. “I am glad to play with my bros and I had faith in my team that we were gonna have a good year.”
“We always try to start out fast but we just had to get the rhythm going tonight, he continued. “Next year I expect us to keep playing hard and take it one game at a time and maybe go undefeated once again.”
Horton says this game was some what of a mirror image of how their first game against Reynolds played out. He felt in both games they handled the press fairly well in the first half but once the Demons made certain adjustments they did not get the chance to counter.
Since the beginning of the year Dunlap says he saw the talent the young men on his team possessed. He says getting to this point was just a matter of chemistry and getting the guys to buy in on defense.
