If you ask Sandy Creek Patriots boys basketball head Coach, Jon-Michael Nickerson, you probably could not ask for a more all-around dominating performance from his team in their 84-34 win over the Douglass Astros on Friday. The Patriots would put on their display of solid offensive and defensive performances from the start of the game as they opened up on an 11-0 run. By half time, Sandy Creek was pretty much in full control as they led 52-11. Following the game, Nickerson noted that his players recognized almost immediately that they had a favorable mismatch and that “the main thing was, we wanted to make sure we were working one us,” Nickerson said. That favorable mismatch came in the form of 6-foot-10 Auburn signee Jabari Smith Jr. (17 points), who’s presence on the court was an issue for the Astros as they had no one that could match up to him. However, despite his height advantage, offensively, Smith’s ability to bring the ball up, see the court and knock down perimeter shots, opened things up for the Patriots, allowing several players, including Washington State signee, Myles Rice. Rice scored seven of the Patriots first nine points and finished the night with 16 in the Sandy Creek win. Nickerson went on to say that working on themselves also meant working on “developing good habits” as well as developing their chemistry and energy and “playing unselfish basketball”, something they did well in Friday’s win. When asked about going through the stretch of remaining region games and things he would like to see his team continue to work on, Nickerson emphasized that he wanted to see his starting five gel as much as possible. “Keep developing chemistry with one another and keep locking down defensively,” Nickerson said, adding, “And make sure that’s a priority.
And get our other role players to communicate just as well as they do.”
More scores from the night:
Grayson opened up region play with a 61-43 win over Newton to win their sixth in a row.
McEachern picked up their third straight win as they knocked off East Coweta 99-76 in their region opener.
Wheeler dominated Osbourne 85-53 to improve to 13-3 overall and 6-1 in the region standings behind Kell, who was idle Friday night.
Richmond Hill improved to 12-0 and 4-0 in region play as they defeated Bradwell Institute 61-43
St. Pius picked up a region win over Southwest Dekalb to improve to 3-0 in region and 11-1 overall.
