The problem for the Eagles was Edward Little has a pair of 6-foot-5 athletes with the ability to alter the act/react equation enough to frustrate even Sir Isaac Newton.

Lew Jensen and Andrew Middleton combined for 46 points, seven 3-pointers and 10 of Edward Little’s 16 offensive rebounds, leading the Red Eddies to a 65-53 win over Mt. Ararat on Friday night.

Jensen poured in 25 points, including five 3-pointers, and collected 14 rebounds. Middleton added 21 points, mixing in a pair of 3-pointers, and seven boards. They grabbed five offensive rebounds apiece, giving the Eddies (3-3) a 16-7 advantage in second chances.

“It’s something we’ve been focusing on in practice,” Jensen said. “We felt we were bigger than them and wanted to take advantage on the offensive glass.”

“We’re just crashing the boards hard,” Middleton said. “We know we’re bigger, so we just want to crash every chance we get.”

Shyheim Ulrickson led the Eagles (3-3) with 15 points. But EL’s 1-3-1 trap effectively kept the ball out of his hands in the second half. With Middleton at the front of the zone, the Eddies utilized the press to take control.

“We’re just trying to swing it to one side and get that trap,” Middleton said. “Hopefully, somebody backs up and takes it from them and gets an easy bucket on the other side.”

The press didn’t force a lot of turnovers (each team had 13), but it did disrupt the Eagles, especially their sophomore point guard, Ulrickson. He hit a 3-pointer to pull the Eagles within 37-33 a little under two minutes into the third quarter. The Eddies answered with a 9-2 run to take a 46-35 lead.

“He’s one of the best point guards in the state,” EL coach Mike Adams said. “He’s better than almost anybody else in the state with the ball so we have to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible. He makes everybody else so much better. We tried a couple of different things, and the most effective was using our length with our zone pressure to try to turn them over and get them out of the flow.”

Jensen and Kaleb Main (11 points, five rebounds) kicked off the run with 3-pointers. Jensen then found Middleton in transition for a layup and Middleton followed the next trip down by making one of two at the free throw line.

Mt. Ararat went inside to Kevin Carter (nine points) to cut the deficit to 46-42 early in the fourth quarter. But EL regained control for good with an 11-4 run.

Jensen and Luke Sterling hooked up on a backdoor pass for an easy layup. Then the press really kicked in, forcing a 10-second violation by the Eagles. Jensen sandwiched a pair of putbacks around his fourth 3-pointer to make it 55-46 and Sterling added a hoop to put the lead back into double digits.

“They did a great job with (the press),” Watson said. “They forced us into some turnovers that we’re not used to making. Maybe their length bothered us a little bit. But I think our decision-making was a little too slow.”

Ulrickson’s only hoop of the fourth quarter made it 59-51 with 3:11 left, but Jensen answered with the dagger, a deep 3 to make it an 11-point game with 2:29 remaining.

The Eddies shot 8-for-16 from beyond the arc. They outrebounded the Eagles, 36-22, which was an encouraging sign for Adams.

“We haven’t rebounded as well as we should,” Adams said. “We’re one of the bigger teams in the state, but we really haven’t played that way. Mt. Ararat does one of the best jobs of any team we play of boxing out. They get into you. They’re physical. They get low. They take up space. We just try to get a little lower so we couldn’t get moved out of an area, then use our length and athleticism by jumping up and getting loose balls and some good offensive rebounds, especially in the second half.”

Mike Crawford added 12 points for the Eagles.

Watson said a combination of the Eddies’ height and offseason work ethic put the Eagles at a disadvantage on the glass.

“We are what we are right now and we can’t change that, but we need to get in the weight room during the offseason,”he said. “The bottom line is, they were just a little bit taller, they were a little bit stronger and a little bit more physical than us tonight, and that was the key to the game.”

Copy the Story Link