Arms in the air, navy blue jerseys crowding the paint, the Jesuit Rangers Varsity Squad has been strengthening its defensive efforts down the stretch, hoping to ensure a playoff berth in UIL competition. With four games left in the regular season, all against district opponents, the Rangers needed to be nearly perfect to secure a top-two finish, or in other words, a playoff berth, in District 9-5A.
With Richardson Berkner having already clinched first place in the division and with second place in the division on the line, the second-place Rangers played arguably their most important game of the season against the third-place Lake Highlands Wildcats. On Tuesday, February 7th, the two teams squared off at Jesuit for the monumental game.
In a somewhat anti-climactic fashion, the Rangers came out on fire against a Wildcat team that had beaten them earlier in the season, outscoring the competition 25-9 in the first quarter. Although Lake Highlands managed to cut the deficit down to an 11-point margin going into the fourth quarter, Jesuit outscored the Wildcats 17-6 in the final period, making it a 22-point victory, one of their largest winning margins of the season.
A usually high-powered offense, the Wildcats came out sluggish and sloppy in what Rangers head coach, Chris Hill, described as “[Jesuit’s] best defensive performance of the season.” Yet again, emerging star Steven Speith ’13 led all scorers with a whopping 21 points.
When asked about Speith’s incredible production and improvement this season, Varsity manager Jeff Ackels ’13 asserted “the numbers speak for themselves, with Steven averaging a double-double this season.” His increased production and ability to effectively control the paint has been key for the Rangers this season, who lost their best player David Lacey ’12 to an ACL injury midway through the season.
Another key player for the Rangers down the stretch has been Senior swingman Reid Leinbaugh ’12, who added 14 points to help Jesuit earn their biggest win of the season. Also with big nights were Senior D. J. Udofia ’12 and Junior Bryan Stankey ’13, who had 9 points and 10 points, respectively. With this colossal win against Lake Highlands, the Jesuit Rangers, for the third consecutive year, clinched a playoff spot in UIL Conference play, while the Wildcats fell just short of playoff glory, ultimately unable to overcome their slow start to the season.
Getting past their toughest opponent of the final stretch, the Rangers looked forward to their last two games, against the two teams with the worst records in Divison 9-5A, Samuell, which went 3-26 this season, as well as Sunset, which went 6-22. When asked about how he was going to keep his players focused on these last two games, Coach Hill underscored his team’s mental toughness, saying, “I don’t need to tell these guys to stay focused… At this time of the year, they should be focused already.”
In their game against Samuell, the Rangers jumped to a 30-10 halftime-lead, keeping the last-place team scoreless in the second quarter. The Rangers did not let up in the second half, outscoring the Spartans by 27 points and earning a 71-31 victory. Tim Sayers ’12 and J. D. Waggoner ’13 led all scorers, each with 13 points, while Leinbaugh added 12 points. Also in double-digits was Junior Joe Payne ’13, who had 11 points, in the most productive game of his Varsity career.
Many of the players have been ecstatic to see Payne finally performing well for the Varsity squad after missing much of his high school career due to numerous concussions and other injuries. Long time teammate of his, J. D. Waggoner ’13, described Payne as a “very emotional, excitable player, who makes great passes and is very smart with the ball.” Team Manager Ackels, who has followed Payne’s basketball career since middle school, is excited to “see what Joe can do in the playoffs and moving forward.”
After this convincing win against the Samuell Spartans, the Varsity Rangers played their last game of the season against Sunset, a team completely winless in district this year. In one of the biggest blowouts in UIL play this entire season, the Jesuit Rangers took the Sunset Bison out to the proverbial “watershed,” absolutely blowing them out of the water, by 59 points, 75-16.
Tim Sayers ’12 led all scorers with 22 points, while Leinbaugh and Udofia scored 14 and 12 points, respectively. Not only did they play a solid offensive game with nine different players scoring, but they also kept all Sunset players out of double digits. The Bison’s leading scorer was Jacob Huerta, who scored only 6 points. Junior John Paul Bach ’13 also got on the box score for the first time this season with 3 points, later noting “what a great way” it was to finish off the season.
The Rangers finished their regular season with an overall record of 25-6 and a district record of 11-3. They now look ahead to their first playoff matchup against Garland-Lakeview Centennial, on Tuesday, February 21st, at Plano Senior High School.
Lakeview Centennial finished 17-13 overall this season, with a third-place, 9-5 record in District 10-5A play. The Rangers played Lakeview Centennial in the fifth game of the season this year, defeating them by a score of 80-67, in a game that Junior Nathan Krog ’13 described as “a good challenge and a well-played game for our team.” Krog also mentioned that he was “fired up to get another shot at Lakeview.”
In that first matchup, however, currently-injured center David Lacey ’12 had 32 points, turning in one of the most explosive performances of his Varsity career. Without Lacey, one of the biggest storylines for the Rangers going into this playoff battle is who will provide the offensive spark.
Also asked about the prospect of playing Lakeview in the playoffs, J. D. Waggoner ’13 noted his “excitement,” but also mentioned the importance of being mentally prepared for the playoffs, especially without Lacey in this rematch. “We got to have strong intensity going into the playoffs,” declared Waggoner. “Last year, coming off Samuell and Sunset games, we did not play a strong intense [playoff] game against South Garland. If we play as a team, play good offense, great defense… eliminate turnovers… we can win.”
Junior guard Grant Hatzmann’13 also attested to this focus on mental preparation, especially in regards to defense and turnovers: “[Coach Hill] tries to keep us focused… on the fundamentals, particularly defense, because even when our shots aren’t falling, he knows we have the talent to win.”
Over the final stretch of the season, there has been an increased emphasis on defense and playing smart, mistake-free basketball. For a team that thrives on high-powered, full-court offense, this seems like a bit of a shift in mindset. However, if the Rangers play as well as they have been defensively and avoid costly turnovers in transition, they have a great chance at taking their talents to the second round of the UIL bi-district playoffs.
Like Coach Hill said earlier this week, “We are in it to win a state championship. That’s our motivation. That’s our goal.”
Dallas Morning News Jesuit Sports Homepage: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/jesuit-news/
Map of Plano Senior High School (Location of Tuesday’s Game):
