The Eagles improved tremendously in the four games that followed the Garden City Classic and led to the Christmas break. Upon review of the performance in the Garden City Classic, Coach Cook established one goal for the Eagles - to improve defensively. In the Garden City Classic, the Eagles scored more points than any team in the tournament. But they also allowed more points than any other team except for one, leading to a 1-2 record and a 6th place finish. The philosophy of the coaching staff of the Eagles is that a team can be bad if it plays good defense, although that is usually not the case, but it definitely cannot be good without playing good defense. With that in mind, the Eagles refocused and set out to address the defensive end of the court against the Columbia Panthers on December 8th.
Tuesday, December 8th
Augusta Eagles - 61
Columbia Panthers - 52
After trailing 38-32 with 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Eagles went on a 20-4 run in the following 8 minutes, outrebounding the Panthers 15-5 and forcing 3 turnovers in that time period. Eleven combined made free throws in the fourth quarter by Matt Miller and Austin Crown defended the lead in the final minutes. Matt Miller led the Eagles in scoring with 23 points. He also played a solid defensive game against the Panthers' leading scorer, Jonathan Ashworth. Kip Custer chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds. Nathaniel Crown played a strong game, scoring 8 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Brian Wilson added 8 points despite limited playing time.
An important metric is the rebounding differential. A team's rebounding performance says a lot about it's ability to keep the other team from getting easy shots, since easy shots usually come from a defensive breakdown, which leads to defensive players being out of position and unable to block out. So rebounding differential is a key clue in assessing a team's defensive performance. In the six games preceeding the December 8th game against the Panthers, the Eagles averaged just under 33 rebounds per game, compared with 42 rebounds per game for the opponents of the Eagles. In that span, the Eagles were outrebounded every game. Against the Panthers, the Eagles reversed that trend, grabbing 42 rebounds, compared with only 33 for the Panthers. This statistic is one to watch as the Eagles measure their improvement in future games.
With the win, the Eagles improved their record to 4-4.
Friday, December 11
Augusta Eagles - 78
Victory Christian - 46
The Eagles forced 24 turnovers on their way to their second straight victory. Austin Crown (23 points), Nathaniel Crown (17 points), Matt Miller (17 points), and Kip Custer (10 points) all scored in double figures. Eddie Alba (4 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals), Ashtan Farmer (4 points and 4 rebounds), and Justin Wilson (3 points and 1 assist) also made solid contributions off of the bench.
The Eagles improved their record to 5-4
Saturday December 12
Augusta Eagles - 54
Curtis Baptist - 73
The Eagles ran into a hot shooting team (54% shooting from the field and 42% shooting from the three point line) and strong inside play by James Webb (22 points), losing 73-54. Down four points midway through the fourth quarter, fatigue and foul trouble wore down the Eagles as they committed 5 of their 11 and gave up 5 of Curtis Baptist's 8 offensive rebounds during that time period.
Staying competitive for so long against a quality team that was on fire from the field was a testament to the Eagles' improvement on the defensive end of the floor. The Eagles outrebounded Curtis Baptist 35-28 and only committed 11 turnovers. Only one week earlier, Curtis Baptist had outrebounded the Eagles 47-27 and scored a much more decisive victory without putting on a shooting exhibition as they did Saturday.
The Eagles were led in scoring by Austin Crown, who scored 30 points while making 9 of his 16 shot attempts and getting to the foul line 19 times. Along with Crown, Matt Miller (11 rebounds), Nathaniel Crown (8 rebounds), Kip Custer (7 rebounds), and Brian Wilson (5 rebounds) all played fine defensive games and rebounded well.
The Eagles fell to 5-5 with the loss.
Thursday, December 17
Upstate Eagles - 48
Augusta Eagles - 41
Analysis to come...
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