Notre Dame, and Batavia each remain with a shot at the Title
| BataviasBest.org
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Tonight, two of the most successful programs in Section V Basketball History will endure their respective semifinal matchups. Here is a preview for each game:
Class A2 – #1 Batavia vs #4 College Prep – 5:45 pm @ Blue Cross Arena
2015 NE/NW College Prep Panthers
Scouting Report – College Prep
Key Players
#0 Breon Johnson – 6’3″ Senior G/F
-College Prep’s top offensive player
-Quality scorer – can go off the dribble and shoot it at a reasonable rate
-Long, athletic – will present matchup issues for Batavia
#24 Malik Wilkinson – 6’4″ Senior F/C
-Grabbed 19 rebounds against a well-sized HFL team last weekend
-Long and athletic, yet listed at just 165 lbs
#2 Sherman Graham – 6’0″ Senior G
-Scored 14 points against HFL last weekend
Game Overview
In my opinion, College Prep may be the best team Batavia has played all season long. With plenty of length, athleticism, and ability to score sitting at several positions all over the floor, the Panthers are sure to bring it tonight at the Big House.
Despite these facts, following my brief time watching the Panthers against HFL last week in the quarters, I believe Batavia can beat them – but it will be extremely difficult.
In order to do so, several things will need to happen for the local team:
1. The Blue Devils must be able to handle the Panthers’ pressure, as their length will make it tough for the Batavia guards to find open passing and penetration lanes
2. Batavia has to shoot well. If they don’t it could be a long night as I don’t see them scoring much in the paint against the Panthers
3. Batavia needs to find ways to get Jeff Redband the ball in space. If he dips underneath his usual scoring output, I can see Batavia struggling to stay in the game
4. The Devils must play with energy. The more that I have seen this group play, the more I realize that a few of their key components simply don’t bring their best effort and best energy to the floor game-in and game-out. It will be especially important for their leaders to do so tonight
5. Batavia must not let the nerves get to them. Going into tonight, the Devils have to understand that they are the number one seed – for a reason
Game Prediction
Admittedly, when I saw College Prep play last weekend against HFL, I believed that they may have a chance to beat the Blue Devils by 10 tonight. However, as I continue to process all available information and continue to think about each side, I truly believe Batavia can and will win this game.
As a whole, this Blue Devil squad has come a long way since a few disappointing losses to begin the season (Mendon and UPrep), but have since rebounded and continue to build confidence ever since. Also, even though CP may be the more-athletic team tonight, I believe Batavia to be a bit more polished offensively – primarily because of their 6’7″ sharpshooter Jeff Redband.
When it comes down to it, after a back-and-forth game for three quarters, I believe this one will largely ride on who can generate more offense during the fourth.
While the Panthers have shown me that they have various options to choose from throughout the game on offense, they simply seem to lack (from my short time watching them) a closer-type who can hit from anywhere on the floor. Although, as I have only seen them once, perhaps Breon Johnson is that player.
However, until proven otherwise, I’ll stick with what I know – and that’s that Batavia has shown their ability to close-out games.
In a tight. game that honestly could go either way, give me the home team:
FINAL SCORE: Batavia 60 College Prep 59
Tune into @BataviasBest on Twitter for LIVE updates from tonight’s game!!!!
Class D1- #2 Notre Dame vs #3 Mount Morris – 7:00 pm @ Cal-Mum HS
2015 Mt. Morris Blue Devils
Scouting Report – Mt. Morris
Key Players
#1 Bruce Patterson – 5’11” Junior G/F
-Mt. Morris’ top player
-Fast, athletic, high-flyer
-Finishes at the rim extremely well
-Unsure of his ability to shoot the ball – haven’t seen him enough
#15 Nic Werner – 6’3″ Junior F/C
-As I watched MM against Avoca last week, one of their big men impressed me. I am unsure which it was, however – either Werner or Howe
-Said big man had decent feet and athleticism and seemed to possess quality ball skills as well
-The less-skilled of the two big men is also a contributor, however at a lower level
#4 KC Howe – 6’4″ Junior F/C
-See above
#11 Kyle Regal – 5’10” Senior G
-Said to be another of MM’s top players
#13 Bubba Maldonado – 5’7″ Junior G
-Said to be another of MM’s top players
Game Overview
After watching the Blue Devils play against a less-skilled Avoca team last week, I believe this team can beat the Irish. However, with ND possessing a plethora of quality players at the guard position, and that seeming to be the Devils’ strength as well, it will be interesting to see which side wins out.
In order to do so, for ND, several things will need to happen:
1. Notre Dame must find a way to limit Bruce Patterson. He is undoubtedly the Devils’ most-skilled player from what I saw and they can’t afford to allow him to go off
2. ND’s bigs have to play strong along the interior tonight. They don’t have great size, but the Irish forwards have shown strength at times this year
3. The Irish will need to limit their turnovers. The Blue Devils run in transition off mistakes very well – primarily Patterson
4. Rebound, rebound, rebound. The Irish cannot afford to give extra possessions away for free
5. The Irish must stop dribble penetration in the half-court. If they can disallow the opposing guards from driving the lane, ND will have a good chance of slowing down the opposing offensive unit
Game Prediction
Much like when I watched College Prep last week, the first time I saw Mt. Morris play in the quarterfinals, I was impressed.
Patterson is legit and can score the ball at will if he is allowed to get out and run on the break, which will be a struggle for ND to contain. Also, the Blue Devils’ size concerned me as ND doesn’t have a massive force in the middle – although 6’2″ Caleb Nellis plays like he is 6’4″ – and it may come back to bite them tonight.
However, all things aside, I’m picking the Irish.
At the start of this season I wasn’t sure what to expect from this bunch. They lost a ton from the previous year, had many new pieces to plug-in, and truly seemed to be in transition. But with the emergence of Josh Johnson as one of the top scorers in Class D1, as well as the rotation of quality outings they have received from their long list of guards, the Irish have managed to put together a fine season – which I expect to continue into the Finals.
Using team-based offense (although I think Johnson will go for 15+), and high-effort defense tonight, I’ll take ND over MM.
Despite all of this, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if this game also came down to the end:
FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 54 Mount Morris 53
Tune into @BataviasBest on Twitter for updates from tonight’s game!!!! I hope to make it over following the Batavia-College Prep game.
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In addition to tonight’s updates, stay tuned later in the evening when we GIVEAWAY free Suite-Level tickets to the Section V Boys Basketball Finals – taking place all day Saturday and Sunday (3/7-3/8). Good luck to all of our local teams participating tonight!!!
Other articles you may like:
Section V Boys Basketball Tournament Headquarters – Everything you need to know, right here
Section V Girls Basketball Tournament Update – The Semifinals are TONIGHT – Who will advance?
Wheatland-Chili upended by Lyons in Section V Boys Basketball Class C3 Semifinals
