Strong defense pushes Bulldogs past Spartans

Harris scores 25 as Scott wins City League opener

12/13/2013
BY DONALD EMMONS
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

Scott didn’t treat Start kindly Friday night in a City League boys basketball opener.

The Bulldogs routed the Spartans 81-50 inside at Ben E. Williams Fieldhouse.

Scott senior point guard Chris Harris scored 25 points to go along with eight assists to lead the Bulldogs (2-2, 1-0 CL) past the defending City League champions.

Trey Brown added 19 points, while Chris Darrington pumped in 16 in a game the Bulldogs established control early by jumping out to a 24-11 advantage after one quarter.

They owned a 44-23 edge at halftime and never looked back.

“We came out and played well tonight,” Harris said. “Our coach told us to stress defense.

“All we stress is defense at practice. We’ve been practicing and we haven’t touched a ball. It’s that serious.”

Start found out just how serious. The Bulldogs’ full-court press and half-court man-to-man defensecaused the Spartans to commit 26 turnovers, including 17 before halftime.

“I thought they pretty much controlled that game from the opening tip to the buzzer,” Scott coach Chris Dames said.

He said his team executed its defensive game plan as well as it had all season.

“We’re being patient,” Dames said. “We’re going to find our victim and then we’re going to go after him. We don’t want to gamble and get out of [defensive] position.

“We want to keep the ball in front of us, and we just want to wait until they turn the ball over or until we identify people that are weak with the ball, and then we’re going to go after them. I felt like we did a very good job of that tonight.”

Michael Mitchell finished with a 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Start. Chris Adams added seven points and seven rebounds.

Many of Start’s miscues were unforced errors.

The Bulldogs made a strong first impression to tip off league play led by Harris, a four-year varsity performer. They scored many of their points off fast breaks created from the Start turnovers.

“They know they’ve got to carry us now,” Dames said of Harris, Brown, and Darrington. “Until the youngsters get their legs up under them, they know we’ve got to ride them right now.

“Trey Brown really did a great job because he’s moved from starting center last year and now he's moved out to the wing. This is really his breakout game of the season.”

Harris had 13 points at the break.

“We wanted to come out and send a message, but we’re sending a message to anybody,” Harris said. “We’re going to come out and play every night.”

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.