PREP HOOPS: GW 9-0 in Hogoheegee with win over Holston

Joey Russell is looking forward to returning to his alma mater next week, but before that happens there was a bit of important Hogoheegee District business his George Wythe basketball team had to take care of Tuesday.

Although the Maroons didn’t always look the part of the league leaders, they had enough on this evening to claim a 51-41 victory over homestanding Holston.

George Wythe improved to 9-0 in the Hogoheegee with the win, and now looks ahead to its return matchup at once-beaten Chilhowie.

“That’s going to be a big one next Tuesday,” said Russell, a former Chilhowie player who has coached at George Wythe for 21 years, the last four as head coach. “We may have beaten them kind of convincingly [61-41 on Jan. 17] up at our place, but when you go in there to that little hot box court at Chilhowie you know you’re going to be in for a war.”

George Wythe, 16-5 overall, prepared for the Warriors by outplaying Holston (3-6, 5-15) in the first half, then merely surviving the second half.

The Maroons scored on four of five trips down the floor to grab an early 9-3 advantage, before sweet-shooting guard Issac Baltazar caught fire and threatened to turn the game into a rout.

A 6-foot-1 junior who would lead all scorers with 16 points, Baltazar nailed three 3s and also turned in a conventional three-point play over a span of four minutes, carrying GW to a 21-7 advantage with 3:54 on the second-quarter clock.

Baltazar, and 6-foot running mate Jalen France, spearheaded a perimeter defense that created tons of havoc for Holston, which committed nine turnovers in the game’s first 12 minutes.

“Goodness, they are so long and athletic,” said Holston coach Travis Gray. “They are so quick and physical out front.”

Russell relies heavily on his perimeter defense.

“Those two are very athletic kids and wonderful young men,” Russell said. “They’ve got very long arms and are very active.

“So many teams, like Holston, are shooting lots of 3s these days that we’ve worked really hard on extending our pressure with our guards. The way we run our man-to-man – we sort of gamble a bit with them out there – we know that if we get beat up top, we’ve got backside help coming. It’s been working for us.”

Down 22-9 at halftime and seemingly going nowhere, Holston did make a game of it in the second half and even made the Maroons sweat.

“I don’t know if we got a little fatigued or just lazy, but I told the kids at halftime not to let up because if Holston starts making some of those 3s, which they often do in this gym, that their confidence would rise,” Russell said. “Sure enough, they began hitting a few.”

With Tyler Smith, Conrad Thacker and Wes Roberts each hitting 3s, Holston found itself trailing just 30-26 and had possession with the third-quarter clock inside one minute.

However, an unforced turnover switched the momentum back to the Maroons, who scored the last two buckets of the period to assume a 34-26 lead heading into the fourth.

“Man,” said Gray. “We have the ball and I was even thinking about holding it for the last shot of the third, and then we lose it there ... But I’m really proud of the way we came back.

“There were four or five times there with loose balls that if we could have been more active and physical, you never know how this thing would have ended up. But George Wythe made plays when they needed to and regained control.”

Five different Maroons scored to open the fourth quarter and when France bagged a 3 with 2:57 to play, George Wythe opened a 45-33 lead and would cruise to the finish from there.

France finished with 11 points to back Baltazar, while powerful 6-foot-3 Hardy Lester provided all the inside game the Maroons needed.

“Hardy is our anchor, but we have a really balanced team offensively,” said Russell. “We are very unselfish. Somebody different pretty much leads us in scoring every game.”

Holston, which goes to Marion tonight, was led by the 15-point outing of Smith.

Like the Maroons, Holston committed 19 turnovers.

George Wythe connected on 18 of 42 floor attempts for 42.8 percent, while the Cavs were 17 of 47 for 36 percent.

The Maroons had a big edge at the free-throw line, where they had 19 attempts to Holston’s four.