It wasn’t that Braeden Robinson’s back-to-back treys decided the outcome in a close game. When you’re on the winning end of a 36 point blowout, it’s hard to find a turning point.
At the same time, when you’re a team that’s been struggling from beyond the three-point line, any time you can begin showing life with your outside shooting it’s a hopeful
sign that you’re finding the balanced offensive attack that will be necessary in order to be a championship caliber team.
That’s something the Beavers (3-0, 4-1) can take away from their 71-35 blowout of Hugoton in their first return to the court following the holiday break on Tuesday.
“After the break I’ve set it in my mind that I have to be the senior leader and I have to shoot when I’m open. After last season I know that I can shoot and score,” says Robinson who finished with 12 points.
He’s quick to point out he’s not alone in working to improve Scott City’s outside attack. He also credits teammates Brett O’Neil, Trey O’Neil, Austin Habiger and Tyler Hess with putting in the extra time after practice.
“We don’t have one main player like we did last year,” said Robinson, referring to the graduation of Ron Baker. “We know that it’s going to take all of us contributing where we can. We’re still in the process of developing the team chemistry that we had last year. It will get better as we play more games.”
Even with the long holiday layoff, the chemistry seemed to be coming together for the Beavers who pounced on Hugoton (4-3) for a 25-4 lead following a 10-0 scoring burst to open the second period.
Robinson opened the quarter with a steal and layup followed by consecutive treys. B. O’Neil’s short jumper moments later extended the SCHS lead to 21 points.
While head coach Glenn O’Neil noted that the team struggled with its three-point shooting, he was pleased with the defense and their ability to shut down Hugoton’s James Persinger (6-3, sr.) who entered the game averaging 16.2 points and 13.5 rebounds. Persinger was a non-factor with just four free throws for the night.
“We wanted to be active with our defense and force their guards into playing at a faster pace,” says O’Neil. “We were able to pressure them into turnovers that gave us a lot of transition baskets.”
Noting that Hugoton had shot only about 42 percent from two-point range in their two losses prior to Tuesday, O’Neil said the goal of the defense was to limit the number of good looks they had at the basket.
SCHS accomplished that by forcing 27 turnovers and limiting the Eagles to just eight field goals for the night.
While scoring a game high 15 points in little more than 2-1/2 quarters of play, junior pivot Drew Kite also was effective in keeping Persinger off the boards and finishing well below his average. Kite also assumed a bigger role in the paint when forward Joey Meyer had to leave the game early in the second quarter with an ankle sprain that he sustained during warm-up drills.
The Beavers also made strides in improving on their assists/turnovers ratio which was barely better than 1:1 in the four games before Christmas with 67 assists and 62 turnovers.
“We made the extra pass and gave ourselves better scoring opportunities,” says O’Neil.
Despite being limited to just six points, junior guard B. O’Neil dished out 13 assists to go along with five steals and four rebounds.
Even though O’Neil has struggled with his three-point shooting - and averaged just 5.3 points in his last three games - he continues to be among the team leaders in steals, rebounds and assists.
“I know Brett’s frustrated with his shooting right now, but when you look at his assists he had a hand in scoring 32 points. He finds other ways to contribute,” says the head coach. “That’s the unselfish character of this team. These boys don’t care who does the scoring. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to win.”
2nd Half Explosion
Kite closed out the first half with a pair of baskets and opened the second half with a three-point play. That started a 15-2 scoring blitz in which Hugoton was held without a field goal for just over five minutes. Hess contributed his first trey of the season during that scoring run while Anthony Wilson’s three-pointer extended the SCHS lead to 53-17 with 3:19 on the clock.
“It was good to see Tyler pull up and hit the three,” O’Neil says. “If he wants to be a guard he has to be a threat from the outside.”
Hess and junior guard Austin Habiger - who also drilled a pair of fourth quarter treys - were also in double figures with 10 points each.
“We need to keep making progress with out outside shooting. Having Braeden hit a pair of threes was a good start,” says O’Neil. “Hopefully it’s contagious.”