JV Ballers Up Their Game for Second Win of the Season

Bill Hancock
What looked like something of a defensive struggle at the end of the first quarter, turned out to be a hard-fought win for the young JV Basketball team. Freshman Jacob Bousamra had a strong showing tonight, leading the Crane scoring with 19 points (11 in the second half), 5 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, 2 assists and a defensive tip. Jordan Roebuck pulled down 9 rebounds, dropped 15 points, and had three steals, two assists, a blocked shot, as well as a defensive tip. 
Over the course of the evening, seven players contributed to the final tally, with Bousamra (19), Roebuck (15), Landry (11) and Hauxwell (7) leading the way. Once again, the defense created much of the offense for the Cranes, with a number of the evening's points coming off of defensive tips, steals, or break-aways off the press break. The Cranes also were able to go to the foul line more often in tonight's game, shooting 67% from the charity stripe. The Cranes were also able to control their turnovers tonight, taking better care of the basketball with only five turnovers as compared to eleven in our initial outing. 

The Cranes had intended to emphasize the work the team has been doing on its Man-to-Man defense against Lamphere, but Lamphere seemed to struggle against the Cranes 2-3 zone when it was introduced late in the first quarter. In addition, the Cranes introduced a press that seemed to frustrate the Lamphere backcourt; at the same time, the Crane's press break against their diamond press led to a number of fast points and trips to the foul line in the second half. After all was said and done, the Cranes battled hard and competed well against a scrappy, tough team from Lamphere. The game felt a lot more competitive than the score might suggest; this was a good win for the Cranes who will travel to Everest next week for a rematch to our season opener.

Highlights from this game include the decrease in the number of turnovers: five versus 11 in our season opener. Once again, the Cranes had solid rebounding pulling down 18 offensive rebounds and 17 defensive rebounds. Rebounding leaders were: Roebuck (9), Kerr (6), Purther (5), Landry (5), Bousamra (5), Frankel (2), Hauxwell (2).  As mentioned above Bousamra, Roebuck, Landry, and Hauxwell led our scoring for the evening, but defense was the theme of the evening, with the Cranes blocking 7 shots and having 12 steals.

The Cranes have another week of hard work ahead of them before the break. There is still a lot to work on for this young team, but there is also a lot to be proud of. Let's keep up the positive attitude, focus, and intensity. Aim High! Go Cranes!!

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