White House head coach Caleb Cook wrote the words “inside-out” on the whiteboard in the locker room ahead of their matchup against Sycamore on Monday night, and the team executed it to perfection.
The Blue Devils controlled every aspect of the game, defeating the visiting Sycamore War Eagles for the second time in four days. After holding a 20-point halftime lead, the Blue Devils scored a 63-44 victory.
Everything that happened Monday is a direct result of the game on Friday. The Blue Devils took home a 43-34 victory that night behind senior big man William “Quad” Lucas. He went 10-for-14 from the field, scoring 22 points.
“Big” may be an understatement. The Bethel University football commit measures in at 6-feet-5-inches tall and a whopping 300 pounds.
But what makes him lethal are his hands. He has a nice touch around the basket and can pass out of double teams smoothly.
Lucas scored 11 points in the first half Monday night, and once he got rolling, Sycamore was forced to take drastic action, double teaming him every second of every possession. One player would front Lucas, while another would stand between him and the basket.
This left the remaining four Blue Devils to take aim from all over the floor. They were 9-for-18 from beyond the arc in the first half, scoring more in the first half Monday than they did the entire game on Friday.
Their 44-24 halftime lead was plenty to give the Blue Devils their 10th win of the season and seventh in the district.
Zane Brown led all scores with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc. The team, as a whole, went 15-for-28 in three-point attempts.
That type of execution was exactly what Cook wanted to see from his team.
“We made great passes, made great extra passes, and we knocked down shots,” Cook said. “I’m glad we did… I’m just glad (the shots) went down, and we took what they gave us.”
White House essentially played four-on-three and managed to not only get good looks at outside shots, but it also led to easy layups.
“When they were doubling, we could just go ahead and spread them out and wait for a great shot,” Cook said. “We were fortunate to have a lead there… and they started to double Quad and just leave somebody open.
“We didn’t have to settle for threes. We can get any shot we wanted. We had the lead; we had the momentum. I didn’t want to stall, but I knew we could just work for any shot we could get. That’s what we were able to do.”
Along with the stellar performance, the night was noteworthy for other reasons as well. For the first time since Nov. 24, students were allowed to come to the game and formed a real student section.
It was not massive, but compared to the past two months, there was a definite surge of energy.
“I think the players noticed it,” Cook said. “It was good to have those kids back in the gym, you know, for both sides. Just good to (try) to be working back to normal… Just to have those kids back in the gym, we fed off that energy.
“We jumped up 10-3 on them, and that energy just kept growing and that momentum kept growing. It was good to have those kids here tonight and get behind the kids here.”
White House will take on Westmoreland on Tuesday, Feb. 2 and host Merrol Hyde on Friday, Feb. 5. Sycamore will host Montgomery Central Tuesday and travel to White House Heritage on Thursday, Feb. 4.
BOX SCORE:
White House (63) – Zane Brown 21, Quad Lucas 12, Nathan Bowman 8, Ethan Droz 6, Amarion Lucas 6, Caleb Dorris 4, Jimmy Allen 3, Maverick Macon 3
Sycamore (44) – Gavin Mitchell 12, Seth Smith 10, Grady McPherson 9, John Hale 5, Graham Marcum 3, Hunter Gill 2, Trey McCain 2, Austin Morris 1
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