MONMOUTH — After an even first half, Spruce Mountain switched defenses for the second, which allowed Cameron Cain to have his biggest game of the season.
Cain and company were all over the place in their man-to-man defense after halftime, leading to basket after basket in transition which helped the Phoenix run away with a 51-37 win over Monmouth Academy on Thursday night.
The Spruce Mountain senior scored 10 of his 17 points in the third quarter, changing a one-point halftime deficit into a nine point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Monmouth coach Wade Morrill said his team was prepared for Spruce’s 3-2 zone, but the switch to man proved to be a lot to handle.
“That was big,” Cain said of the scheme adjustment. “It helped keep the pressure on them and helped us get wide-open. My teammates got big pressure on the ball and then I went help-side and stole the ball.”
With 4:39 left in the third, Cain drilled a 3-pointer, forcing Morrill to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Spruce sent the full-court press and Cain stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup, forcing yet another timeout.
Once Monmouth brought the ball up, Cain stole the ball at half court, dribbled behind his back and around the defender for a score to put the Phoenix up 29-23. That 40-second burst was all Spruce needed.
“I caught fire, I mean, yeah, it felt good,” Cain said. “It was the first time this season, so it felt good.”
With a minute left in the quarter, Cain drilled his second three of the quarter to put his team up 13 points.
For Spruce coach Scott Bessey, everything started with the team’s backbone: defense.
“If we aren’t the top, we are one of the top in scoring defense in the conference,” Bessey said. “That’s how we practice, that’s all the talk, everything is about defense. If you aren’t going to worry about defense then you aren’t going to play for me. You defend first and the shots will go in. Offense becomes easier when you play defense and get out in transition.”
Monmouth took an 11-8 lead into the second quarter thanks to five points from senior forward Ryan Burnham. Burnham scored a layup to make it 8-1 early, but with four minutes left in the first quarter, the senior earned his second foul and went to the bench.
The Mustangs’ offense slowed with Burnham off the floor, allowing Spruce into the contest. The Phoenix didn’t shoot well in the first half, but Brandon Frey scored seven of his 13 points in the first half to keep his team alive.
At halftime, Bessey reminded his team to keep pressing on the defensive end.
“We missed probably four or five easy shots and a couple were uncontested layups,” Bessey said. “We are pretty decent shooters. Jack Bryant, I think that was as poor as he’s shot all season. You can easily let that stuff affect how you’re playing. I wanted to make sure no matter what happens that we were going to defend.”
After the Mustangs’ huge third, Monmouth pressed more on defense and they were able to turn the tides and create their own easy shots at the rim in transition.
“I think the big adjustment in the fourth was we settled down and we started applying some pressure ourselves,” Morrill said. “We started to get some transition baskets with some ball pressure.”
Monmouth’s Cam Armstrong scored six points in the second half off the bench, while Brock Bates scored a couple buckets to end with a team-high 10 points. But Spruce kept finding its way to the free throw line to keep the Mustangs away.
“If you look at the game, we had the same field goals from the floor, but they outscored us 14-1 from the free throw line in a 14-point loss,” Morrill said.
It was sloppy on both sides of the ball at times, but Bessey will take any win in the MVC.
“It’s a road game against a playoff team and we’ll take it,” Bessey said. “There are no style points here, I would’ve taken a 1-0 game. It’s a gutty win, we didn’t play well offensively but we did enough to win on the road.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
