Orioles Find a Hot Streak; Look to Add another Win on Monday

Orioles Find a Hot Streak; Look to Add another Win on Monday

The Orioles came into the 2015-2016 season with a lot of hope and optimism coming off of last year’s Region 4A championship and a trip to the State “A” tournament in Rapid City. However, this year’s team had a rough start facing off against some of the best teams in South Dakota. After starting 0-3, Lennox has found fire and they won three straight games. In this article, you will see what has fueled Lennox to find some wins lately, plus you will see how they matchup against one of the top offenses in the state.

Lennox headed to play a Region 4A rival on December 21^st in Canton. After a hard fought game, Lennox had earned their first victory of the season with a 59-39 final score. Lennox had found a solid combination of offense and defense to equal such a great outcome as what happened that night. This proved to be the spark that Lennox needed to start a fire as they would go to Chamberlin and play Chamberlin who was 4-0 and was also an honorable mention team in the SD State “A” rankings. Lennox’s hot offense and strong defense was enough to get the big win as they left Chamberlin with a 56-53 victory. The next day, Lennox would head to Centerville to play the Tornadoes and they would earn a blowout win with 72-38 final score. Then the Orioles got the opportunity to play the Clark Willow-Lake team, and they would battle very tightly, until they fell in overtime at a score of 62-57. They would fall back to 3-4 on the season. With that being a fact, Lennox knew that beating Elk Point Jefferson, they could get back to an even five hundred record. Lennox battled well, and they were led by two seniors, Jacob Hinker and Jacob Lackas. Hinker nailed sixteen points and Lackas brought in twelve points in Lennox’s 61-47 win over EPJ.

Lennox had won four of their last five games and I had a chance to ask Coach Paul McVey about how their success was coming about and his response was, “We are starting to have an understanding of the importance of keeping teams off the free throw line and out of the post.  We have had to make some defensive adjustments as the year has gone on and we seem to be getting more in sync now.  We are very pleased by our shooting from the outside and the ability to rack up assists to each other.” I then talked to Coach McVey about how Lennox has been doing so well considering that offensive leader Jacob Hinker has been limited by double teams and face guarding defenders. He answered me with this, “Jacob actually played great in both of those games.  When teams double-team or face-guard him it opens up space for the other guys on the court.  Jacob is an awesome passer and is getting a very high number of assists this year.  All of our players are scoring at a higher clip this year due to all the hard work they have put in.” This brought our conversation in the direction of the offense. I told him how well the three point stats look and then I asked what differently they have done this year to other years that has brought the three point percentage up. His response was “We have not really changed anything in regards to the three ball.  We don't shoot a very high number of threes but we do talk about only taking high percentage threes when the ball goes inside and back out. Our guys spend a lot of time on form shooting, making game shots, and putting in extra work before and after practice.”

Now that Lennox is back to a four win and four loss record, they will take on the Trojans from West Central. The Trojans are a team who have been known to give the Orioles trouble in the past. Last year, Lennox lost twice out of three times with all three games being very close when the game ended. All three games were won by less than ten points. This year, both teams have their premier shooters back. West Central has Noah Vettrus is back and Lennox has senior Jacob Hinker. The Orioles will look to slow the Trojan offense that has been at times, super dangerous this year. While West Central has a poor record at 3 wins and seven losses, they have some very impressive wins. While West Central did get blown out by Dell Rapids, Sioux Falls Christian and Madison, they defeated a very good Tea Area team and they hung in closely with a very good Dakota Valley team. Last year, Lennox had very little trouble containing Noah Vettrus, however the Oriole defense had trouble trying to stop Jacoby Odegard. Odegard who graduated last year and moved on to the University of Sioux Falls basketball team was a dangerous three ball shooter, and with him being gone, Lennox’s defense could look very nice tomorrow night. I asked Coach what the main key or keys would be in order for the Orioles to continue their success and defeat the Trojans and his response was “Our players focus on the process. We play basketball one possession at a time and we try to do so with an incredibly high level of commitment and character.  If we focus on the process, we are confident that the results will fall in our favor.”

Now with the Orioles finding their stride and the fact that Lennox has not won at home yet this season, means that Lennox could be on the right side of a win on Monday the 18^th. The only way you will be able to know is if you find your way in to the Nest at the Lennox High School. I know what you are thinking though, “it is way too cold to go to a basketball game.” Well I will tell you that the heating system at the high school is up and running perfectly, so come on out and support the Orioles this Monday night.

Have a Nice day and GOOOOOOO Orioles!

Written By:

Grant Sweeter