by Malcolm Butler
When Rhett Bridges banked home a three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter, Cedar Creek took a 45-44 lead over New Living Word.
However, the Cougars watched the Lions use a 13-2 run over the next three minutes to pull away for a 57-51 victory Tuesday night.
The story of those three game-deciding minutes — and much of the other three and a half quarters — was the struggle of the Cougars against the Lions half-court trap. New Living Word used its length and athleticism and constantly caused Creek difficulties on the offensive end of the floor.
Cedar Creek head coach Todd Martinez said it’s a matter of his young team, which returns only two starters from a year ago, becoming more confident and executing at a higher level.
“We aren’t as good as we need to be about being in the right spot and confident of where we need to make the right pass to,” said Martinez. “We need more time with our film study, and I need to do a better job of helping them understand where the next play is.
“I think they are starting to see it, but they don’t trust it yet. We have some young guys and we are in the habit of catch the ball and see the guy open, but we ball fake the guy that is open and then by the time we throw it, it’s covered … especially against a long, athletic team like (New Living Word).”
Despite the offensive struggles throughout the night, the Cougars led for the vast majority of the first two quarters as Luke Alexander scored six of the first eight points for Creek and Cameron Temple added a three-pointer that gave Creek an early 11-9 lead. Blake Robinson then powered his way through the Lions defense for his second bucket of the opening quarter to give the Cougars a 13-12 lead.
The second quarter saw Bridges hit a pair of three-pointers, including one in transition with 4:20 to play before half, to give Creek a 19-14 lead. Jake Terry then hit a three-pointer, his first points of the game, with 1:20 to play and Robinson added two free throws with 60 seconds remaining as the Cougars led 24-21 at the half.
Creek was able to maintain its lead early in the third quarter. A Robinson layup with 1:40 to play in the stanza gave the Cougars a 32-27 lead. However, New Living Word closed on the quarter on a 9-0 run thanks to Creek turnovers as the Lions took a 36-32 advantage.
“This is part of the growing pains of a young team and a bunch of guys who haven’t played a lot of varsity basketball,” said Martinez. “I did think we took some steps in the right direction in some areas tonight. We will get to see how much we grow in a week because we will play them against next week at our home tournament.”
With Terry and Temple struggling to find their offensive rhythm against the New Living Word trapping defense, the Lions pushed their lead to 42-35 with just under seven minutes to play in the quarter. Terry then scored five points during a 10-2 run that saw Creek take its last lead midway through the fourth quarter, setting up the final Lions run.
Terry led Creek with 15 points. Robinson added 10 points, Bridges scored nine and Alexander eight.
“Jake and Cam are going to be our primary focus, but other guys need to have confidence to step up and make shots when they are open because teams are going to overplay on (Jake and Cam),” said Martinez. “And when those guys start to do that, then it will open it up more for Jake and Cam.
“We have talked about other guys feeling confident in scoring. I have had conversations with some of them who said they didn’t feel that freedom last year. That’s not how we play. We are seeking a third scorer. I think Blake Robinson can help there. I thought he looked a lot better tonight than last week. And I think we have some other guys who have shown flashes too.”
Richardson led New Living Word with 24 points and Salsberry added 16.
Cedar Creek will face Pitkin and Quitman in the upcoming Quitman Tournament which starts Thursday.
