Keep senior Brady DeGeare out of the paint and Crystal City's chances of winning are greatly reduced.
Herculaneum wasn’t able to do that in last season’s Jefferson County Activities Association small schools matchup with the Hornets late in the season, DeGeare scored 21 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in a 57-49 victory.
In the opening round of the Rolla “Duke” Herbert Tournament at Crystal City on Nov. 28, the conference rivals collided again. DeGeare (6-6) again led all scorers with 23 points, but the Blackcats limited the Hornets’ offense to perimeter shooting and snapped a 12-game losing streak against Crystal that spanned back to March, 2010 with a 70-48 win.
“Our kids dedicated themselves to playing defense this year,” Herculaneum head coach Jason Jarvis said. “They bought into what we’re coaching and this is probably the best game we’ve played in a long time.”
Crystal City head coach Sean Breeze said it wasn’t the Hornets’ plan to settle into a 3-point offense. Crystal made 7 of 34 shots from beyond the arc. Senior Chris Eisenbeis, perhaps the team’s best long-range shooter, was 0 for 8.
“We had a completely different game plan, but as things started to unravel, it was panic mode,” Breeze said. “Brady’s one of our better 3-point shooters, but we didn’t have any rebounding. We’re going to have other guys step up and contribute.
“(Eisenbeis) has been shooting the ball better than he ever has before, up until tonight. If he hits a couple (of 3-pointers) early, who knows what happens. Every other aspect of the game was a fail for us.”
After Crystal junior Ethan Hoist made a basket with 2:48 left in the first half, the Blackcats led 25-22. But Herky scored the next 12 points and its lead was never threatened again.
“I thought they shot the ball really well,” Breeze said of the Blackcats. “Both teams were even until we stopped playing defense and crashing the boards. It was the worst rebounding effort any team I’ve coached has shown. That’s on me. I clearly didn’t cover that enough the first three and a half weeks (of practice).”
DeGeare showed his range when he knocked down a turnaround jump shot from 15 feet midway through the third quarter that cut the Blackcats’ lead to 11 points. Junior Blake Leathers scored a basket and junior Austin Stepp missed the second free throw of a 1-and-1, but senior Matt Sales grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Sales sank both free throws and all of a sudden Herky led 44-27.
Junior Griffin Morris, who scored 11 points, made a 3-pointer for the Hornets to open the fourth quarter. Herky senior Corben Clubb answered with the next six points which extended the Blackcats’ lead to 20 points. Clubb is in the role as Herky’s sixth man this season.
“He attacked the rebounds and we got some easy putbacks because of it,” Jarvis said of the three-sport (football and track and field) athlete. We were relentless tonight attacking the boards.”
Leathers (12 points), Sales (16) and Stepp (14) each scored in double figures for the Blackcats, who fell to 1-2 after being thrashed 94-35 against Saxony Lutheran on Nov. 29 in the tournament semifinals. Herculaneum plays Grandview on Friday for third place.
Senior Chandler Jansen had the duty of guarding DeGeare most of the night and finished with a team-high 11 rebounds, many coming off of Crystal’s 3-point misses.
“Chandler did a good job on (DeGeare),” Jarvis said. “We did a pretty good job on him last year, we just didn’t close it out.”
When asked why the early-season matchup between the two rivals didn’t drum up the same kind of fan frenzy like last year’s game, Breeze was diplomatic.
“With every shot that went in, they got more confident,” Breeze said. “And it doesn’t matter at that point what the shooting percentages are. It had something to do with them beating our butts. They outhustled and outplayed us in every aspect. (The fans) couldn’t get too loud because it was such a beating.”