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AKRON, Ohio– Canton McKinley guard Je’Cis Moody played hero ball for his team Tuesday night as his late-game layup helped seal a 62-60 upset win over Hoban.
FINAL: McKinley defeats Hoban 62-60 behind Je’Cis Moody’s game-clinching layup. @SportsKee1 @McKinleySports pic.twitter.com/CrC7OKMqSY
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) January 17, 2024
Moddy ended the night with a game-high 20 points along with 19 points from fellow guard Reed Sims Jr.
The Knights were able to dominate the paint early on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs had no answer for the size and physicality they were matched up against and it started with the 6-foot-8 Sam Greer.
The sophomore had 10 of his team’s 19 points in the first quarter as the Knights maintained a lead for most of the first half. Their lead got as high as seven points midway through the second quarter. Still, like they did all night, the Bulldogs found an answer starting with their perimeter shooting and that kickstarted a strong finish to the first half as the Bulldogs ended the final two minutes of the half on a 6-2 run to head into the break trailing just 30-27 behind a team-high 10 points from Je’Cis Moody to pace the Bulldogs.
The message at halftime for Sean Weatherspoon’s Bulldogs was simple; to push the ball and don’t settle for outside shots in the open court.
“The message was to come out and play a little faster,” Weatherspoon explained. “We knew they were working their butts off in the first half on defense and we wanted to push ourselves and push the tempo and try to make them run.”
The second half was a little bit different for the Bulldogs as Moody was nearly unguardable for his team early on. He registered eight points in the first four minutes of the third quarter, including a four-point play to push his team ahead. The Bulldogs got their first lead of the game after Moody knocked down two free throws to take a 33-31 lead.
From there, his team went on a 15-10 run to end the third quarter with a seven-point lead. As the Bulldogs got more comfortable within their offense, shots started to fall and they started to control the entire game.
To start the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs kept the Knights scoreless for the first minute and a half, forcing them to try and get open looks in transition that weren’t falling.
The shots started to fall midway through the quarter as the Knights were able to go on an 8-2 run to get within two points. Despite not taking the lead from there, they hung onto a one-possession game in the final two minutes of regulation.
Finally a bucket, what a sequence as Jonas Nichols gets the and-one to go for @HobanBasketball and they’re back within two, 58-56 with 3:14 left in the 4th Q. @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/QwjUglFTq9
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) January 17, 2024
“We didn’t want to settle for threes,” Weatherspoon expressed late in the game to his team. “Our message was don’t settle and to attack the basket and that’s what we did.”
With the collective effort from Sims Jr. and Moody, the Bulldogs never got their lead taken away from them and Moody’s go-ahead bucket with less than 10 seconds left to put his team up by two possessions is what ultimately sealed the win for the Bulldogs.
“We’re definitely a young team,” Weatherspoon said. “One thing about my team is that they are resilient. They never quit, they’re always going to go out and fight back no matter what the deficit is and that’s what I love about my guys, they’re going to fight till the end.”
For the Knights, Sam Greer finished with a team-high 19 points along with 14 points from Jonas Nichols and 10 points from Kenny Scott during the loss.
