We saw two games to bring in the New Year. Here is what we took away from both games. The first was Carlson vs Plymouth, where Plymouth needed overtime to beat Carlson 51-50. The second was a rivalry match-up between De La Salle and Brother Rice, where De La Salle got the edge, beating Brother Rice 38-34.
Coaching
Of the two games, four coaches, one of them had any business being on the sideline.
In the first game between Carlson and Plymouth, neither team has been great this year, as Carlson was 0-6 entering that one, and Plymouth was 2-4. Both head coaches were overmatched. For Plymouth, their game plan was to try to get it to Kelvin Amoako, their big 7 ft center, but the way they did it was easy for Carlson to see and jump some passes to him. They needed to throw in a few wrinkles to get the ball to him. Jerry Peterson, the point guard for Plymouth, has the ball-handling capabilities to do it. All you need to do is add a few plays for Peterson and Amoako. Once you get teams going all in on Amoako down low, you leave a team of shooters like Bryce Garbacz, Peterson, and Lucas Porter open from the arc; you could be deadly. For Carlson, their coach walked onto the court about three minutes before the start of the game. He didn’t make many adjustments during the game, and his team made some mistakes that cost them the game. The biggest one was a flagrant foul in the game’s final seconds that allowed Plymouth to force overtime.
The second game saw Catholic League rivals face off in Brother Rice and De La Salle. The more talented roster in terms of players was Brother Rice, but that is where the advantages stopped. Brother Rice’s coach stood against the stage in the gym and thought that his team would win on talent alone, but that wasn’t the case. The most energy coming from Brother Rice was from their student section. The coach looked like he didn’t want to be there, which translated to his team.
On the other hand, De La Salle played their butts off, and their coach coached his butt off. He made adjustments at the half and third quarter, allowing his team to beat their rival. The biggest difference between the two teams was the energy. The energy on the Brother Rice side came from the student section, and the players played laid back, while De La Salle played amped up and fast.
Team Energy
The team with the most energy was De La Salle. De La Salle coming out with so much energy is a testament to Head Coach Gjon Djokaj and the rest of their coaching staff. The team was fired up after a slow first half and ready to beat their rival. Brother Rice came out and looked flat. Could it have been because they played at home and had more talent? Maybe. The team took the energy of their coach as opposed to the energy of the sold-out crowd, with people being turned away at the door, and to play like that at home when you’re the more talented team is an embarrassment.
In the game between Carlson and Plymouth, the energy was all on the side of the visitors from Plymouth. The crowd, which was all Carlson except for the JV basketball team for Plymouth and some parents for a three o’clock game, had to be manufactured. That was a task that the end of the Plymouth bench was up for, as they were louder than the rest of the crowd multiple times. There was tension in the game late as Plymouth was able to mount a come-from-behind victory in overtime. All the energy Plymouth gained late in the game was manufactured by their bench and the JV players. A turning point in the game for energy could be traced back to a play when a Carlson player shot on their basket.
Stars
Each team has its own star power. You have the three biggest names for Brother Rice: John Blackwell, Curtis Williams, and Xavier Thomas. However, they have a fourth player you should watch in Warren Marshall. Marshall is a Junior and scores with the big three.
De La Salle has big 6’9″ Senior Michael Sulaka, but Guards Nino Smith and Phoenix Glassnor have stepped in to fill the void left by Triston Nichols, who had surgery to repair an ACL injury suffered during the football season. Glassnor, a sophomore, has shown flashes of greatness for De La Salle and is a player to watch.
At Plymouth, they have star power even with Lucas Porter, the best shooter on the team, out with injury. They still have Guard Jerry Peterson, Forward Bryce Garbacz, and 7′ Center Kelvin Amoako. All three can score.
Carlson is a different story. They don’t have a guy like any of these other teams. They are more well-rounded, but they have players like Matt Macbride, Roy Braddy, Josiah Davis, and DeJuan Johnson that can score. For Macbride, if he can play within himself, he could be one of the best guards in the league.