Beavers’ zone ‘D’ slows down Wildcats

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By Andrew Smith, Contributing Writer 11:24 PM Friday, January 6, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield High School boys basketball team has a unique identity, according to head coach Isiah Carson. And it was getting away from the that identity, Carson said, that landed the Wildcats on the wrong end of GWOC action against Beavercreek.

“We like to get up and down the floor, and we practiced that all week, beating their zone down the floor,” he said. “We just didn’t come out and do that tonight — we didn’t execute well.”

Jalen Camper scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for Beavercreek, and the Beavers’ defense held Springfield to four second-half field goals before game’s final minute in a 57-44 win.

After the game’s opening minutes — when Springfield jumped out to a 9-6 lead — the Wildcats struggled to penetrate Beavercreek’s zone defense, committing turnovers and often missing shots when they were open.

“We got a lot of the shots we wanted, guys have just got to step up and knock them down,” Carson said. “We shot the ball terribly.”

Because of Beavercreek’s tight defense and patient, efficient offense, Springfield wasn’t able to run its preferred high-intensity, frenetic pace very often. But when they got occasional fast breaks, the Wildcats ended with turnovers or missed jumpers instead of points.

“I think we played Beavercreek’s game tonight,” Carson said. “They did a good job, I’ve got to give them credit; they’re a pretty good basketball team over there. We just fell into their game plan instead of playing Wildcat basketball.”

Junior Ryan Minney scored 15 points to lead the Wildcats, senior Brantley Davis scored 14 and freshman Henry Alexander added 8. The three players netted 37 of Springfield’s 44 points.

“We did pretty well defensively, we held them to 57 points — that’s not bad, especially against Beavercreek” Carson said. “We’ve just got to get shots down. You can’t win in this league scoring 40 points.”

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