January 25, 2008
SPC North Division Conference game
Tulsa Holland Hall 53
Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal 38
Holland Hall drove five hours to meet up with SPC North Division foe All Saints Episcopal of Fort Worth Friday. Unsure of what icy weather conditions they would face considering all the "winter weather ice warnings" forecast for north Texas, it appeared the only "ice-cold" was Holland Hall's early shooting. The Dutch's three best 3 pt shooters each missed their first attempt from beyond the arc, and then usually reliable free throw shooter Brock Morton missed his first attempt from the charity stripe and Holland Hall found themselves behind 4-0.
But Morton broke the ice with his 2nd Ft, then quickly added a 3 pointer from the left corner to tie the game and the Dutch ended up with a convincing and methodical 53-38 triumph over All Saints in the beautiful Arena on the All Saints campus west of Fort Worth.
The Dutch took a 17-15 lead but the pesky All Saints squad did not go quietly. Srs. Mont Hill and Steven Smith each converted a first half 3 pointer and Morton added four from beyond the 3 pt arc to help the Dutch establish a 30-24 halftime advantage.
Morton, the 6 ft 4" junior averaging almost 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assist per game, displayed his all around prowess again as he caused multiple All Saints turnovers, displayed flawless ball handling while dishing out some snazzy passes that created repeated open shot opportunities that sometimes resulted in converted baskets. He added 26 points that included five 3-pointers to lead all scorers.
The Dutch came out the 2nd half and methodically put the game "ON ICE" with a solid performance by their two stat leaders, Morton and Smith. The two combine to average around 40 points and 19 rebounds per game, and that's about what they garnered Friday night against All Saints in the 53-38 whipping they put on FW's ALL SAINTS. [note: this reporter not privy to "official stats"].
Hill, fellow senior Michael Wiese, and jr. tight-end/linebacker Seth the "Hitman" Hedman, who Coach Sparky Grober is borrowing from the football team, supported Smith and Morton on the boards. Senior guard Alex Presslauer turned in his best performance of the year with extended playing time and notched a 3 pointer and 5 points. Coach Owens parked starting point guard Alan Santos on the bench for most of the time that Presslauer was in the game. Morton handled point guard responsibilities during a lot of Presslauers court time.
Holland Hall doesn't get much time to celebrate the road victory, as they will take a short bus ride Saturday morning from their Fort Worth Marriot headquarters and bus past The Ball Park in Arlington, Six Flags over Texas and find their way to Arlington Oakridge, another SPC North member school. Arlington Oakridge is 22-3 and undefeated in conference play. In what could be their toughest opponent this year, the Dutch will face Oakridge's Chris Babb who is reputed to be the best player in the 16 team [OC Casady, Holland Hall and 16 schools from Texas] Southwest Prepartory Conference. Oklahoma City Capitol Hill is the toughest opponent the Dutch have faced this year; Holland Hall lost to their fellow Oklahoma team 43-35 in a December 28th game played in the semifinals of the Dallas Episcopal Parish tournament.
The 6' 5" Babb is averaging over 26 points a game. I visited with All Saints Episcopal dapperly dressed head coach Ahmad Ajami after his team was defeated by the Dutch and he was confirmed the "hype" about Babb was warranted.
"Babb's gonna get his 35! That'll happen," Coach Ajami stated.
When I asked whether Babb was more of a presence inside or where did he score from, he said:
"Wherever he wants~"
But the Oakridge boys are not just Babb. Oakridge head coach Mike Boelkens brought in two stud athletes to support Babb.
One of those is a 6' 3" shot blocker says All Saints coach Ajami.
"He can touch the TOP of the backboard!"
I look forward to seeing the Dutch compete against this type of competition, and hope they are up to the task with just 12 hours in between games. Three point shooting will obviously be one of the keys for the Dutch Saturday, and Holland Hall will need everyone to step up, get loose balls and limit turnovers.
It should be lots of fun, and here's hoping that All Saints coach Ajami was exaggerating with the leaping capability of the Oakridge shotblocker.
Arlington, Texas.
January 26, 2008
SPC North conference game: Holland Hall of Tulsa @ Arlington Oakridge Owls
Tulsa Holland Hall (15-6) 61
Arlington Oakridge (23-3) 66Chris Babb is being recruited Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Kansas State and Baylor among many other schools. After observing him up close and watching him compete for 32 minutes yesterday, I have no doubt he possesses one skill that he could contribute immediately to any D-1 program he joins.
Shooting.
The kid can flat out shoot.
Saturday (1/26/2008) afternoon in his home gym at Arlington Oakridge HS, the 6’5” senior lit up Holland Hall for 40 points in an SPC north division conference game to lead his team to a 66-61 victory. His Arlington Oakridge Owls needed every one of them to hold off a valiant effort by the Holland Hall Dutch in a highly competitive and well played basketball game.
Protecting their undefeated SPC record, the Owls won the game at the free throw line by knocking down 6 in a row, while at the other end of the court, Holland Hall made just 1 out of their last 4 charity attempts. The Dutch had several chances to tie the game on consecutive possessions and trailed only 60-59 with 52 seconds left. and then with around 2 minutes left in the game, but couldn’t knock down a few open opportunities from behind the 3 pt line.
The Dutch played the last 4:10 without leading scorer Brock Morton when he was called for a very questionable and unusual charge call while passing off in the lane. It was his 2nd player possession foul of the game.
Morton who averages 22 points per game, topped Holland Hall with 29 points.
Babb didn’t waste any time displaying his shooting prowess as he canned two consecutive three pointers with Morton defending man to man to give the Owls an early 6-0 advantage. Then Steven Smith knocked down a 3 pointer to get the Dutch on the scoreboard. On Babb’s 3rd trip down the court, Morton stole the ball off Babb’s dribble and took it the length of the court to cut the Oakridge lead to 6-5. After Babb missed a 3 pointer, the Dutch scored off a side inbounds pick play when Smith assisted Morton for a layup to give HH a 7-6 lead.
Babb added another 3 pointer and 2 free throws to put Oakridge up 11-10, before Dutch sr. backup point guard Alex Presslauer made an 8 ft jumper from the baseline to put HH back on top at 12-11. HH followed that up by attacking the offensive glass with 4 rebounds on 1 possession that ended with a slick pass from Smith to Morton for a 14-11 advantage. The Dutch stretched the lead to 16-11 when post Michael Wiese found Smith inside for an assist and easy basket. The Dutch led 16-14 after 1 qtr.
One interesting statistic for the quarter was the foul situation. There were five fouls called on Holland Hall, and ZERO fouls by Arlington Oakridge.
The 2nd quarter was evenly played and Oakridge took a 36-35 lead into the locker room. The Owls stretched their lead to 50-44 at the end of three quarters. Arlington Oakridge expanded the advantage to 57-46 before Morton knocked down a 3 pointer, and then converted an old fashioned 3 pointer to make it 57-52. After a Babb miss from beyond the arc, Smith’s determined effort resulted in rebounding his own missed shots two straight times before making the tip-in to cut the lead to 57-54.
After Morton fouled out the Dutch battled hard, and had 2 possessions while trailing 60-57. One resulted in a missed 3 point shot by senior Mont Hill who has provided consistent scoring from three point land throughout the 2nd half of the season for Holland Hall. It seemed the 6’4” sharpshooter was just barely off all day. After a steal gave Holland Hall another opportunity, Presslauer was unable to convert either of his 2 free throws.
Then super-quick junior point guard Alan Santos made his best play of the game. Presslauer snared a defensive rebound, outlet passed to Santos who weaved the entire length of the court into the lane at the other end before finding Presslauer streaking to the basket to cut the Owl lead to 60-59. After two free throws by Arlington Oakridge put the score at 62-59, the Dutch found Smith open at the top of the key for an open look and a chance to knot the game but the ball caromed off the back of the rim and Babb rebounded with 40 seconds left in the game.
Babb knocked down two free throws before Santos added another assist to Weise to make it a one possession game at 64-61. But Babb sealed the victory with two more free thows to make the final score 66-61.
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This n that….
As a Holland Hall “FAN” who has witnessed most of this season’s scrimmages, and ALL of the Dutch’s games, this was the best sharing of the basketball I’ve witnessed all year.
Morton’s intense style of play on both ends of the court, coupled with maximum effort, seems to be spreading throughout the team. The 6’5” junior’s selfless attitude and hustle plays have been admired by opposing coaches, referees and fans for years and we’ll never know what might have happened in the Oakridge game had the referees not made 3 very questionable calls. Morton took much more than his 29 points [in 3 ½ qtrs.] to the bench.
[Note regarding the refereeing: It is one of the hardest jobs around! Every close call, half the people involved are going to be mad and believe you made the WRONG call~ wow …think about that with your current career….with that said, I will say that after the ridiculously terrible, 2nd player possession foul called, the refs made 3 or 4 MORE bad calls,, but this time the calls seemed to favor the Dutch!! Point being, the “refs” didn’t lose the game for HH.]
Dutch post man Michael Weise played his best high school game of his career. Period.
Alex Presslauer had a confidence building two game road swing via Fort Worth and Arlington that hopefully will propel him to a rewarding last two weeks of his high school career.
For the first time since his January 7th breakout game against Lincoln Christian when he buried 6 three pointers on his way to a career best 20 points, Mont Hill struggled from the 3 point line. It happens to every shooter, because that’s the way basketball is; Hill needs to keep shooting, and become more aggressive going for rebounds and loose balls.
Steven Smith gave more effort and played harder on both ends of the court then I’ve ever seen him play. [Besides two years of HS ball, I coached Steven in 8 or 9 games in summer "competitive" tournaments] Sharing defensive responsibility with Morton to slow down and limit Chris Babb took a lot out of both Morton and Smith, who combine to average about 40 points and 20 rebounds to spearhead the Dutch.
Maxing out on defense; playing your hardest, most intense and the best defense you are capable of, really takes it out of you. It always does that to players. My high school coach at Tulsa Memorial back in the 70's was Terry West. Both he and his father, Woody West, are in the Oklahoma High School coaches Hall of Fame. I remember vividly how he preached that
"if you ever get tired on the court, signal me" so he could take us out of the game to catch our wind. BUT,,,, since you may have to continue until a break in the action,,, that
"IF you have to take a breather,,, and relax to catch your a breath,,,,,, you NEVER DO IT ON DEFENSE!!!! NEVER!" Though the game ended in a loss, I can only believe that it will strengthen the team’s desire and cohesiveness leading into their last three regular season games and the three SPC tournament games in Houston February 7th - 9th.
During the final minutes of the Oakridge game, Alan Santos showed why the Dutch need him on the court. He has had a special year, and is a key reason the Dutch have a record of 15-5.
Seth Hedman provides an inside presence of strength, rebounding and defense against big, strong opponents. Has shown flashes of offensive brilliance and his athletic ability and strength are blatantly obvious. He has worked hard and is now much more than just a great tight end and linebacker that once looked like a bull in a china shop while on the hardcourt.
Time to coment on Chris Babb…. I had a chance to visit with the shooting phenom both before & after the game. My impressions are that he is going to be very successful in life. A pleasant demeanor, and kindness, coupled with intelligence and a love for the game. Not possessing the arrogance and cockiness that you might expect from a HS senior being wooed by many universities including Baylor, Kansas State [where both his parents attended], Arkansas, Tulsa, ORU and Vanderbilt. I told him that I’d heard that he was something else, and I was looking forward to watching him play. He did NOT disappoint! Great range on his jump shot; quick and high release point; can shoot off dribble; good body control.
Evaluation: Strong body that is almost 6’5”. His father told me that he hasn’t/doesn’t lift weights. Which surprised me judging from his appearance.
Strongest asset: Shooting.
Off the pass. Quick release.
Off the dribble: Creates his own shot very efficiently.
Driving: Excellent body control prevents many charging situations, although this game on his home court, the refs seemed to really make beneficial calls for him. Before the game showed his jumping ability which is above average and semi spectacular dunks, although didn’t ever MAKE opportunity to take it to the rim on any drives during the game.
Morton and Smith took turns covering him and neither of these players, at this juncture, are NEAR the athleticness that Babb will face from BIG 12 or SEC perimeter defenders.
Bottom line: He is a shooter that could provide IMMEDIATE help offensively under the right coach and offensive scheme.
Defensively: His athleticness is an area that needs work ,,, for him to become a quality perimeter defender in a top level college program.
