by STOW, Ohio– Playing zone defense is not something Stow head coach David Close was used to playing this season. His team incorporated it for the entire game Tuesday night, helping spark a 50-39 win over Twinsburg.
“We really haven’t played zone, I think 3-4 possessions all year,” Close said. “I came into the game not even sure if we were going to use it, so I thought, let’s start with it and see how it goes.”
The Tigers tried playing a very conservative offensive game throughout the first half and it appeared to give the Bulldogs some trouble. It took the Bulldogs four and a half minutes to score their first point of the game. Once they scored their first three points, they swiftly ended the final three minutes of the first quarter on a 14-3 run.
The 2-3 zone from the Bulldogs defensively started to wear out the Tigers and they struggled getting the ball in the paint for the remainder of the half. To start the second quarter, junior Austin Wilhoit connected on back-to-back threes followed by a Reece Raymond-Smith corner 3-pointer as they led 23-13 midway through the second quarter.
The Tigers would score just six points in the second quarter as the Bulldogs’ speed and athleticism seemed to catch up to them closing out the first half and the Tigers went into halftime with a 28-17 deficit.
The halftime message for the Bulldogs was simple: rebounding.
“We had to rebound better and I thought spreading out in that (zone defense) makes your rebounding positions a little more challenging,” Close said about the halftime message. “That was our message and to continue to execute to get good shots.”
Not much changed throughout the second half as the Tigers were held scoreless for the first three minutes of the third quarter, relying heavily on its outside shooting. The Bulldogs were able to extend their lead by as much as 15 points in the third quarter after an Andy Mergen lay-up with a minute and a half left. The Bulldog defense held their own as they took a 38-26 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Tigers found a spark with their outside shot as the knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut their deficit to six points with just three minutes left in the game. Following the Bulldog timeout, senior Reece Raymond-Smith would hit back-to-back 3-pointers himself, pushing their lead back up to double digits, something that took the life out of the Twinsburg team late in the game.
Raymond-Smith would end the night with a game-high 21 points during the win as Tyler Fleishour finished with 12 points and Austin Wilhoit rounding out the scoring with 11 points of his own.
For the Tigers, Cameron Wilkerson finished with a team-high along with Camden Hill rounding out the scoring with eight points during the loss.
