Simply the best: Saginaw High down Flint C-A

Green and West have their way with Cavs

By Andrew Bolton

3 March 2008

greatlakeshoops.com

Flint--Draymond Green wins the opening tap for the Trojans. The High comes down, runs a set, and Daniel West finds Draymond for a wide-open three. C-A inbounds against the press, advances the ball with little trouble, and Jon Lee finds Reggie Stallings for a wide-open three.

Yup. That’s the way it was going to be.

What did you expect from arguably the two most talented teams in the state?

For three and one-half quarters, these two teams traded baskets, turnovers and amazing plays in a dead heat. Saginaw couldn’t shake the Cavs; their largest lead at any point in the game before then was seven points.

The Cavs had held leads of two points on a couple of occasions. The game was tied at halftime. The crowds were the loudest I have ever heard at a high school game. It was deafening all game long.

It was still anyone’s ballgame in the middle of the fourth when C-A's Jon Lee fouled out. As he walked dejectedly to the bench, C-A’s hopes of prevailing went with him. From then, the High got every crucial rebound and made nearly all of their free throws down the stretch.

The High prevailed, 79-67, in a game that was way closer than the final margin would indicate. But, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and it’s the High that will meet the winner of the Mt.Pleasant-Alpena game in the regional semifinal.

The first half was basketball at its finest. Both teams sported a four-guard lineup to start the game, with the guards flanking each team’s respective 6'7" big man. This enabled Carman to beat the press with ease right at the outset, as Alan Sharp and Jon Lee could not be contained in the backcourt.

We all know that if you beat a press, any press, you will get easy baskets on the other end, and these the Cavs got in spades. It was fortunate that they could, because Saginaw was not missing, either–these teams traded deep threes, lay-ups and acrobatic defensive plays the entire first half, spurred on all the while by the awesome crowds that turned out for both sides.

The referees let them play as well, as neither team was even in the bonus by the time the half ended. I could not remember being more entertained at a high school game in my entire two seasons of covering games. I can’t adequately express how awesome that half of basketball was. The score was 42-42 going into the break.

The third quarter maintained the atmosphere and intensity of the first half, but the play dipped a little bit on both sides. Neither team was on fire anymore, so the game became more of a defensive struggle.

The High’s execution on the offensive end was on display, getting good open looks, particularly late in the period. On one key possession late in the third, the High was stalling. When Carman extended their zone to force the Trojans into action, the Trojans responded by swinging the ball around perfectly, ending the possession on a wide-open three from Daniel West that put the High up six, their largest lead since they had a seven-point lead early in the first.

Saginaw would take that six-point cushion into the fourth.

Carman was tired. Coach Root had played his starters almost exclusively the entire game, going to his bench only when players were in foul trouble. The problem was, to beat Saginaw you have to be able to run all four quarters nonstop on both ends, and the Carman guards just weren’t prepared to do that.

Jon Lee fouled out, and C-A’s defensive rotations were not as crisp as they were early in the game.

Saginaw, being expertly coached once again, noticed this and attacked to start the period, rather than stalling like they did in the third, and this time C-A had no answers.

Game and Player Notes

–Stat of the Game: C-A 3-Pointers by half:    First–7      Second–1 (at the end of the game)

–Suffice to say that if you missed this one, you missed the best game of the year.

–This was my first time seeing Saginaw this year, but I watched them a lot last year. Carman made them do things I have never seen them do. First and foremost, Saginaw stopped pressing after halftime out of necessity. They still trapped in the corners past the time line on occasion, but they let the Cavs bring the ball up nearly unhindered. I have never seen a Saginaw team stop pressing while the outcome of a game was still in doubt. The reason was simple but brilliant, and is a testament to Coach Dawkins’s ability on the bench: Carman was shredding the press like no team ever before in my memory, with Alan Sharp and Jon Lee running a press-break clinic the entire first half. Seeing this (and the fast-break points that came with it), Coach Dawkins decided to slow the game down and make C-A beat them in a half-court game. No more energy used in the press meant more energy available in a half-court defense, and C-A, whose execution in the half-court is inconsistent at best, couldn’t score when they needed to in order to stay in the game. It must have taken a lot to go away from what makes the High great, but the press simply was not working, so Lou made a change. If he hadn’t we might have been looking at an upset.

–Another thing I noticed was Saginaw going to a stall offense late in the third with a four-point lead. What was this about? I am of the opinion was that Saginaw was rattled. They still had a lead, but they were being played so tough that it got to them. They were out of the press at this time, quite possibly a first all year, and C-A was still making baskets even though the Trojans were doing their best to prevent them. I saw some doubt in the body language of the Trojans out on the court. They were giving an opponent their best shot, and the Cavs were fighting back just as hard. Despite holding a lead, it seemed the Trojans didn’t want to play the Cavs anymore, and they were hoping the time would tick off so they wouldn’t have to play.

–But, they regrouped in the fourth and summoned one last punch that proved to be the difference. The punch was named Daniel West, who hit clutch shots and free throws to seal the game down the stretch. Daniel finished with 27 points and seven assists. Draymond Green had a monster game, stuffing the stat sheet with 28 points (including three triples), 12 rebounds, four steals, three blocks, and two assists. He looks markedly improved from last year. His jumper looks wat better than last year, and he is more athletic than I remember him being. He put down a dunk with two hands off one step that he would not have been able to last year, that’s for sure. Courtney Washington was the only other player to contribute significantly 11 points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

–All the praise in the world should go to the Cavaliers, who played a great game. Had Lee not fouled out, I think the outcome might have been different, though the Cavs were pretty tired at the end of the game. The four-guard lineup worked extremely well, although its drawback ended up costing the Cavs the game. Coach Root simply had no one to go to off the bench for relief at the guard positions because all his good guards were already on the floor. Ahmad Cheers is a good defender, but he doesn’t have the ballhandling skills to go up against Daniel West and Courtney Washington, and he would be the only remotely serviceable guard to go to off the bench with Sharp, Lee, Arkwright and Stallings already on the floor. So Root’s most brilliant move of the year (no sarcasm here: those four guards really did carve up the press) ends up costing his team the game. Kind of an unfortunate Catch-22 there.

–Of course, fewer turnovers and more made free throws would also have won the game for the Cavs even with all their fatigue problems. Many of the turnovers were careless ones in the third and fourth after Saginaw had stopped pressing. Figure that one out.

–Demondre Chapman led Carman with 20 points. He couldn’t stop Day-Day, but Draymond couldn’t stop Chapman, either. Dee took it right at the Mr. Basketball candidate all night, mostly going through and over Green on power moves in the post. I think Dee might finally be putting it all together. Keion Arkwright added 16 points and three assists, though he did not score after halftime in another good adjustment by coach Dawkins. The Trojans shadowed Keion right after he crossed halfcourt, as he had previously burned the Trojans with four threes in the first half, a couple of them from NBA range. Reggie Stallings had 15 points, three boards and two blocks, and one that was called goaltending that should not have been. His hand might have gotten to halfway between the square and the top of the backboard on that one. Jon Lee was the player of the game for Carman, which was why his loss doomed the Cavs. Jon was playing a great all-around game before he got careless and picked up two unnecessary fouls in the fourth to find a seat on the bench. He wound up with 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

–Congratulations to the Trojans, who should walk through the remainder of their games to reach the Breslin Center again this season. Hold your heads up high, Cavs. There’s no shame when you’re beaten by the best.