Published: December 23, 2008 10:57 pm            

Still perfect

Dade races past Indians

Undeterred by Murray County’s pounding-in-the-paint style early on Tuesday, Dade County’s Wolverines kept firing and hitting enough from outside to knock off the Indians, 67-57, in final game of the Holiday Classic at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center and remain undefeated.

The Wolverines got another solid offensive effort from junior guard Andrew Houts, who led all scorers with 26 points, and remained perfect after 11 games. Dade County now takes a break for the holidays before returning to the court on Jan. 9 at Rockmart.

Coach Greg Linder’s Indians (8-2) saw their five-game winning streak snapped and will have that to think about until Jan. 3 when they play at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.

Houts, who delighted the small crowd with strong 3-point shooting after a slow start, scored 11 second-quarter points as the Wolverines blitzed the Indians 28-16 to take a 39-30 halftime lead. The dead-eye Houts, who scored a season-high 37 points on Saturday in a 75-74 win over Dalton in the classic, failed to score a field goal in the first quarter, but made back-to-back buckets starting the second to tie the game at 16-all.

The Indians streaked to an 8-0 lead to open the game and were up 12-7 after Bradley Watts’ put-back goal with 1:17 left in the first quarter. Murray County kept working inside early to take advantage of its size advantage.

“We know we lack size,” said the 5-foot-9 Houts, who averages 26.7 points per game with a season-low 16 against North Sand Mountain, Ala. “That’s the weakest part of our game and it’s a big disadvantage. We have to get into our pace, make the game faster and work with what we’ve got.”

Midway through the second quarter the Wolverines’ Jake Bell and Travis Core, who was the only other Dade player in double figures with 11 points, hit back-to-back shots six seconds apart. That gave Dade County a 27-24 lead with 4:08 left in the quarter.

By that time, the Wolverines had jump-started their offense with a quicker pace and that’s exactly what the Indians didn’t want.

“I wanted to slow the game down,” Linder said. “And we had to make sure where their shooters were all the time. When they started pressing and running more it took us out our game, which is to get in sets and get shots off. After that we couldn’t always take advantage of our size inside.”

Murray’s Watts hit a field goal to slice Dade’s lead to 32-30, but the Wolverines scored the final seven points before halftime and cruised into the locker room with a 39-30 lead. Core had four of Dade County’s nine points in that stretch.

“We’ve got some shooters,” Dade County coach Glen Hicks said, “and they’ve all pretty much got green lights to shoot. That’s why we want to extend things defensively. If you’re going to score on us, score in the first 10 seconds. We don’t want the other team setting up plays and taking a long time to score. We have to play fast.”

Linder sent the Indians back to the court in the third quarter with one player — John Kiser — shadowing Houts, whose only points came on a 3-pointer — he’s made 52 3s this season and only once failed to hit from that distance in a game — at the 4:59 mark that gave the Wolverines a 47-34 lead. But the Wolverines still outscored the Indians 15-12 in the quarter, with five other Dade County players getting in on the scoring. Taylor Mai’s two free throws pushed the Wolverines’ lead to 54-42 after three quarters.

The Indians got field goals from Watts and Chandler Puryear, who finished with 10 points, in the first 38 seconds of the fourth quarter to pull within 54-46. Dade County’s Dillon Moon connected just before Murray’s Chase Sanford drained a 3-pointer and Tanner Long, who scored 13 points in the game, made 1-of-2 free throws and the Indians trailed 56-50 with 5:46 left. Sanford finished with 14 points.

Core hit a field goal, Houts drilled a 3-pointer and then made a three-point play and suddenly the Wolverines had stretched their lead to 64-53 with 5:08 remaining, effectively sealing the victory.

“There for a while we were trading 2s for their 3s and that math doesn’t add up,” Linder said. “And in the second quarter we got a little rattled and didn’t handle their pressure well at all. I think that wore us out trying to fight that pressure all over the floor.”

And when the Wolverines weren’t applying pressure defense from one end of the court to the other, they were launching perimeter shots, or driving to the baskets, in a fast-paced assault on the Indians.

“They’re not against shooting the ball from anywhere,” Linder said. “You’ve got to defend the entire floor. The biggest key for them was the fact we couldn’t control the pace of the game. They controlled the pace and it paid dividends.”

Hicks was happy with his team’s pre-Christmas play and shook each player’s hand, wishing him a Merry Christmas leaving the dressing room.

“I like this group,” Hicks said. “Two years ago this school hadn’t had a winning record in 15 years. This time last year we were 8-3 and went 19-8. They’re good players, but more importantly they’re good people.”

        

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