Presbyterian Christian displayed the might of its depth to quickly whittle down Lamar Christian and come away with a 56-30 win on Friday night.
The Bobcats are again off to another strong start as they improved to 15-2, with the team’s depth being its biggest strength, according to PCS coach Joshua Sherer. The Bobcats regularly rotated five players, and against the Lions, it was the first time that team’s depth was on true display, with injuries and some illnesses preventing him from seeing it earlier in the year.
“We can wear people out,” Sherer said. “I’m not always a fan of the five in and five out, but we did it then because sometimes our flow gets out, but we felt our depth was going to hurt them, and our pressure was going to hurt them and wear them down.
“We can go all the way down our lineup, and kids can produce. For game production, we can play 10 guys easy.”
Lamar Christian (10-4) jumped out to a 10-5 lead midway through the first quarter, but PCS responded with a 19-1 run that lasted into the second quarter to take a 24-11 lead. Helping break the game open was PCS’ forward Caleb Brown, who scored 12 of his 16 team-leading points in the first half. Brown used his size to take control of the paint and helped the Bobcats gain the edge on the boards.
“The place he is really good is defense,” Sherer said. “That’s where he sustains us because he is a shot blocker. He rebounds so well and is the best one we have at taking charge. He loves doing it.
“Offensively, we tried to continue to pound it. We knew they were going to have trouble with him. He did and owned the paint on both ends of the court, both offensively and defensively.”
At the same, Lamar Christian struggled to have shots fall in, which Lions coach Caleb Bennett was due to his team trying to force plays.
“When we didn’t turn it over, we just took shots that weren’t in the flow of our offense,” Bennett said. “Stuff we do in practice and break our own press, we settle down. We rushed it, and we just needed to get people on base, if you want to say it like that. We needed to take good shots and keep them out of transition, and we didn’t do it.
“In a lot of games, we rely on our speed and athleticism to put us ahead. But when a team can match your speed and athleticism and then throw in size on top of it is not a great matchup for us, but no excuse for a loss.”
Brown’s impact opened the Bobcat’s perimeter shooting, with freshman Jet Henderson capitalizing on the open shots and drawing fouls. Henderson, who was 8-for-8 from the free throw line, finished the game with 14 points.
“He does (add another dimension),” Sherer said. “He’s just a freshman. Jet’s specialty is putting that round ball in the hole. He can flat-out shoot it. Last year, offensively, we struggled to put the ball in from the outside, and that’s been our issue this year. We have been shooting at a pretty high clip. It allows us to get spaced out, and our dribble drive has really opened up. It’s been good for us.”
PCS held Lamar Christian to six points in the third quarter, which led to the Bobcats building a 51-23 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
For Sherer, seeing his entire team healthy and on full display certainly left him with confidence for the second half of the season.
“We’ve got kids that can play multiple roles and play a lot of positions,” Sherer said. “We have a chance to create some turmoil for people. We have a chance to pick up a few wins here and there. At the end of the day, we have to continue to stay healthy.
“This a special group, but does that translate into championships? I don’t know, but I know it’s a great group, and I love this squad. I’m glad to have them.”
