The bear truth revealed in West Holmes’ Sectional win over River View
During the course of the regular season West Holmes picked up one quarter of its eight wins against Bears, taking out one of the Golden Bears (Waynedale) by three points, on Feb. 12, after beating up on the Black Bears of River View 52-40 back on Jan. 4.
If you’re going to tangle with a bear – other than a polar bear – winter is probably a good time to do it…they tend to be a little groggy and confused.
So with another winter storm looming on the horizon, second year head coach Jim Lindeman and the Knights seized the opportunity to go after a seemingly sleepy and dazed group of Black Bears for a second time, knocking off River View 74-41 in Division II Sectional quarterfinal action, Thursday, Feb. 24, at Coshocton High School.
West Holmes took advantage of the early lethargy in the 0-20 Black Bears, racing out to a 13-2 early advantage, thanks to six points off layups down low from sophomore forward Gabe Snyder, a stick back layup from sophomore guard Keaton Leppla and five points from freshman point guard Brady Arnold, who hit from just inside the top left side of the arc before backing it up and connecting from three-point land on the Knights next possession.
With the slumbering Black Bears a little confused at the outset, Lindeman decided to befuddle them even further, borrowing a page from Lady Knights head coach Lisa Patterson and employing a full-court pressure defense for the first time this season.
“I think the one thing we really wanted to do was make sure we were at a high level as far as the pressure we put on the defensive end,” explained Lindeman. “We came out and pressed that whole first half, which is something we haven’t done all year. And it created some shots for us.”
The full-court press led to two steals by the Knights in the first quarter, the second of which sent Arnold streaking down the court for a layup before taking a hard foul from behind by River View junior forward Jason Hammond, as the referee had to come between the two players and Arnold eventually split from the line to put the Knights up 14-6.
After that the Black Bears started to show signs of life, cutting the West Holmes lead to 14-10 when Hammond drove the middle of the lane for a layup and junior forward Daniel Gwinn muscled up a shot from underneath.
But 6-foot-6-inch West Holmes sophomore forward Brock Macaulay answered from underneath at the other end and Leppla rebounded a missed three-point attempt from Hammond, taking it coast-to-coast, driving the right side of the lane and scooping in a layup just before the buzzer to push the Knights lead back out to 18-10 at the end of one.
Leppla opened the second quarter scoring by going high off the glass from underneath, and he came up with the Knights third steal of the half later in the period, dishing ahead to senior guard Sam Meyer for an easy layup and a 29-14 West Holmes lead.
“It’s fun just getting in their head,” said Leppla, talking about the press. “You can see the frustration in their faces.”
Their faces would look a little more frustrated just four possessions later when Arnold blocked a triple-try by Hammond, turning the block into a steal and going the length of the floor for another easy layup and a 31-20 Knights lead.
“When he’s flying around the floor like that, half the time I lose track of where he’s at, and then he just ends up with the ball and makes heady plays,” said Lindeman, about Arnold, after watching the freshman hit from the left baseline on the Knights next possession and watching West Holmes take a 35-22 lead into the break.
“It was nice just to come in and hit the first couple shots, and then I was just on a roll from there. I just kept on going with it,” said Arnold afterward. “We didn’t play real well against them the first time, so we really wanted to come out and take it to them.”
The 5-foot-9-inch (maybe) guard and the rest of the Knights continued to take it to them in quarter number three as Arnold came up with another steal and fed ahead to Leppla for another easy two that extended the West Holmes lead to 37-22 at the beginning of the third.
“Second half we decided to just sit down and play real hard [defense] in the half court and we were still able to create some turnovers down there,” explained Lindeman while watching the Knights pick the Black Bears pockets seven times in the third quarter, the sixth compliments of Arnold, who hit Macaulay all alone under the bucket as West Holmes doubled up River View 50-25 with 2:45 to go in the period.
The Knights took a 52-30 lead into the final eight minutes of play and extended to 59-35 early on when Leppla took the ball from outside the arc on the top right side, sprinting toward the bucket for a lay in and drawing contact from junior guard Michael Adams in order to complete the three-point play.
“Any time I think I can take a guy one-on-one, I just take it to the middle,” said Leppla. “Any time you see that wide open gap and you see the help side’s not there, I’m always ready for the contact. I’m always ready to try and alter my shot toward the contact. It’s probably my favorite play during basketball, to just get in there and get an and-one.”
Leppla’s and-one capped his scoring night at 13 – to go along with 17 from Arnold, 15 from Snyder and 10 from Meyer – as the Knights cruised to the 33-point win, despite the best efforts of Adams who poured in four three-pointers and scored 20 of his game-leading 22 points in the second-half, joining Hammond (10) in double figures.
With the win, the Knights advance to a Sectional semifinal matchup against Dover, Thursday, March 3, back in Coshocton, but the Tornadoes are a different kind of animal altogether, coming in with a 14-6 record behind leading scorer Anthony Monaco, who averages just under 22 points a game.
“It’s our first tournament win,” said Leppla. “It’s good to get that confidence. Showing how physical we are, we’ve got to take that into Dover. We have got to be the aggressor in that game. I think we gained respect tonight and if we go out and beat Dover, teams are going to say, ‘Hey, they’re a legitimate team.’ And that’s what we’re trying to prove.”
“Not a lot of our guys have been used to this situation, but it didn’t show with their play tonight,” said Lindeman, who was asked if the Knights would be able to carry the momentum and excitement into their matchup against Dover.
“I hope so,” he said before thinking about it further. “I take that back. They will. They will.”
In the meantime, the Black Bears are headed back to sleep for the rest of the winter.
Published: February 24, 2011
