Lennox Looks to Bounce Back vs Dak XII and Region 4 Rival

Lennox Looks to Bounce Back vs Dak XII and Region 4 Rival

One bad quarter can haunt a team for the rest of the game, and this is a big reason that the Lennox Orioles are starting with a 0-1 record. The second quarter was a decent scoring quarter for Lennox as they scored thirteen, however they allowed twenty-five points to be scored by Sioux Falls Christian. If you negate the second quarter, Lennox would lose by only four points. However, they ended up losing 78-62 in a very interesting game.

Lennox, under the coaching of Paul McVey, has been known to play very good defense. So a lot of people could say that giving up seventy eight points is not very good defense. However Lennox played one of the best offensive teams in the state. In fact, seventy eight points could actually be one of their lower scoring games this season as I believe that if they play a team that doesn’t have such a good defense, it would’ve been a three digit night for the Chargers. I talked to coach Paul McVey about SFC’s offense and this is what he said, “Sioux Falls Christian has very talented and athletic players, we did the best job we could to contest their shots and make it difficult for them.  We did a good job guarding their driving and outside shooting, but our post defense has to improve.  We will learn from this game and adjust our tactics and techniques to make it for difficult for teams to score on us in the post.”

However, not everything looked bad, the Orioles offense played at a very high level. First off, the Orioles shot 53% from three point land. I talked to coach McVey about having this asset, and he replied by saying, “It was great for our guys to see the outside shot go through the net.  Our guys have put in a ton of time on their shooting form and all have the ability to hit the outside shot.  We hope to carry the confidence in the three-ball through the rest of the season which should serve to open the driving lanes and post area for us because the defense will have to respect our outside shooting.” I also talked to him about how the offense in general looked really good as they scored sixty-two points and also shot 42% from the field, he then stated, “We did some nice things offensively against a very stout defense.  We attacked well, hit some shots, and made it to the free throw line.  We had some moments where we were not cutting or screening hard and had poor ball movement.  We need to continue to try to get the best shot we can on each and every possession.”

Looking at the SFC game, there is a lot of things to have learned about this new 2015 Oriole team. One of which is the depth of the team. All fifteen players made an appearance but before the final minutes, eleven players had made an appearance. I asked coach McVey what he and the team had learned from game one and he said, “We have incredible chemistry once again this year.  This team is full of servant-leaders that genuinely care about each other and want to play the game the right way.  We practiced excellent sportsmanship and we demonstrated an awful lot of character battling a very good team.  SFC is one of, if not the best Class A program in the state, and we were able to go toe to toe with them and give them everything they could handle.  If our defense and rebounding improves we will be right there when it really counts.”

Now after looking at all these aspects from the loss to Sioux Falls Christian, the Orioles will look forward to the game against a Region 4A and Dak XII rival, the Vermillion Tanagers. The Orioles travel to Vermillion on Tuesday December 15^th, for a 7:45 tip off. The Tanagers defeated Colome at a score of 51 to 33. Looking at the previous five seasons, Lennox leads the series with 6 wins and 4 losses. Last season, Lennox won both games and Vermillion and Lennox have not changed much.

Vermillion has two very good players on their team. One is number 24, senior Jeremiah Johnson. Johnson is an all-around player who can lead a team. I’m not sure if he is the captain, but there is a good chance considering he is an intelligent and very aware basketball player. They also have a really good shooter in sophomore Cooper Williams. Last year, Cooper looked very good vs the Orioles as he was the leading scorers for Vermillion in both games. I asked coach McVey what the key to beating Vermillion would be and his reply was, “Vermillion has outstanding guard play.  They have one of the best point guards in the state and one of the top spot up shooters.  We need to shut both of those guys down, get a lot of defensive boards and attack the rim in transition.  We are looking forward to another challenging Dak XII game against a quality opponent.”

The Orioles did go undefeated in the region last year, however every single game they played against the region was a highly competitive slug fest between both teams. So with the first 2015 region game coming on Tuesday, there is a good chance that this game is a very good one. So if you are free, head on over to Vermillion for what is going to be a very good game. However, if you are busy, Vermillion is a team who has a steam on the internet and so check out the link below to watch the game online, if you cannot make the trip.

Google search Red Eye Sports and you will find it.

Have a good day, and GOOOOOO Orioles!!!!

Written By:

Grant Sweeter