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Sports Twitter'Jacks ride front-court duo, zone 'D' to bedevil Brookville
Hardy and Mays have double-doubles in Oakwood's 68-51 'old-school' victory.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
OAKWOOD — Chris Hardy and Jake Mays do a little bit of everything for the Oakwood High School basketball team. In addition to their rugged interior play, they helped design the team's warm-up pants.
The Lumberjacks unveiled their new pants (circa 1976) Friday night and then went out and throttled Brookville 68-51 at their beloved "Pit" in a Southwestern Division game in the Southwestern Buckeye League.
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"They're patterned after Indiana's famous barber-pole pants," Hardy said. "Instead of the candy stripes, we went with blue and white. I think they're going to be a hit."
Fashion aside, the Lumberjacks went out and displayed an old-school game of blue-collar hustle and physicality. Hardy registered a double-double with 23 points and 10 boards. The 6-foot-7 Mays was no slouch, either with 13 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Brookville entered the game as the highest-scoring team in the division (64 points) and has a reputation for its long-distance attack (three of its players rank in the top five in 3-point field-goal percentage).
Oakwood's tenacious 1-3-1 defense disconnected the Blue Devils and forced them into frosty shooting (18-of-62 for 29 percent). The 'Jacks opened up their biggest lead (20 points) with 7:19 to go in the game and cruised the rest of the way.
The Lumberjacks improved to 6-1 and 4-1 in the division, while Brookville slips to 4-3, 2-2. Oakwood trails pacesetter Bellbrook (4-0) in the division.
"It was probably our best game of the season," said Oakwood coach Paul Stone. "Our size and length gave them a lot of problems and made it difficult for them to pass and get off their 3-pointers. They were uncomfortable when we pressured them in the 1-3-1."
Brookville coach Jeff Davidson concurred. "Oakwood contested every shot, and with every miss went our confidence. Doubt creeped into the minds of our shooters."
Playmaker Robby Sherk added 15 points for the winners. He epitomized his team's accuracy from the free throw line (19-of-24), converting 7-of-8. Brookville's sharpshooter Cory Caudill scored a game-high 24 points.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2478 or rjackson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
