Recommend This StoryAll the right moves: Clarke County's defensive switch gives Wildcats fits
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By Brad Fauber - sports@nvdaily.com
FRONT ROYAL -- Clarke County coach Brent Emmart made changes to his team's defensive scheme during the first period of the Eagles' matchup with host Warren County on Monday, and that made all the difference as the Eagles picked up a 71-58 nondistrict win.
Clarke County (11-4, 6-3 Bull Run) switched from straight man-to-man defense to a half-court trap midway through the opening period, resulting in some sloppy ball-handling and multiple turnovers from the Wildcats.
With the score tied at 16 at the beginning of the second period, Warren County turned the ball over on its first five possessions to open the frame, and Clarke County pounced on the opportunity. The Eagles used a 10-0 run during the first two minutes of the quarter to take a 26-16 lead.
The win gives the Eagles some much-needed momentum after last Friday's loss to Bull Run leader George Mason.
"We let one get away from us against Mason, so I kind of challenged the guys tonight," Emmart said. "This was a nondistrict game, but it means something in the win-loss column -- we were just trying to get better tonight."
The Eagles scored the first bucket of the game on a layup in transition by Connor Shendow after a Wildcats' turnover on the game's first possession, and Wildcats junior Matt Nicholson tied the game with a mid-range jumper with seven minutes left in the period.
Both teams battled back and forth throughout the remainder of the frame, and a 3-pointer by the Eagles' Ethan Emmart with five seconds left knotted the score at 16-all.
Nicholson scored 11 of Warren County's 16 first-period points on a 4-for-4 effort from the floor, and appeared to be on his way to a big offensive night. But Eagles junior Davey Hardesty, given the tall order of containing Nicholson, was more than up to the task.
Nicholson scored just 11 points through the remaining three quarters as Hardesty made it his job to limit Nicholson's offensive opportunities.
"From [the first quarter] out I just tried to not let him touch the ball," Hardesty said. "That helped a lot because he got a lot less possessions and didn't score as much. Everybody was just trying to play defense around him because he's their best player."
Nicholson appeared to give the Wildcats some momentum heading into halftime when he slammed home a one-handed dunk in transition to cut the Eagles' lead to seven with 30 seconds left before halftime, but Shendow nailed a trey just before the buzzer to give Clarke County a 38-28 lead.
The Eagles blew the game open in the second half as they took advantage of the Wildcats' switch from a 3-2 zone to man-to-man by attacking the basket and picking up easy layups.
"In the second half of the game, we just started getting our spirits up," Eagles junior Todd Benton said. "We just kept our heads up and got done what we needed to get done."
Clarke County took a 17-point lead with 1:30 remaining in the third period on a layup by Benton, and took a 65-47 lead midway through the fourth when Benton tipped in a miss by Hardesty.
Benton led the Eagles with 20 points and Ethan Emmart added 14 points.
Wildcats coach Vernon Mathews said many of his team's offensive miscues were a direct result of his team not being prepared for the defensive sets that Clarke County showed.
"Last game [Dec. 9] they ran a different kind of press -- this time they trapped us in the corners," Mathews said. "We just didn't get to the spots that we needed to get to on the floor. They put more pressure on the ball than we're used to seeing."
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