Basketball is a game of percentages.
I try, but I sometimes fail, to not talk to Coach Edris as a fellow (former) coach. It is not the purpose of my current project. But I did tell him after the Centralia game I have noted that his team almost always gets the last shot of a quarter and I found that impressive. He acknowledged it is something he stresses with his team.
With no shot clock in high school basketball, it just makes sense. To successfully execute this strategy will result in four extra possessions a game and four extra possessions will win a lot of close games.
We always had the “24 Second Rule.” If we had our hands on the ball with 24 or less seconds left in a quarter, we would get the last shot. We would run the clock down to 10 seconds and then go into a predetermined set play. The play would be designed to get a shot up with four seconds on the clock; time for a follow up rebound but not enough time for the opponent to advance the ball to the other end of the court for a shot. And we would practice this scenario over and over and over.
Nothing will swing momentum of a game faster than a basket to end the quarter and an easy basket off a set play to start the next quarter. Against Centralia, MC scored at the end of the first quarter, the second quarter and the third quarter. With such a big lead, to end the game the Bench Buddies dribbled out the clock.
To start the second half the Panthers ran one of their favorite set plays against a zone: a lob to Josh Talton for a dunk off a baseline zone back pick. After the five-point swing you could feel the collective will of the large Centralia homecoming crowd literally sucked from the gym.
On the journey to five consecutive district titles the Panthers have earned a reputation as a team that wins the big close game. That does not just happen. It is the cause and effect of understanding percentages and executing the strategies to exploit them to your favor.
Side note: it was the Coach's 200 win as the Panthers' head coach.
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