Trojans, Rockets clash in section opener
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Jefferson-Morgan’s Jalen Torres (29) looks for an opening against California in their meeting on the Trojans’ floor last season.
John F. Brothers
California’s Ben Wilson (1) sets up to shoot the ball on a fastbreak against Jefferson-Morgan during a game last season at California Area High School.
COAL CENTER — California geared up for tonight’s Section 2-AA opener against rival Jefferson-Morgan with a 68-43 non-section win over Yough Wednesday night.
The Rockets tuned up for the clash with a 61-46 win over visiting Beth-Center on Wednesday night.
The game between the Trojans and J-M is the Herald-Standard Boys Basketball Game of the Week.
California assistant coach Barry Niemiec served as head coach for the game against Yough and will be leading the Trojans tonight as well.
The Rockets and Trojans met Saturday night in the finals of the Geibel Catholic Tip-off Tournament with California winning, 68-62, so Niemiec knows tonight will be a tough game.
“They are a nice team and have a couple of kids who can play,” he said of Jefferson-Morgan. “We have to keep their better players in front of us, play solid defense and play an up-tempo style.”
The Rockets feature a formidable one-two scoring punch of seniors D.L.Garrett and Jalen Torres. The two combined for 46 points against the Bulldogs with Garrett hitting three 3-pointers in scoring a game-hgh 24 and Torres sinking a pair of treys in tallying 22. Kevin Stonekind added 12 for J-M.
Garrett and Torres were the Rockets’ two top scorers as juniors.
“They’ve matured a lot as ballplayers and as young men the past year,” J-M head coach Dennis Garrett said. “What they’ve done so far this year is get the other guys involved. They’re playing with what I like to call ‘Basketball IQ.’ It makes me real proud in what they’re doing.
“We’re playing as a team and that’s a big plus.”
Andrew White led B-C with three 3-pointers and 10 points against J-M. The Rockets allowed only 17 points in the second half.
Part of the success of the defense is due to Josh Clites, according to Garrett.
“Josh, he’s a hustler,” Garrett said. “He’s done everything above and beyond what I ask of him.”
D.L. Garrett, Torres, Stoneking and Clites, along with Gavin Wood, make up Jefferson-Morgan’s probable starting lineup.
“They’re just a great bunchof kids, very coachable,” coach Garrett said. “I tell them don’t do the things that you can’t do, stay within yourselves.”
California and Jefferson-Morgan enter tonight’s game both with 3-1 overall records.
“It was a close game with them the first time and I think we learned something from that game,” Garrett said.
Against B-C (2-2), J-M took control in the final period after leading 15-13, 35-29 and 44-38 at the breaks. The Rockets out-scored the Bulldogs 17-8 in the final eight minutes to put the game away.
The Trojans picked up the pace in their game against Yough.
“We wanted to change things tonight, play some pressure defense and go with a deeper rotation,” Niemiec said. “We played an uptempo style and we ran some good sets for Ben (Wilson) and he hit shots.”
Yough coach Casey Copeman talked about the Cougars (1-4), who played their fifth game in six days to open the season.
“This is growing pains after getting our first win Tuesday night,” he said. “Plus, looking in their eyes, these kids are drained.
“It is tough to play this many games with no practices where we can make corrections when young kids need to see things in walk-throughs, but the guys are working hard and getting better.”
The teams went through a feeling out process early and it wasn’t until Yough’s Jarrett Bach hit a shot at the 6:10 mark for the first points of the game.
With the game tied at 6-6 halfway through the first quarter, the Trojans (3-1) outscored the Cougars 10-0 to close out the first quarter and take command of the game.
In the quarter, Wilson hit three of his five 3-pointers to tally nine of his career-high 32 points.
Yough’s Danny Gibbler opened the second quarter scoring with a free throw, but California went on 13-0 run to eliminate any doubt of the outcome. The Trojans led 33-12 going into halftime.
Wilson was the lone Trojan to hit double figures, while Bach led Yough with 14 points.
Rob Burchianti contributed to this story.