Change in defensive game plan worked well for Hollis Brookline boys basketball

Mike Soucy didn't know if his Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team was ready to play man-to-man defense.

The Cavaliers had been working on it in practice before last Friday's game against Lebanon, a team the coach typically likes to play a zone against.

But when the teams took the court, HB came out guarding the Raiders straight up, and that defense helped contribute to a rough shooting night, as the Cavs won 61-51.

"Practices have been so-so and I wasn't sure they'd be up to the task, and they surprised the heck out of me in how they guarded," Soucy said. "That's the thing I'm the most proud of, they bared down, they rotated and they communicated, and they executed defensively. The offensive execution was good, the defensive execution as very good."

After Lebanon got out to a 13-5 lead late in the first quarter, HB outscored the Raiders 38-13 over the next 11 minutes to go up as many as 12 points.

And while Lebanon had three plays finish in double figures, a lot of that damage came from the perimeter, with the except of Ryan Milliken's 18 points.

"Often times it's about lateral quickness and do I think we can keep them out of the lanes," Soucy said. "I knew we couldn't keep Milliken out of the lane. He's fastest kid I've ever seen. But if we could keep the other guys out, I think we could make enough plays. If our rotations were good enough, and we were able to do certain things to make sure our rotations were faster.

"They run a great offense, they really do. They lift everybody up to get the help side off, so you've got to be disciplined. The kids did a pretty good job with that. We had a couple of errors and they buried some 3s because we were helping from the wrong side. That's going to happen and we’ll correct that. But overall, we did a really good job."

While the Cavs found success of their own from outside the arc - Nick Fothergill and Stephen Giaconia combined for 34 points and six 3-pointers - it was set up by the inside play of Matthew Dowling and Matt Simco.

"We're much better shooters when we get the ball inside first and kick the ball out for open jump shots than if we're trying to create something off a pick-and-roll or a spread," Soucy said. "What ended up happening was everything collapsed and that opened our shooters a little more."

The win was part of a tough stretch for the Cavs, who host Bow (3-3) on Tuesday. HB beat the Falcons on the road by one point on Jan. 6.

Then it's games at Timberlane (5-2) and Souhegan (1-7) before a home game against Milford (7-0) on Feb. 3.