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Sports

High School Notebook: Area Teams Gearing Up for the Postseason

Looking at Western Tech girls' pressure-based philosophy, New Town boys' depth at all positions and more.

Western Tech’s Relentless Defense Leads to Quick-Strike Offense

In his first season as Wolverines head coach, Nolan Roe doesn’t keep it a secret that he is a defensive minded guru and having led his squad to a 19-2 regular season record, it’s pretty clear that his players have bought in.

Western Tech repeatedly suffocates opponents with its full-court press and the greatest benefit in doing so is the mountain of fast-break, transition buckets that come as a result.

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“Just looking at the stats from last year to this year our steals are way up. We’re just quicker this year so we’re able to press more,” said Roe, whose squad averages over 20 steals a game including five individual players with three thefts or more per contest. 

 “If you’re able to press and get the steals, it’s pretty basic. My theory is always defense first. When you have a bunch of athletic kids that can move, no matter what size they are, you’re best off to work on defense the most.” 

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It was fitting that while I interviewed Roe during one of his team’s practice this week, his squad had set up orange cones and was working on defensive positioning and sliding their feet—both essential to operating a solid press.

Roe estimates that around half of his team’s points are a direct result of opponent’s turnovers and about 60 percent of their scoring comes out of the transition game in general. 

 The success of playing that type of style derives from the Wolverine player’s natural athleticism combined with the hard work they’re putting in during practice.

“We’re not really stressing over it, we just work hard at in practice and it shows up in the game,” junior forward Ateh Ade said. “I think what we’re doing well is we’re transitioning and we’re getting back [on defense]. We try to make sure everyone’s in the right position and if not coach Roe will call it out and get us to it.”

With the state playoffs set to begin next week, Western Tech hopes that what they’ve excelled in all year will carry over the postseason—and it should.

New Town Boys Finding Balance at Just the Right Time

 The game of basketball is in its truest form when everyone’s getting touches and the entire team from the starters to the bench on down are getting involved. But, you don’t have to tell that to Titans head coach Mike Salapata, his team seems to be playing that way every night.

Salapata doesn’t just have a sixth man coming off the bench. He’s got a seventh, eighth, ninth and even tenth man he can turn to in terms of depth.  

In the two games Patch has covered most recently, New Town has had ten players score in each of them.  When the starters need a rest and come out of the game, it seems like the Titans have a backup ready to step up right away.

It starts with senior point guard Tavon Geter who facilitates everything for the Titans. Although he is a solid shooter, Geter is at his best when he’s dishing the ball down low to his forwards and penetrating and kicking out to New Town’s perimeter shooters.

However, in the rare times when Geter leaves the floor, I’m impressed by what I’ve seen from junior varsity call up Chavez Gee. In the Titans , Gee netted eight of his squads 22 second quarter points and ran the offense in Geter’s stead.

On the wing, the guard trio of seniors Devonte Coleman and Tre Washington and junior Jalen Clarke is interchangeable. They all possess a knock down jump shot and get even better when they settle in and make a few shots early.

Down in the low post, junior Jerrod Lemon is New Town’s best scoring threat. Lemon has a very complete, polished game and at a legitimate 6’4-6’5 is a nightmare for opponents to defend and keep off the offensive glass. Junior Devan Jones has emerged as one of my favorite players to watch. There is nothing flashy about his game, but he’s a menace rebounding the basketball and consistently converts his shot attempts from in close.

Spelling Lemon and Jones are senior Malcolm Brown whose versatility allows him to play inside or outside and an athletic shot-blocker in junior Shawheem Dowdy.

Franklin Girls Needing Their Bench to Step Up

After the lady Indians on February 4—a defeat that began a string of three consecutive losses to end the season—head coach Denikwa James expressed to me that her role players off the bench must step up for her squad to make it happen come the postseason.

The Indians started off hot (10-6) over the first three quarters of their schedule, but lost five of their last six to finish 11-11 on the year. 

Their starting five has been responsible for shouldering much of the workload, particularly the frontcourt tandem of sophomores Ariana Foote and Mi Queara Lewis.

However, if the Indians are going to turn the corner and make a run in the playoffs, they will need contributions from their bench to take some of the heat off their starters—especially if Foote and Lewis get into foul trouble early in a game.

James, like any coach, would love to rely on her first five, but players simply need rest over the course of a game in order to remain effective throughout.  

Franklin has the role players capable of filling this void—I’ve seen them step in and do it over the course of the season. James just needs them to rise to the occasion in the crucial moments come playoff time. 

Catonsville’s Harris Producing Instant Offense  

In the 10 weeks or so I’ve been covering high school hoops, I’ve learned that there is not a more pure knock down three point shooter than the Comets’ Jason Harris—he’s an absolute sharp-shooter coming off the bench.

At 5’8, he does often struggle for clean looks at the basket, but when he gets them, the senior is practically automatic—especially when he sets up in the corner on either end of the floor. That’s literally his hot spot.

Harris put on quite a display when he pumped in four triples (on four consecutive possessions) in about a minute during the fourth quarter.

Teammate Zack Hall had some high praise for Harris after the game.

“Oh my gosh,” Hall said. “When he gets hot, he is the best shooter in the county and one of the best in the state in my opinion. He is amazing. When he gets going he really helps get our momentum and we feed off of it.”

Sparking your offense and injecting momentum into your teammates is exactly what a three point specialist off the bench is born to do.

I think specialist is a fitting term for Harris. Of his 222 points on the year, 156 of them have via the three point shot. On the season he is shooting a solid 37 percent (52-140) from the outside.

With the playoffs on the horizon, he’s also heating up at just the right time. Aside from his 5-10 night against Hereford, Harris hit 6- 8 versus Kenwood, 4-7 at Franklin and 4-9 against Dulaney—all of these games coming in the past couple weeks.

At this point, his teammates certainly know to look for him and more often than not, he delivers with one of the purest, cleanest three-point shots around.

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