Brick teaches Jaguars
lesson about keeping focus
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer
Defense. Play it hard, and most of the time it allows you stay close enough to give yourself a chance to win at the end of the game.
Fake it, and almost certainly you’re going to find yourself in trouble, even against a marginal opponent.
That’s what happened to the Jackson High School boys basketball team last Friday in a disturbing 73-64 loss to Brick High School in a Shore Conference Class A South match-up.
The Jags put forth a shoddy defensive effort in giving up their largest point total of the season. What’s even more bizarre about the setback is the Jags whacked Brick by 30 points earlier in the season.
"We just didn’t play defense," Jackson coach Mike Antenucci said. "We definitely got caught off guard. They were fired up to be playing against us, and once they realized it was going to be a game, they hung very tough. We didn’t do a good job of protecting against the perimeter shot. We gave way to many open looks."
Brick drained 10 three-pointers en route to the victory. Brick was led by Dan Reddan, who finished with a game-high 27 points, including five three-pointers.
"He’s a solid player," Antenucci said. "He’s a good perimeter shooter who can play inside as well. He really hurt us. We had a difficult time matching up with them. They aren’t that big, but they all have quickness and can handle the ball. Teams like that present match-up problems for everybody."
Antenucci hopes the loss acts as a wake-up call as the postseason approaches. And while the Jags have qualified for both the Shore Conference and state tournaments, getting a good seed and home-court advantage is an issue.
"Maybe this is going to bring us back to the level of focus we need to be at," Antenucci said. "We can’t afford to look at any team too lightly. We need to go out and play as hard as we can for 32 minutes."
It didn’t help, of course, that Jackson’s 6-foot-8 standout Kenny Simms was sidelined early with foul trouble. Simms picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter and had a total of four by halftime.
Simms, who is the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, scored eight points in a total of nine minutes. The Jags need him on the floor in order to be successful, especially against the better teams in the Shore Conference.
"Not having him in there is a big minus for us," Antenucci said. "He got into foul trouble and I had to sit him. It’s a different game when Kenny is out on the floor for us."
Antenucci switched defenses from man-to-man, to zone, to a full-court trapping press. Nothing stopped Brick’s offense.
"They shot the lights out," he said. "It was one of those games when every shot just seem to fall. Unfortunately, we weren’t the team making the baskets."
Jackson, which fell to 12-3, 8-1, was paced by Tony Boone with 21 points.
"It wasn’t our night," Antenucci said. "The true test is to see how we are going to bounce back. We need to be more intense on defense in the next couple of games."