By Nick Brockman
Messenger Sports Reporter, nbrockman@the-messenger.com
FORT CAMPBELL -- Whether Matt Bell likes it or not, his Hopkins County Central boys' basketball team is a second-half squad and the Storm proved that point once again with a 74-46 victory against Fort Campbell on Monday night.
Ahead just seven points at halftime, the Storm (16-6) rallied hard in the final two quarters to overcome the speedy Falcons (3-12) and cruise to a 28-point win.
"It's not like that's part of the game plan," Bell said of his team's typical late runs. "We want to go ahead and do a lot of good things early in the first half. Every team has an identity and I guess that's this team's identity, kind of keep it close until halftime and see what we can do in the second half."
Central big man Chuck Jones opened the third quarter with four straight points and the Storm never let their lead slip back under double digits.
Jones also provided a powerful force with his 6-foot-9 presence as he collected rebound after rebound en route to a game-high 16. Central outrebounded the Falcons 43-29. Nikee Caldwell notched seven boards while Dan Croft and Josh Riley each posted six.
The rebounds proved vital to Central's success as the Storm utilized them to counter Fort Campbell's quickness.
"I think they're the fastest team in region, even faster than Christian County," Bell said. "This is a good test and I think we did a lot better job taking care of the basketball, a lot fewer turnovers. We had our head up a lot more and didn't dribble into trouble."
Ahead just seven points at halftime, the Storm (16-6) rallied hard in the final two quarters to overcome the speedy Falcons (3-12) and cruise to a 28-point win.
"It's not like that's part of the game plan," Bell said of his team's typical late runs. "We want to go ahead and do a lot of good things early in the first half. Every team has an identity and I guess that's this team's identity, kind of keep it close until halftime and see what we can do in the second half."
Central big man Chuck Jones opened the third quarter with four straight points and the Storm never let their lead slip back under double digits.
Jones also provided a powerful force with his 6-foot-9 presence as he collected rebound after rebound en route to a game-high 16. Central outrebounded the Falcons 43-29. Nikee Caldwell notched seven boards while Dan Croft and Josh Riley each posted six.
The rebounds proved vital to Central's success as the Storm utilized them to counter Fort Campbell's quickness.
"I think they're the fastest team in region, even faster than Christian County," Bell said. "This is a good test and I think we did a lot better job taking care of the basketball, a lot fewer turnovers. We had our head up a lot more and didn't dribble into trouble."
Guard Corey Coble agreed with his coach and discussed the strategy when taking on a fast-paced squad.
"There's a lot of ball fakes and a lot of head fakes, you just have to keep them on their toes," he said.
Coble finished with four assists and the last gave him sole possession of Central's all-time record with 405, passing J.T. Riddle.
"Corey is so unselfish," Bell said. "He just wants to find people and get them the ball. He knew the first game how many he had to get.
"We told him it was possible, but we didn't know if he could do it or not and he proved us all wrong with five, six games left in the season. It's just something special because he is such a special kid and well-deserving of that award."
Originally, Coble, a senior, left the game with 4:15 to go in the fourth and tied for the record.
When Coble reached the bench, the players and coaches ribbed him for not getting just one more. Word reached Bell and he inserted Coble back into the game a minute later.
Coble had a few chances, finding a couple of open teammates, but they could not knock down the shots. Then, Bell drew up a play for the record-breaking assist.
From underneath the Central basket, Coble in-bounded the ball to Cameron Tabor in the lane with 2:28 left. Tabor took the pass and spun to the bucket for two points, giving Coble the new mark to beat.
After the game, Coble said it's quite unusual to have a play created for someone just to get an assist.
"Honestly, I don't think that's ever happened before," he said. "I don't have many plays set up for me to score. That situation, it's nice to have a play set up for me to get the assist."
Although the honor means a lot to him, Coble said he's got more accomplishments on his mind.
"I've been looking forward to that and it's nice to achieve a goal," he said. "At the same time, you have make more goals to set up for like we're trying to get 20 wins this season, so that's more important."
Offensively, Je'Vonte Hughes and Croft joined Jones in double-figure scoring with 13 and 10 points respectively. Central nearly posted five players with double digits as Josh Riley and Cameron Tabor both came off the bench to score eight points each.
HCCHS (16-6) 18 15 24 17 - 74
FCHS (3-12) 10 16 10 10 - 46
HCCHS: Chuck Jones 21, Je'Vonte Hughes 13, Dan Croft 10, Josh Riley 8, Cameron Tabor 8, Nikee Caldwell 7, Corey Coble 5, Justin VanVactor 2
FCHS: Tre Powell 17, RaQuan Durrante 11, D.J. Davis 10, Brian Hargraves 6, J.D. Ervin 2
"There's a lot of ball fakes and a lot of head fakes, you just have to keep them on their toes," he said.
Coble finished with four assists and the last gave him sole possession of Central's all-time record with 405, passing J.T. Riddle.
"Corey is so unselfish," Bell said. "He just wants to find people and get them the ball. He knew the first game how many he had to get.
"We told him it was possible, but we didn't know if he could do it or not and he proved us all wrong with five, six games left in the season. It's just something special because he is such a special kid and well-deserving of that award."
Originally, Coble, a senior, left the game with 4:15 to go in the fourth and tied for the record.
When Coble reached the bench, the players and coaches ribbed him for not getting just one more. Word reached Bell and he inserted Coble back into the game a minute later.
Coble had a few chances, finding a couple of open teammates, but they could not knock down the shots. Then, Bell drew up a play for the record-breaking assist.
From underneath the Central basket, Coble in-bounded the ball to Cameron Tabor in the lane with 2:28 left. Tabor took the pass and spun to the bucket for two points, giving Coble the new mark to beat.
After the game, Coble said it's quite unusual to have a play created for someone just to get an assist.
"Honestly, I don't think that's ever happened before," he said. "I don't have many plays set up for me to score. That situation, it's nice to have a play set up for me to get the assist."
Although the honor means a lot to him, Coble said he's got more accomplishments on his mind.
"I've been looking forward to that and it's nice to achieve a goal," he said. "At the same time, you have make more goals to set up for like we're trying to get 20 wins this season, so that's more important."
Offensively, Je'Vonte Hughes and Croft joined Jones in double-figure scoring with 13 and 10 points respectively. Central nearly posted five players with double digits as Josh Riley and Cameron Tabor both came off the bench to score eight points each.
HCCHS (16-6) 18 15 24 17 - 74
FCHS (3-12) 10 16 10 10 - 46
HCCHS: Chuck Jones 21, Je'Vonte Hughes 13, Dan Croft 10, Josh Riley 8, Cameron Tabor 8, Nikee Caldwell 7, Corey Coble 5, Justin VanVactor 2
FCHS: Tre Powell 17, RaQuan Durrante 11, D.J. Davis 10, Brian Hargraves 6, J.D. Ervin 2
No comments:
Post a Comment