Full court man-to-man defense forces 27 turnovers as Bulldogs earn second spot in district play
All week long, intensity served as the forefront of Coach Henderson’s strategy. The focus, playing as hard as it could without worrying about the margin of victory, is what mattered.
In a battle of teams tied for second place, the intensity of Reagan’s full court man-to-man pressing defense overwhelmed Sharpstown, 64-49 in district 21-4A Friday night at Delmar Field House.
As the first half of district play closed, the Bulldogs 14-8(4-1District) put a strong hold on second place behind district foe Yates.
Defense prioritized Reagan’s evening. Without ceasing, the Apollo’s faced an uphill battle that featured a strong man-to-man, pressing, and trapping defense that forced 27 turnovers, 17 in the first half. It was a team effort, from the starters to the reserve players.
“We just had to have intensity and play as hard as we could,” Reagan coach Thomas Henderson said. That’s all we focused on this week. We were trying to be as good as we could without worrying about how much we would win by or how close they played us.”
Moments into the game, the effects paid off with an early 14-2 Reagan lead.
Sharpstown trailed by 18 points, before guard Kaba Mory drained a trey from the right wing to cut the deficit, 34-19 with 3:15 left in the second quarter. Nevertheless, nothing was ever enough for the Apollo’s who outscored Reagan 15-9 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t gain any ground.
“It was a game, which we both wanted to win, to put ourselves in a good position,” said Sharpstown coach Adrian Jones, who said they just wanted it more than us. There team showed more spirit and fight and as result, the score showed it.”
By the time the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Bulldogs nearly scored all the points it would need for the entire game leading, 39-19.
Most of the Bulldogs points came from layups, steaming from steals created by its trapping defense.
Guard Bryce Mooring’s trey to start the third quarter, shattered any thoughts of a new beginning for sharpstown. The Bulldogs applied pressure on both ends of the court to hold its double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Malcolm Ballard led Reagan with 22 points while Bryce Mooring tallied 14. Meanwhile Aaron Chapman scored 16 and Kemond Lee had 10 for Sharpstown.