Renaissance High’s basketball team has been like a traveling rock band
this year. They play before a packed house every time out. All of their games
are hard to get into but it was an especially tough task getting into
their contest versus the Crockett Rockets Tuesday afternoon. Last year Crockett
proved to be the Phoenix’s nemesis…knocking them off in all three
meetings, including a crushing playoff defeat. Mark White and his squad had
a whole year to stew over what happened last season and they were prepared when
they hit the hardwood yesterday.
Mark White gets his point across
To say it was a hotly contested game is an understatement. There were tech’s
called early on both teams, but the most heated moment came right before Renaissance
went into the locker room with a 35-24 lead. While it is not clear what exactly was
the impetus to what transpired; Coach Mark White saw something from one of the
Crockett players that drew his ire. At that point he went up to the young man
and had a few words with him. Not taking too kindly to what was being said,
the Crockett player delivered a two-armed shove to the coach that sent the Renaissance
head-man flying back. The benches cleared, but fortunately the refs were able to restore
order in before there were anymore theatrics.
Joe Crawford glides to the rim for 2!
The Rockets seemed to be a little fired up coming out of the half and put up
4 straight points to close the gap to 35-28, but that would be as close as they
got. Junior Marcus Stout answered with a lay-up to make it 37-28. After that,
Joseph Crawford took over and put the game out of reach. He outscored the Rockets
10-2 over the next 3 minutes on a beautiful 3-pointer and an array of knifing
drives to the basket. His efforts put the home team up 47-30 and helped propel
them to a 55-37 lead at the end of 3.
Joe takes it to the hole on Issac Knight
At the start of period 4, it was clear Renaissance wasn’t going to let
up. They continued to play tough defense and got on the floor for every loose
ball while pushing their lead to 20 points (67-47) with under six minutes to
go. After spending much of the game guarding Crockett star Isaac Knight in the
post, Malik Hairston fouled out with 5:01 remaining. Though the game was pretty
much in hand, White was none too pleased with the loss of one of his stars.
He wanted to continue to put it on the visitors. This was the team that stood
in the way of what was potentially a storybook season last year and there was
a point to be made. White told the Detroit
Free Press after the game, “We didn't feel like they're on the same
level as us. And you can print that. This is no big deal for us. We're the better
team.” That clearly proved to be the case on this day, but comments like
that will certainly provide ample motivation for the Rockets in the rematch
on the 30th at Crockett.
Joe drops the pass down low to Malik
On the game Joe Crawford had 28 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 3 assists,
while Hairston had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Knight led the Rockets
with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Mo goes up for the dunk!