Hays vs St. Michael's (Hays Tournament)

As a fan of St. Michael's athletics its difficult to watch a team with so many offensive threats just not get down and dirty and play defense.  On several occasions there were players that just laid back after a missed shot and in no hurry to get back to defend. The only area on a basketball court that doesn't requires much skill but a lot of heart is defense and I just didn't see much of that from the Crusaders.  


In stead what I saw were players taking their time down court, standing straight up and letting the offensive players drive past them and get to the basket. Even after the coach pointed the mistake out they continued to play weak on the defensive end.  On the offensive end however, they were as different as day and night.  Once they got the ball in their hands they were a different player, driving the lane putting up shots and in one instance one shot almost from half court that didn't go end.  If there was as much effort on the defensive end as on offense this would be a different team, one that would be hard to recon with.  Crusader's remember offense wins games but defense wins championships and you will need to get that area taken care of before conference play if you want to contend in the TAPPS division. 


As for the Hays Rebels, they were a very different team than I am used to seeing. They have some height that they have been lacking in the past few years and a group of scoring guards that will posse a threat against many of their opponents this season. With Cagle (14), Kimbro (13), and Johnson (10) all scoring in double figures and seven other players adding some scoring of their own this was a great team win. The rebels moved the ball around well and were able to find open looks from all areas of the court.  They did a great job on the defensive end shutting down long range shooter Jack Kiser after he was able to put up three 3 pointers after coming in off the bench. After that the defense did a great job of getting out on Kiser and keeping him off the line forcing him to take longer shots most of which fell short.


In the end it was a good win for the Rebels pulling off a 30 point win after holding the Crusaders to only 6 points in the second and 7 points in the third.     


Hays 71, St. Michael's 41

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
St. Michael's	18	6	7	10	—	41
Hays	14	14	19	24	—	71

SM: Garza 2, Ginet 3, Reech 3, Carlton 4, Guerrero 8, Blauke 5, Vandrak 3, Alvarez 3, Kiser 10
HHS: Williams 8, McSpaddan 6, Johnson 10, Normand 6, Jass 4, Kimbro 13, Agnew 2, J. Rodriguez 4, Cagle 14, Miller 4.
Records: H: 7-4.