NHSI boys final not to be forgotten

Ron Bailey, Publisher

Montrose Christian holds serve.

April 3, 2011 - Having defeated Oak Hill Academy 70-62 in double overtime, February 2nd, the Montrose Christian Mustangs anticipated a battle in yesterday's National High School Invitational, thoughts that proved prescient; Montrose would prevail 71-64, again in two extra periods. The win caps a 25-1 regular season for Montrose, the NHSI's top seeded team, while Oak Hill's Warriors end 25-4.

Tyrone Johnson led Montrose with 21 points (11-11 from the free throw line), along with four assists and two rebounds. Quinn Cook dropped a game high 25 points for Oak Hill, also adding four helpers. It was their work in pick and roll - one of the sports most fundamental yet successful offensive plays - that stood as one of the game's major subplots.

Tyrone Johnson consistently got into the paint where he did damage.

"Oak Hill's a big team, and I know my coaches and teammates trust me with the ball in my hand a lot" said Johnson, who will play for Villanova next year afterward, of his pick and roll utilization. "What they told me was to get in the lane and break my man down. But we wanted to bring their big men out (of the lane)". He went on to note in the second half in pick and roll he "was going to take the layup or dish it to Michael (Carrera) like I did a few times to get layups. It worked out in the end".

Carrera, a junior forward rumored to possibly be a Maryland Terp in 2012, notched 20 points and a game high 13 rebounds, and indeed finished around the rim to close the game. Fellow junior forward Justin Anderson added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while third year center Kevin Larsen came off the bench for a much needed 10 points and nine rebounds.

In terms of defending Cook, in pick and roll Johnson indicated "My thing was to be aggressive. You know, being a bigger and stronger guard than Quinn, was to get in his head a little bit...he's always used to coming up and shooting over smaller guards".

During the game Cook saw multiple defensive looks out of pick and roll, including going under and over the screen, switching as well as being hedged. Nevertheless the confident guard headed to Duke next season put his 7-21 shooting on himself, noting "I just wasn’t hitting shots. I mean, I always wanted to bring the big man out (on switches), because they couldn't guard me. Or if they laid back, I'd shoot the three. I just wasn't hitting shots".

Possibly his two biggest misses occurred to end both overtime sessions. Of the first, he opined "I had a great shot. Just missed it and came up short to win a championship". Cook did indicate "They did a good job of defending me at the end of the game; you have to commend Coach (Stu) Vetter (of Montrose) for that".

Anderson of Montrose sank his biggest shot, a game tying three pointers in the first overtime, with 2.3 seconds left. In the presser Justin revealed himself to not be the play's first option, as that was senior Tyler Hubbard, who would score early in the second overtime, a three pointer that gave Montrose its lead for good.

Hubbard on taking and hitting that shot, his only make of the game, at a most important juncture: "My teammates, kept saying, 'Just keep shooting, just stay in the game. It's going to come to you'. And that time we ran Five-post, and Justin had the ball, he came off the screen. I set my feet and knocked it down. I knew it was going in as soon as it came off my hands".

Coach Steve Smith's Oak Hill crew got double figure scoring from juniors Jordan Adams (18 points, two rebounds) and Damien Williams (14 points, three rebounds), both forwards. The Warriors were decimated on the boards (54-21) and bested in field goal percentage (44.6% to 37.3%), yet were still a shot here, key free throw there away from victory.

This game met all expectations.