Top-Ranked Hurricanes Roll
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>Final - - #1 Heritage 74, Denbigh 53:
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"Verdana","sans-serif"'>A 10-day layoff in High School Basketball is not the
norm, but that's what the Heritage Hurricanes and Denbigh Patriots experienced
going into Monday night's Ironclad Conference tilt in Newport News.
style=> Heritage was able to shake off the rust best,
breezing past their city rival 74-53 to improve to 13-3 overall, 5-0 in the
conference.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Clearly, players and coaches on both sides were antsy
to return to the action.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We've been off for a while, so long, it was nice to
get back on the court," admitted Heritage junior swingman
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Romello
normal'> Anderson, who shared game-high scoring honors with Denbigh's
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Darius McKinnon with 18 points.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Winners of five straight now, Heritage was able to beat
the same exact team that they started the streak against, except the Hurricanes
didn't trail in this one like they did in the 58-52 victory back on January 10th.
style=> In that contest, the Canes never seized
control until the fourth quarter.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Heritage jumped out to a 18-11
lead after one quarter of play and began by making 7-of-12 from the field.
style=> In each of the first three quarters, the
Canes forced Denbigh into seven turnovers.
However, they didn't capitalize on every mistake like Coach
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Mike Gardner would've liked, and things
got a bit tight with the score at 27-22 just two minutes before the half.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We got some turnovers and missed some lay-ups
early. I was more focused on that
because I knew we were going to be a little sluggish," stated Gardner.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>His team showed no let up in the third quarter,
outscoring Denbigh 27-14 in the stanza and did so by taking care of the ball,
crashing the glass and performing with a high level of aggressiveness on both
ends of the floor.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In addition, Heritage got to the foul line 16 times in
the third quarter and played unselfishly, tallying five assists on eight field
goals during that stretch.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It's all about playing together.
style=> We can win Championships if we all play
together," Anderson believes. "But if
we're not playing together, the team can fall apart."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Denbigh, which dropped its fourth in a row to fall to
5-12 overall, 1-4 in the Ironclad, shot just 1-of-12 from three-point
range. They're now 0-6 when allowing 70
points or more.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For Heritage, their next scheduled game is on Friday,
January 31st at Phoebus. That is subject
to change with the weather, which has played havoc with the conference schedule
thanks to snow storms in back-to-back weeks.
Or no thanks case if you ask Gardner.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I hate that's going to happen," said Gardner when
asked about the latest snow storm that was on the horizon.
style=> "We've had enough rest now we can go get
it. But hey, I can't tell God what to
do. If God wants it to happen, hey, I'm
with him."
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background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>Player of the Game:
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Heritage SF Romello Anderson - -
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Gliding
to the basket smoothly on the break and calmly finding his way to the hoop time
after time, Anderson proved to be a problem for Denbigh's defense.
style=> He finished with 18 points on just 10 shot
attempts, sank 6-of-7 free-throws and made an impact defensively with three
steals.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"They're starting to feed me the ball.
style=> Whenever they need me to score, I just put
the team on my back," remarked Anderson, who entered the game tied for fourth
in the Peninsula District in scoring at 17.2 points per game.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We knew since they don't have many big men, we had to
attack the basket and get easy buckets."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Anderson isn't very demonstrative on the court.
style=> In fact, sometimes it's easy not to notice
him as he tends to be that silent assassin whose slashing ability and
athleticism in the open floor can help break open a tight game at any moment.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"He sort of lulls you to sleep.
style=> For me, I want him to be a little bit more
intense. It's not his nature to a
certain degree I guess, but he can do it and goes 100 miles an hour on
offense," Gardner said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I want him to do it on the defensives side of the
ball. He'll do it going through the
passing lanes. But he's really good and
a solid ball player. You don't even know
it and he's got 18."
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background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>Keys to Victory:
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>#1
- - Transition Game:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Dunks
from Anderson and Troy Gibson, whose
flush came on a beautiful assist from sophomore point guard
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Malik Marrow, sparked Heritage's run.
style=> Their third quarter burst was reminiscent to
the one they had at Nansemond River when they score 16 unanswered to go from
behind three to up 13.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Heritage scored 27 points in the third period
alone. That's more than Denbigh had in
the entire first half. Having all five
guys able to run the floor and get to the cup with relative ease certainly made
a difference for the Hurricanes in widening their lead from seven to as many as
22. Getting numbers, 2-on-1,
class=GramE>3-on-2 and not letting Denbigh set up defensively, enabled
it to happen.
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#2 - - Defense Forcing Turnovers:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>On
the night, Denbigh turned the all over 26 times and at least five in every
period. As the game progressed, the
ball-handling got sloppier for the Patriots, and Heritage pounced on its
opportunities.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"In the first half, I think we really did not get after
them defensively. We were in places, but
we were not aggressive with it. In the
second half, we picked it up a little bit and got some separation," Gardner
noted.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Five different players recorded more than one steal for
Heritage. Marrow, Anderson,
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Lorenzo Judkins
and Marcus Van Hook notched three
apiece.
normal'>Corey White, the senior forward that scored 20 on Nansemond River
the previous time out, had two steals.
In total, Heritage finished with 16 steals, enough to see their point
total increase little by little.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"When we force people to turn the ball over, that's
when we're at our best," commented Anderson.
"We still have to box out better and cut down the turnovers, but if we
do that then we'll be good."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
#3 - - Attacking the Paint:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>While
Heritage shot 3-of-8 from three-point range, a very steady night for them, they
did a great job of not settling for low-percentage outside shots and took
advantage of their inside play with White and Gibson as well as drivers that
can create off the dribble.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We talked about that before [the game].
style=> You've got to play inside-out.
style=> Whether you like it or not, people have got
to respect Troy and Corey inside. That
allows Mike, Melo, Marcus and those guys to do
things, and allows everything else to flow.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Also a factor was the fact that Denbigh's size is not
profound, giving them one-on-one matchups in the low block that were favorable.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We knew since they don't have many big men, we had to
attack the basket and get easy buckets," Anderson added.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
href="http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/914/1510172.WMA">
none;text-underline:none'>Postgame Audio with Heritage Coach Mike Gardner
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Final Stats:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Heritage
Hurricanes 74:
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style=> (13-3; 5-0)
Romello Anderson - - 18Pts. 6-10FG, 6-7FT, 3Reb. 3Stl
class=GramE>.
Michael Duncan - - 12Pts. 4-9FG, 1-3 3's, 3-5FT, 2Reb.
Troy Gibson - - 11Pts. 4-8FG, 3-6FT, 6Reb. 2Blk
class=GramE>.
Corey White - - 8Pts. 3-4FG, 2-6FT, 7Reb. 2Stl.
Marcus Van Hook - - 7Pts. 3-8FG, 5Reb. 3Stl.
Devin Brailsford - - 7Pts. 1-1 3's, 4-4FT
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Denbigh
Patriots 53:
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style=> (5-12; 1-4)
Darius McKinnon - - 18Pts. 7-11FG, 4-5FT, 7Reb. 2Stl.
Khalil Worrell - - 11Pts. 4-8FG, 3-4FT, 4Ast. 5Stl.
Derrick Jackson - - 7Pts. 2-9FG, 5Reb.
Dashawn Johnson - - 6Pts. 3-6FG, 5Reb.
Daquan Jones - - 6Pts. 3-3FG, 0-3FT, 5Reb.
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