By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Fueled by rapid breakouts, the Thunder Mountain Falcons ran over Mt. Edgecumbe High’s defense and marked a 72-51 victory over the Braves, Friday night on Japonski Island.
The Braves fell to the Falcons again on Saturday in a tighter match, 68-60.
Looking back on Friday’s challenging basketball game, the team saw that a lack of a coherent home-team defense was a visible flaw.
The Braves’ top scorer RJ Alstrom-Beans was emphatic when he noted this after the loss.
“We’ve just got to play defense as a whole,” he said.
Facing a hard-driving team such as Thunder Mountain, which combined an aggressive offense with good shooting, Edgecumbe was in for a tough match.
“What was going through my head was 24 is a shooter. Eliminate him, we have to get back on defense early… we have to get stops, because it all starts on defense. If we stop them on defense we get more chances,” Alstrom-Beans recalled.
The Falcons’ number 24 is Oliver Mendoza, who led his team and notched 20 points in the game, most from the outside. But aside from a single player, the vast majority of the Falcons’ baskets resulted from breakthroughs and drives, often triggered by the Braves’ turnovers.
In his assessment of the need for an improved defense, Alstrom-Beans was far from alone.
Braves junior Landon Varga, of Golovin, seconded the necessity of getting back on defense to prevent a breakthrough layup.
“We’ve got to get up. We’ve got to get back moving… Defensive hustle is a big part of it… We’ve got to get down on the floor a little faster, just hustle. If we just sprint down and get in front of them or at least kind of block the shot… that’s probably the best option,” Varga said.
After a number of fast paced plays gave the Falcons a 24-15 lead by the end of the first quarter, Varga stressed the need to stay positive.
“I want to try to encourage everyone else to stay positive,” he said.
The Braves increased the pressure on the travel team in the second, narrowing the gap and ending the half 39-33. The Falcons ran away with the game in the third, however, scoring 22 points to Edgecumbe’s 7. With a 21 point deficit as the fourth quarter began, the Braves faced an uphill battle. The two teams stayed neck and neck in the final minutes, both notching 11 points in the fourth.
Braves coach Archie Young agreed with his players that the team’s defense needs work.
“They shot the ball well and we were giving up all the layups, because our transition defense was nonexistent. We didn’t come out ready to play at all and they came out and hit some shots which is great for building energy,” Young recounted.
He coach added that he hopes to work on defense transitions as the basketball season enters its third and final month.
“I have to do a better job at prepping this – there are some things I need to figure out… It’s not rocket science. We need to care about defense and get some rotations as far as help side goes,” he said.
Moving into the late season, Young stressed the need to apply lessons from practice in game play and push hard to get back on defense. During the interview, Braves jersey #44 was draped over the arm of a couch. Young added that this jersey, presented in honor of Gil Truitt at a ceremony last week, will likely be displayed behind Truitt’s favorite place in the back row where he sat when he watched basketball.
In the teams’ second match up on Saturday, the Falcons claimed another win, though the score was closer, 68-60. Much like on Friday, Thunder Mountain dominated the first quarter, leading 23-13. Mirroring the first game, the Braves improved in the second, keeping the score level for eight minutes, but faltering in the third. The Braves fell into an 11-point deficit in the third quarter, but roared back to life in the final minutes of play, scoring 26 points to the Falcons’ 13 in the fourth quarter.
Looking back on the final quarter of the second game, Young said it was a glimpse of what his team can be. The Falcons subbed out their starters in the first minutes, allowing the Braves to narrow the gap.
“Momentum stayed in our favor when starters came back in and we were able to get it to 8 twice, I believe,” Young told the Sentinel via text message. “The last quarter, effort wise, is who we need to be in the last few weeks of the season! Our effort needs to keep improving for us to improve.”
Local basketball players compete again this week. The schedule is below.
