Russia’s Jaxon Grogean hit a pair of three pointers late in the fourth quarter. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Russia beat Jackson Center 58-34 to improve to 12-0. They played textbook Raider basketball, pushing the tempo, and turning defense into offense.
Russia, OH – Special teams can win in various ways. Championship caliber squads don’t have to follow a single game script to win a game. Russia has that flexibility, and has it in spades, but they didn’t need it tonight.
Alan Brads is a journalism student at Cedarville University, and writes sports at large for Press Pros.
They won exactly how they wanted to win.
Their blistering tempo and high risk/high reward defense wreaked havoc all night on the Jackson Center Tigers.
Steals became fast breaks, which became easy buckets, which amounted to a 58-34 Raider win.
“It’s not a huge secret that these kids know how to win,” Head Coach Spencer Cordonnier said. Anyone who can read a standings chart would agree.
“They’re hard working kids that just know how to win and know what they’re doing.”
Their high effort showed up often, as every defensive rebound or steal for Russia instigated a breakneck sprint they won more often than not. Their high basketball IQ showed up seconds later when they found the right pass to complete the fast break.
Russia’s Vince Borchers scores from point blank range in the Raiders Friday win over Jackson Center.
Even when they didn’t get a quick basket, the high pace wore down Jackson Center faster than it did Russia’s eight man rotation.
The Raiders won with their A-game, their Shaka Smart-esque chaos that they always came out ahead on. But even if they hadn’t, they probably would’ve found another way to win.
The first quarter featured the slowest pace of any, but even with a slower tempo the Tigers struggled to score.
They wanted to get the ball down to Reed Platfoot on the blocks, and often succeeded in doing so, but little came of it. Timely double teams gave Platfoot poor looks at the basket, which he typically chose to fight through instead of passing out of the post, resulting in an array of missed field goals in the paint.
Russia failed to control the pace for the majority of the first quarter, but still escaped it with a 13-10 lead, because that’s what great teams do.
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They exploded to a 29-15 lead in the second quarter, relying on hustle points. Their defense hit its stride and they pulled in offensive rebounds, providing them both quantity and quality of shots that Jackson Center just wasn’t getting.
Offensively Russia’s unselfishness was on full display.
Russia’s Hayden Quinter applies pressure to Jackson Center’s Xavier Lowe.
“Definitely moving the ball is what we did best today,” junior guard Jaxon Grogean said. “Everyone shares very well, no one is selfish.”
The box score can testify to that.
Grogean scored 12, Vincent Borchers and Felix Francis 10, and Brayden Monnin and Benjamin York 7. Altogether eight Raiders put the ball in the hoop.
Rather than backing off in the second half to try to limit possessions and burn clock, the Raiders doubled down on their aggressive defensive strategy, ambushing Tiger ball handlers with double teams.
“When we pressure the ball so much it makes them tired, which makes defense even easier as the game goes on,” Russia guard Vincent Borchers said.
Borchers played a huge role in keeping the Jackson Center offense uncomfortable all night.
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Jackson Center’s Platfoot found a better rhythm in the second half, using his surprisingly nimble footwork to escape double teams and get free looks at the hoop. Even so, it wasn’t his best night as he finished with 12 points, supported by 9 from Lucas Hartle, and 4 from Lucas Heitkamp and Xavier Lowe.
Russia’s Vince Borchers harasses JC’s Lucas Heitkamp in Friday’s Raider win over the Tigers.
Jackson Center never cut the lead back to single digits, and as the jumpers started falling for Russia, they built their lead to 24 in the fourth quarter.
Time expired to thunderous Raider applause, a familiar sound by now, and one we’ll hear plenty more this season.
There’s no need to beat around the bush, this team has every chance to win a state title. They’ve earned their #1 ranking in the inaugural RPI release.
Their narrowest win came on the road against Botkins who has beaten every team they’ve played not named Russia.
Their success is sustainable. A 12-0 record should prove that on its own, but the deeper you look, the easier it gets to sell yourself on this team.
If this game is any indication, they’ve improved drastically since December 1, when they beat Jackson Center by just eight points.
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They can have a bad shooting night, and make up for it by forcing turnovers. They’re deep enough that one injury can’t sink their ship on its own.
They can get behind then manufacture a 10-0 run in 4 minutes to claw back into a game. And if they get the lead, don’t expect them to take their foot off the gas.
Russia’s Felix Francis scores off an offensive rebound.
They kept the full court press on Jackson Center even with a 20 point lead, which they can do because they’re as well conditioned as any team around.
The point is that a lot has to go wrong for Russia to lose a basketball game.
As fans, we love to speculate about what might go down in March, but the coaches and players know better than to let themselves think that way.
Coach Cordonnier remains focused on helping the team honor the agreement they made on the first day of practice. They wouldn’t get caught looking ahead, and would shut out all the outside noise.
“It’s a 22 game season and it’s one game at a time,” Cordonnier said. “We haven’t even looked at Antwerp yet and we play them in two days.”
The outcome had much more to do with how well Russia played than mistakes by Jackson Center.
Russia’s homecoming king, Brayden Monnin, crowns the Raiders’ win with a bucket.
During the calmer, slower moments some things went right for the Tigers. They created open jumpers when the post wasn’t working, and played strong half-court defense.
They’re 4-3 in the Shelby County League with two losses to Russia and one to Botkins, hardly a severe indictment.
If they can repeat their one-point win over Anna next week, they’ll be primed for a third place finish in the SCAL, and could even make a run at second if they get revenge on Botkins.
It may not live up to last year’s team that won a share of the league title, but considering the roster and coaching turnover, it’s a respectable season to date.
Both teams have quick turnarounds this weekend as Jackson Center hosts New Knoxville tomorrow, and Russia heads to the MLK Classic on Sunday for their next “one game at a time.”
Russia’s Braylon Cordonnier shoots over the block attempt of Jackson Center’s Reed Platfoot.
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