Dave Morrison
Nobody had to tell Woodrow Wilson coach Ron Kidd his post play was struggling early this season.
The trio of Jaylon Walton, Nazir King and Drew Fitzwater were averaging a combined 13.4 points through the first eight games and had topped just 20 points combined twice.
The nadir was a combined four-point effort in a home loss against Shady Spring back in late December.
Lately, the prospects in he post have changed, and in the last five games that rio is averaging 25.4 points and they have combined to score over 22 in four of the five games and hey have 19 in the other game (at Shady).
The high point this season came Tuesday at the Armory when the trio combined for 42 points on 17 of 21 shooting from the the field.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
One is the return of four-year starter at point guard Elijah Redfern, who suffered a broken hand in the second game of the season at University. He returned to the fold at Shady last week. On Tuesday he had 10 pouted and 10 assists.
“The experience of him and the talent is off the charts so getting to play alongside a guard like him is a big blessing,” Fitzwater said. “It also helps that Coby, Zy (Hawthorne) and Preston (Clary) are getting to watch him because they are showing flashes of him, too.”
Another has been a ramped up emphasis on post play in practice.
King, who had a career-high 19 points, said that is key.
“It’s been in practice going at each other,” King said. “We know we are a better team than we have been showing people. And then with Elijah coming back and dishing more and feeding everyone, we’ve been getting in the groove and meshing together really well.”
Fitzwater, who had a career-high 12, his first double figure game for Woodrow, said it this way: “Recently we have been banging on each other (in practice) because we know we are each other’s biggest competition.”
For Kidd is comes down to a simple analogy.
“At the beginning (of the season) we talked about our guards were doing all the work, they were showing up to work 32 minutes, clocking in,” Kidd said. “We just wanted our big guys to kind of think that same way. It’s 32 minutes you’re coming to work, come to work ready to play. I think for the last (few) games they are coming to work ready to play.”
Walton, who had 11 points, his fifth straight double-figure game, said the posts just need to do their job.
“We’ve got to be more confident with our shots,” Walton said. “If they trust us with the ball, we have to do something with it. Coach is always telling us to shoot more and dominate.”
If there was a bright spot the Spartans shot the ball well, hitting 11 of 20 3s and they had six in the fourth quarter.
“We played a good first quarter, but the second quarter got us,” Greenbrier East coach Jared Patton said. “We became passive on offense; we missed some defensive rotations and they jumped on us. We only scored like nine points in the second quarter. You can’t have that when you play a good team like Woodrow. First quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, good stuff.”
Cody Dillon had 15 points on five 3s, giving Woodrow five players in double figures.
Brody Hamric had 14 points and eight rebounds for Greenbrier East, and Gabe Patton had 13.
Woodrow Wilson 83, Greenbrier East 65
Greenbrier East
Don Penn 4 1-2 9, Brody Hamric 5 2-2 14, Peyton Dehaven 1 1-1 3, Darius Burns 1 0-0 3, Nathan Dixon 5 0-0 14, Reed McGraw 0 0-0 0, Gabe Patton 5 0-0 13, Layne Lambert 4 0-0 9, Nathan Dolin 0 0-0 0, Braylen Godfrey 0 0-0 0, Jacob Tomlinson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 4-5 65
Woodrow Wilson
Coby Dillon 5 0-0 15, Elijah Redfern 3 4-5 10, Zyon Hawthorne 3 1-1 7, AJ Thomas 0 0-0 0, Preston Clary 2 4-4 9, Nazir King 1 3-4 19, Drew Fitzwater 5 2-2 12. Jaylon Walton 4 3-3 11, Braylon Mickey 0 0-0 0, Lucas Raney 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 30 17-19 83
Greenbrier East 18 9 11 27 – 65
Woodrow Wilson 17 25 20 21 – 83
Three-point field goals – GE: 11 (Hamric 2, Burns 1, Dixon 4, Patton 3, Lambert 1). WW: 6 (Dillon 5, Clary 1). Rebounds – GE: 20 (Brody Hamric 8), WW: 26 (Walton 5). Assists – GE: 18 (Hamric 5, Patton 5), WW: 22 (Redfern 10). Steals: GE: 5 (five with 1), WW: 12 (Dillon 4, Clary 4). Fouled out – None.
