Rockets on track to defend league title

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

Oak Harbor boys basketball is on track to defend its Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division title — a title it shared with Willard last year.

Only thing is, if both teams stay on track, they would be co-champions again. Last year, Oak Harbor finished the regular season 18-3 overall and 8-2 in the Bay Division, Willard was 20-2 and 8-2. This year, the Rockets are 10-7 and 6-2 and the Flashes are 14-5 and 6-2.

Except Oak Harbor does not have a problem with Willard on the court — the Rockets have defeated the Flashes twice, 52-41 and 50-43. The two losses both came to Huron (7-5, 4-3), 57-32 and 50-41.

The means match-up issues — sometimes teams match well against other teams, sometimes they do not, and you cannot always go on comparative scores.

Oak Harbor’s issue is its lack of size, and ninth-year coach Eric Sweet, the son of long time Ottawa-Glandorf coach Dave Sweet, knows it. Sweet’s only player taller than 6-foot-2 is 6-5 junior forward Kyle Glaser. So, he has found ways to make up for it, and his players have responded.

“Offensively, our kids have figured out and accepted their roles really well,” Sweet said. “People have figured out that we are a three-point shooting team, but we don’t have guys just jacking three-point shots without any care in the world. We know who are our shooters are, they are going to keep shooting, and our shooters know when they are open, they are allowed to take the shot if they want to take it.

“Offensively, we have some freedom — we move the ball well, we share it well, but I think what is keeping us winning is our defensive end. We’re keeping ourselves in games because we are just playing good basketball on the defensive end. We’re not getting overly aggressive and getting out of position, giving up layups and stuff.

“We’re just doing it at both ends of the court. We’re playing confident, smart and tough,” Sweet continued.

Blake Booker, a 5-10 senior guard, is second in Bay Division scoring, averaging 19.5 points. He also leads the Bay Division, hitting a school record single season 74 three-point goals in 185 attempts from behind the arc at a 40 percent clip this year.  The only other player in the entire division to even have over 69 attempts is teammate (5-8 senior guard) Brenen Ish, and he’s hitting treys at over 30 percent. Sweet says Booker is a “true sharp shooter.”

“Blake is shooting a really high level this year — he’s a phenomenal shooter right now. He’ll set a lot of school records before he leaves Oak Harbor. He already owns three,” Sweet said.

Booker also has set the school record for most threes in a game (8) and most threes in a career (160 for 392, 40 percent). His sophomore year, he went 25 for 66 (37.8 percent) from behind the arc and his junior year Booker went 61 for 141 (43 percent).

 

Getting Booker open

So, everyone already knows Booker can shoot, so the key is getting him open.

“We put quite a few sets in that require quite a bit of movement out of our players. It definitely helps us get open shots, because we don’t have a true post player in that sense to go inside-out, so we rely on a lot of backdoor cuts, a lot of movement, and in one or two of our sets, we have one or two ball reversals that require screens or back-screens and we’re able to get ourselves open,” Sweet said. 

“It does take some time and effort to remember the sets, but the kids have done a great job with it. 

Even when Booker does not get the space he needs to take an open shot, he puts it down even with a hand in his face.

“You know, some of my shooters, too, do not need much room. I mean, Blake Booker is a tremendous shooter — he doesn’t need a lot of room,” Sweet said. 

“So, if you give him a step that is all he needs. I’ve been watching film, and I’ve always laughed myself, saying ‘Oh, that was a great play,’ but all it was is Blake Booker was faster and better with the basketball than the defender was. So, that definitely helps — I’m not going to lie about it. I mean, my players are able to shoot the basketball at a high level, and when they do we are really good. He’s pretty fun to watch.”

If you do focus on Booker, watch out for Ish or 6-2 junior wing T.J. Hallett.

“I think Blake allows others to get some open shots, too, because he’s the main focal point,” Sweet said. “So, T.J. Hallett and Brenen Ish get open looks because sometimes they over-rotate towards Blake, and other shooters are getting open shots.”

Plus, this team meets the challenge even though they don’t have the height.

“That’s the thing — if you look at our roster, we are 6-1, 6-0, and we are not tall. But the kids we play, and we typically play seven kids, including five seniors, a junior and a sophomore, and these kids are just tough this year for me,” Sweet said.

“They are willing to rebound, they are willing to box out and we’re limiting people to one shot. You can go down the list — (6-1 senior wing) Matt Hallett-Szymanski, (6-1 senior forward) Ryan Ridener, and (5-11 senior wing) Collin Fauver — they just do the right stuff for us at the right time. It allows Blake Booker, T.J. Hallett and Brenen Ish to be scorers. 

“They have just figured out who they are, they play well together, they play their tails off, they buy into the scouting report, they have fun doing it, and we’re in a good position right now to hopefully continue the success that we have been on.”

 

 

 

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