By Zack Cunningham/sports@trcle.com
Sports Editor
WEST —
Keene had one of its best performances on defense of the year, head coach Jason Hill said, and that was one of the keys to the victory.
“It was a flat-out awesome defensive effort by our guys,” Hill said. “We executed our defensive schemes the way we’ve worked on it in practice the last few days.
“We were a little careless with the ball and we didn’t play as well as we could have. A lot of that I attribute to Hico’s defensive pressure.”
Both teams appeared to have separate cases of the jitters in the opening periods as the squads combined for just 13 points.
Hico took a 7-2 lead off a 3-point play from sophomore point guard Drew Polk, but Keene switched to a full-court pressure defensive scheme which led to back-to-back Hico turnovers.
In the span of just a few seconds, the Chargers converted those mishaps into four quick points to end the period down, 6-7.
Keene continued to pressure Hico in the second period and the Charger offense began to get better looks in the face of the Tiger’s 2-3 zone defense.
Keene freshman Manu Gonzales had five of his 10 points in the quarter, and Juan Castelblanco buried a 3-pointer from the corner in the waning minutes to give the Chargers an 18-17 halftime lead.
“They’re 2-3 extended zone pressured our guards,” Hill said. “They did a good job of containing us and keeping us out of the paint. I give them credit for that.
“We made them play in the second half. We talked about our guards making better plays and moving the ball. In the second half, we did that.”
The Charger offense put up 21 points in the third quarter which proved to be the turning point in the contest.
Gonzales began the period with a long 3-pointer that keyed a critical 11-2 run that put Keene up, 29-19.
Derek Cuebas, who struggled in the early part of the game, put in six straight points for Keene during the stretch and finished with 10 points.
“We finally spread out their zone a little bit,” Hill said. “That was the difference in the game.
“It’s hard for them to sit back in that when you’re behind by 10. We were holding the ball too much in the first half and we weren’t moving it enough. You have to move it against the zone, skip it and get inside the creases to find people on the back side. We’ve played against enough zones this year that we should’ve done that in the first half.”
Hico cut the lead to 29-24, but Keene ended the period on a 10-2 run to extend its advantage to 39-26.
Keene will take on Edgewood at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Ferris High School.
Hill said Edgewood presents a challenge comparable to Class 3A powerhouse Burkburnett which the Chargers faced earlier this season at the American Airlines Center.
“They’re going to play a lot of pressure defense and trap in the front court and back court,” Hill said. “They’re going to be that style of a club.”
