#11 seed Smith Golden Eagles(27-3) vs. #12 seed Gastonia Huss Huskies(20-8), in Boys 3-A West Regional Basketball Finals on Monday night at LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem…Tipoff set for 8pm…..
Game tonight, from Winston-Salem will be on GreensboroSports Radio….Pregame around 7:45 and tipoff due for 8pm…..
Smith Golden Eagles winners back on Friday, 61-58 in Overtime, over the Crest Chargers, while Huss topped Gastonia Ashbrook, 51-48…
Huss as a team, averaging 70.4 points per game, plus the Huskies are lead in scoring by Jaleel Smith who is posting 22.3 ppg…Next in line for Huss is, Zaiyir Phillips at 18.8 ppg…Then they come with Antonio Worthy, at 11.4 ppg…Top rebounder for Huss is Zamarius Gladden at 6.9 boards per game…Tallest players for Huss stand at 6’2, and they have four young men who stand at 6’2, including their top shot blocker, Nazire Davis, who has 29 blocks on the season…
Along their front line, Smith sports Ty’sere Payne at 6’10, Kenny Miller Jr. at 6’5, and Jyi Dawkins at 6’4…..Three-point sharp-shooter Kadyn Turner-Scott goes at 6’4 and guards out front in Tayshawn Mann going at 6’3, and Micah Cowan at 6’1….Turner-Scott has been coming in off the bench as the 6th man, and KT Scott has been as hot and deadly as any player in the state from Three-Point range during the playoffs, and he has literally been incredible from the left corner, hitting circus shots as GAME-WINNERS, in Smith’s last two contests…Another tough man in reserve has been Smith’s Gavin Palmore, and he stands at 6’5…..And another solid three-point shooter for Smith is Kendrick Johnson, and checks in, at 6’1…..
The kind of height that Smith displays will for sure help you on offense, especially around the boards for second and third chances, and some really nice stick-backs, and put-backs, but where that height really stands out and pays off is on defense, where when Smith sets up in their tough 3-2 zone, their long bodies and wide-spread wing span from their extended arms, allows the Smith zone to lockdown their defensive end of the court….
Makes for an interesting matchup and lately the games have been very close, so we might see that trend again on Monday night…Teams not being able to get out and run on the break, can slow down the pace of the game, and the defenses have been limiting fast-break chances, and points off quick transition….