Trending
WARREN -- On a night where points came at a premium, the Warren G. Harding Raiders rose to the occasion, fending off Alliance with some late buckets to push past the Aviators 54-45.
Alliance nipped at the Raiders' heels all night, but Harding pulled away in the final quarter to preserve the win.
"I think our man-to-man got a little more focused," Raiders coach Keelyn Franklin said about the fourth quarter. "We didn’t lose (Jayce Crockett) as much, he was killing us. We just needed to string together some stops and then get some buckets on the end and convert on the backside.
"I think once we were able to do that and get it to about 10, we were able to relax a little bit and we felt a little more comfortable. But I thought we pressed. I thought we pressed a little bit and the defense just kind of locked in those last two to three minutes."
While obviously happy about the wins, Franklin is hoping those ragdoll push and pull games become more of a thing of the past.
That will come with better execution -- converting fast breaks, not surrendering runs, and maintaining possession of the ball.
"We told our guys, we have to get better as a whole," Franklin said. "We have to get better in our half-court execution and we have to get better at finishing in transition. A lot of times, you look out there and it seems like we should be about to score, but it ends up either as a turnover or a missed layup. We have to convert in those situations. We’re really focused on that in practice."
A second-half timeout served as the spark Harding needed, as they took control after the fact.
It was the players who took control during the timeout, showing a side of maturity that’s encouraging for a young team.
Franklin is hoping as the players continue to mature, the execution will come easier and easier to them.
"During that timeout, it was one of those player-led timeouts, as opposed to me talking the whole time," Franklin said. "It seems like once we get to that point like once we kind of where it’s like, 'We need to string stops together if we want to pull out the game and win,' and we’ve seen them answer the bell.
"Me as a coach, I’m not satisfied, I want to see them do that the whole game. I’m not satisfied with it being close with three minutes left and it’s like 'Oh now let’s lock in.' Let’s do that for four quarters and see how good we can really be. So that’s the challenge that I’m trying to get these guys ready for."
Chaz Coleman led the way with a 16-point performance and Naujeat Jones added 10 while dragging down nine boards.
Harding has a quick turnaround, hitting the road to face an undefeated Massillon team on Friday.
Start time is set for 7 p.m.
byauger@tribtoday.com