Hilton Head Prep uses smothering zone defense to defend SCISA AAA boys state title
Dolphins come away with a 35-15 victory over Christian Academy
Sumter – Hilton Head Prep didn’t have a great offensive performance in the SCISA AAA boys basketball state championship game on Saturday at Sumter Civic Center. The defending state champion managed only 35 points.
You know what though? It was OK because the Dolphins held Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach to just 15 points. So HHP defended its title with a 20-point victory thanks to an oppressive 2-3 zone defense.
“Our defense is what we do,” said Hilton Head Prep senior Ben Frey. “We know we're not going to go and run you out of the gym. We're going to go and play hard defense and beat you down.”
And that’s pretty much what the Dolphins did. The Saints’ biggest scoring quarter was the first when they scored seven points and led 7-5. That means they only scored eight points over the final 24 minutes.
The contest was tied 11-11 at halftime. CA got a couple of buckets in the first two minutes of the third quarter – and then nothing. It didn’t score for the final 14 minutes, 12 seconds of the game.
"We knew where their shooters were. We did a good job of getting out and contesting them,” said HHP head coach Richard Barron, whose team finished with a 20-8 record. “We got into that rhythm defensively, and it was tough for them to score.\
“We did a much better job rebounding in the second half. Our responsibilities were a little clearer in the second half.”
“You've got to give Hilton Head Prep credit. They had a great game plan, and they executed it really well,” said Christian Academy head coach Marion Busby, whose team finished with a 22-9 record. “We didn't get a lot of good looks, but our guys stopped doing what got us here. That's penetrate and kick out They didn't want to do it because they saw somebody in the middle.. So when they saw somebody in the middle, they assumed we couldn't attack it.”
The Saints actually held the lead twice in the second half. Sabion Sessions scored the first basket of the third quarter to make it 13-11. After Jason Britschge tied the game, CA’s Aubrey Hall followed up a miss to make it 15-13 with 6:12 remaining in the third quarter.
After that, nothing fell through the net for Christian Academy. Britschge said energy is what makes the Dolphins so good defensively.
“We’ve just got to keep our energy going, moving and moving and moving and talking,” said Britschge, who plugged the middle of the zone.
Frey canned a 3-point basket to give the Dolphins the lead for good. That was followed by a basket by Brendan Moore and a 3-pointer by Connor Campbell.
Four free throws from Britschge made it 25-15 with 1:05 left in the quarter. And as the clock was winding down, Frey threw up a shot from about 35 feet out that he banked in to make it 28-15.
“I was kind of worried because I shot it right in front of the coach,” Frey said. “I didn’t know how far out I was, but it was great when it went in.”
And though trailing by double digits, Christian Academy never found a solution to getting open shots in the final stanza.
“I tried to get us to go a little up tempo, but you have to give them (HHP) credit," Busby said. "They knew when to go and when to slow it up.”
Britshge led Hilton Head Prep with 12 points. Frey finished with nine, and Billy Barron had six.
Sessions and Jack Green led the Saints with six points apiece.
Britschge, Frey and Campbell were selected to the all-tournament team for the Dolphins. Making the team from CA was Sessions and Braylen Hendrix. The other member of the team was Lee Dahlberg of Greenwood Christian.
Busby is pleased his team made it to the championship game, and he hopes it learned from the trip.
“It means a lot. We're a young team and we're trying to build it back up. We (the program) had a little lull there, so we're happy to be back here and have a chance to win it. We just had a bad second half offensively.
“I want them to see this right here (HHP cutting down the net). We expected to be here next year, not this year. I wanted them to see this so it would hurt a little bit and make them hungry for next year.”
Frey said this title is sweet because the Dolphins lost three starters from last year’s championship team.
“It means everything,” he said. “Nobody really believed in us like we did all year, but we kept faith in each other. This is so special for us, so special for the coaches, everything.”
“It's a different group of kids every year,” Coach Barron said. “We've got some who weren't even at Prep last year who came and are new to the school. For others, it validates what they did last year, and for some who were reserves last year, it validates who they are and how hard they worked.”
The Dolphins graduate eight seniors in Britschge, Frey, Chase Blanton, AJ Berger, Joe Wiseman, Jeep Patrick, Tripp Hedden and Mehmet Ege Erol.
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