By Michael Kinney
MOORE ó Coach Wes Clark didn’t want the game to turn into a track meet. He believed Norman High had a shot to knock off Southmoore if he could slow the game down to a crawl.
The strategy worked … for a quarter. But after Southmoore’s athletes were unleashed, they cruised past the Tigers 59-36 Tuesday.
“I don’t think we played very well at all,” Clark said. “We didn’t stick to our gameplan. Southmoore is a real athletic team and we certainly can’t match their athleticism.”
NHS’ gameplan was simple. The Tigers weren’t going to let Austin Haywood get loose. Clark used a zone defense that kept a player in front and in back of Haywood anytime he stepped into the paint.
This allowed the Tigers to keep the game close early as they trailed Southmoore 14-13 after one quarter.
“That zone slowed us down real good,” Southmoore’s Kale Holman said. “Usually we like to push the ball and get into it. It slowed us down, but we found a solution.”
With NHS closing down everything around the basket, it forced Southmoore to rely on outside shooting. Richard Ard, Kendal Thompson, Tilford Thorton and Jordan Newby all drained 3-pointers in the period to push the SaberCats’ lead to 10.
But the Tigers’ backcourt of Colton Coale and Jacques Murray kept the game within reach. NHS trailed 30-20 at halftime.
“Our plan was to keep the game under control,” Clark said. “ And I thought we did a great job in the first quarter, and really right before halftime, I thought we had played well. We missed two easy layups there that would have made it a two-possession game. And we would have been right there.”
With the Tigers’ defense slowing Southmoore’s offensive rhythm, the SaberCats used rebounding and fiery defense to pick up the pace in the third quarter. They forced NHS into a series of turnovers that led to uncontested shots and dunks.
Southmoore closed out the third quarter when Haywood stole a pass, dribbled downcourt and tossed an alley-oop to Thorton, who threw it down. Southmoore held the Tigers to four points in the period as they took a 49-24 lead into the final period.
“We played wonderful,” Holman said. “In the first half, we were playing around. In the second half, we got into it. Coach hyped us up and got into our game.”
Holman led the SaberCats in scoring with 13 points. Brandon Lucas notched 10 points and five rebounds. Though Haywood was held to six points, he contributed five assists, six rebounds and four steals.
Jarrod Boersma battled into the paint to the tune of 14 points for NHS. Murray added seven and Cole scored five.
"A game like this can snowball on you," Clark said. "I thought that is what happened. I think we are a better team than that. We are getting to the point to where we are going to have to put together enough good things that will translate into a wins."
Michael Kinney
366-3537
mkinney@normantranscript.com
