Myrtle W. Roberts
December 21, 2006
Ra’Tnasia Keyshaun Day
December 26, 2006
The E.D. White Cardinals and Vandebilt Terriers were neck and neck for the first half, last Wednesday night at Stopher Gym in Thibodaux. And while the Cardinals led 23-22 at halftime, things fell apart on the offensive end in the third quarter, as Vandebilt limited them to six points en route to a 65-50 win.
With the score 29-27 in Vandebilt’s advantage at the 5:13 mark in the third quarter, the Terriers scored 12-unanswered points to break the game open, many coming on transition baskets following turnovers. Also keying the run was back-to-back three pointers by Evan Mistich and Gary Williams.
DeShawn Patterson capped off Vandebilt’s dominating quarter by making three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.
Terriers’ coach Rafe Blades said his team’s performance was one of its best since he’s coached at the school. “We gave up six points in the third quarter,” said Blades. “Defensively, I thought we prepared. We limited them to one shot. I thought, defensively, really this is the best we’ve played in the 12 years that I’ve been at Vandebilt.”
Helping Vandebilt to its hefty third quarter lead was eight E.D. White turnovers. “Very poor execution,” said E.D. White coach Jonathan Keife. “Very poor execution tonight. It seems like (Vandebilt) capitalized on every mistake that we made, which a good team does.”
When asked what his team did well, Keife answered, “Really, nothing. Defensively, we played well, and that’s kind of been our calling card. But we put so much pressure on ourselves defensively tonight, because we were so poor offensively.”
While Vandebilt was not as dominate in the fourth quarter, the lead it built in the third allowed it to withstand a mini-rally by the Cardinals that saw the game within single digits.
Mistich started the fourth quarter with a three pointer, but E.D. White’s Jordan LeBlanc answered with a long ball of his own. After Dequiante Brown’s lay up put the Terriers ahead 52-38, LeBlanc made another three pointer to make it 52-41.
A put back by Cory Adams cut the lead to 52-43, and the Cardinals appeared to have momentum with 3:22 in the quarter.
However, Vandebilt’s transition game kept E.D. White from pulling any closer, as the Terriers extended their lead to as much as 18 points.
Blades stressed that his team’s defensive performance as the key to winning the game. “We really, really played team defense, help side defense,” said Blades. “Their best player had six points, so I thought we knew where Ben Martin was all night.”
He added that his team’s conditioning helped it to withstand E.D. White’s late run. “We’re only six or seven deep, so we really try to have hard practices and stay in shape. I thought our conditioning helped us to get some transition baskets.”
On the other side the court, Keife questioned his team’s emotion. “We have eight seniors, and this is the last time they’re playing Vandebilt,” said Keife. “This is the only time we’ll be playing them all year, and we basically came out here and laid an egg. As far as emotionally, it didn’t look like there was anybody too much ready to play, and I don’t understand why.”
For Vandebilt, Mistich scored 20 points, while Brown had 18. Patterson added 10.
Adams led the Cardinals with 12 points and Ryan Bloss had 10.
