Suffocating defense and great shooting propelled the Silverdale boys' basketball team to a wire-to-wire blowout over visiting St. Andrew’s Sewanee, 77-19.
The game was an important confidence builder for all members of the team heading into the postseason.
“Confidence is a big thing - especially late in the season. The confidence we gained tonight will hopefully propel us going into Thursday,” said Silverdale Head Coach Slater Belew.
The defensive effort from the Seahawks was unbelievable as they held St. Andrew’s to just six points in the first half including zero in the second quarter.
The team came out on a mission early on, pressing and forcing turnovers on almost every trip down in the first half. They swarmed around, baited passing lanes and gambled on defense, and it worked almost every time. The St. Andrews offense could not even consider getting a good look. The defense and effort were unmatched.
Slater credited the hot start to Friday’s tough loss to Boyd Buchannan - one they wish they could have back.
“All weekend, we wanted to see how our guys would respond,” said Belew. “We didn’t play our best basketball.”
The saying “defense leads to offense” couldn’t have been any truer as they constantly scored layups and inside-out threes off turnovers they forced. The good looks combined with sweltering shooting made them virtually unbeatable. The Seahawks knocked down 11 threes coming from six different players. Brett Wright (16 pts) and Josh Bowman (11 pts) led the way with three apiece and Houston Holland (12 pts) added two - all eight of them coming in limited minutes for the key guys.
The great defense and stellar shooting gave them a whopping 42-6 lead at the half.
Where many teams would let up and waste minutes with a lead that big, Belew and co. made sure the team stayed focused and used the second half to work on things and get better on both ends. Time to work on your team this late in the year is rare, and they capitalized on the valuable time they had.
“[At half] we just talked about little things. Make the game smaller than it is by trying to win minute by minute and possession by possession and then just fine-tuning things throughout the game,” said Belew. “We tell our guys. We have to continue to get better in all aspects of the game - from the locker room to the basketball court.”
The defense dropped off a bit, as expected when the entire bench was cleared, but the effort and respect for the game remained as they finished the game with nearly a 60-point victory, 77-19. Belew was especially proud of his reserves and thankful for the seniors who played well in what could be their last-ever game in the Silverdale Center.
“It’s always great to see those guys get minutes and especially continue to gain experience as the season progresses and even going into next year,” said Belew. “It’s fun to see them get minutes and it’s fun to see our Seniors play well on potentially their last game here.”
The Seahawks now look forward to a quick turnaround to tournament play - a Thursday matchup with a chance at revenge versus Boyd Buchannan. Tip off will be at 8:30 at Notre Dame.
Grace 42, Collegedale 33: On the other first round district contest, Grace held their powder until the fourth quarter, then exploded for 22 points to defeat the Eagles. The Golden Eagles’ Avery Ivarson scored all of huis 12 points in that final eight minutes of play. E;I Ibrahim led Grace with 15 points and Logan Rice chipped in with 11.
The number four seed Grace will face the district top seed on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m.
SUMMARIES
ST. ANDREW’S SEWANEE 6 0 7 6 -- 19
SILVERDALE 22 20 17 18 -- 77
ST. ANDREW’S (19) - Allen 6, Cantrell 6, Barnett 4, Stark 3
SILVERDALE (77) - Brett Wright 16, Houston Holland 12, Josh Bowman 11, Josh Hardaway 10, Keith 9, Walker 7, McGraw 5, Bayne 4, Okpara 2
3-point goals - St. Andrew’s 1 (Stark); Silverdale 11 (Wright 3, Bowman 3, Holland 2, Bayne, Keith, Walker)
Records - St Andrew’s 6-13 (0-5); Silverdale 15-13 (5-3).
COLLEGEDALE 0 5 10 18 -- 33
GRACE 3 8 9 22 -- 42
COLLEGEDALE (33) – Gipson 13, Otto 3, W Shrode 3, Yakam 1, G Shrode 9, Peterson, Madrigal 4.
GRACE (42) – Eli ibrahim 15, Logan Rice 11, Jacques, Passons 2, Engelbrecht, Parks, Avery Ivarson 12, McDaniel 2, Knecht.
3-point goals: Collegedale 3 (Gipson 2, Otto); Grace 3 (Rice, Ivarson 2).