Pleasant Home readies for AHS
Published 12:20 am Thursday, December 4, 2008
After defeating Straughn Tuesday night 54-47, the Pleasant Home Eagles will get back to work tonight as they face the No. 2 Andalusia Bulldogs.
“I thought we executed and played extremely well this early in the season against that type of pressure (against Straughn),” Eagles head coach Jerry Davis said. “That’s just not the type of thing you see day in and day out. I thought our kids had a great floor game. I thought Ethan King probably played the best floor game he’s played since I’ve been here. He played like a true point guard (Tuesday night). He controlled the show.”
Other than controlling the floor game, Davis said it was tough running their offense against the Tigers.
“The thing about playing against a team like (Straughn) is that they won’t let you run an offense,” he said. “You try to run an offense and try to get the set and move the ball. That’s tough to do.
“I thought our kids did a great job,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong we made a lot of mistakes. But, for this early in the year, we executed pretty darn well. It was a big win for us.”
Turning to the Andalusia game tonight, Davis said it will be a big test size-wise.
“You’re talking about a David versus Goliath match up,” Davis said. “We probably need a grenade launcher, not a rock, to throw at somebody.”
To get ready for the game tonight, Davis said his team will have to deal with a different type of “pressure.”
“We’re doing the same thing,” he said. “It helped us to fight the same type of pressure, but (Andalusia) is going to put a different type of pressure on us. They’re so good offensively. We’re going to mix things up and hope that we can turn them over a few times. If this ball game is going to end up being a high scoring ball game it’s not going to be in PHS’ favor either.”
In order for his team to win, Davis said stopping the middle is essential.
“First of all you’ve got to stop that monster in the middle, Nico (Johnson),” he said. “They’re going to throw it to him, but the thing about it is that they’ve got so many other players around him this time. (Brandon) Sims, (Leslie) James and (O’Brien) Curry and the new guard are all good players. But Nico Johnson is a tremendous high school post player.
“I think Andalusia’s good enough to win the show. It’s going to take a heck of a basketball team around this type of the country to beat them.”
Davis added that overall his team is expecting the challenge.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Davis said. “I’m not conceding anything. They’re going to have to play to whip us. We’re looking forward to the game. It’s going to be great high school basketball (tonight).”
Tip off is at 4:30 p.m. starting with the B-team.