THE EARLY LEAD: THE WARRIORS OF THE HOIC?

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor 

sports@beeherald.com

@BrandonJHurley

This Greene County boys’ basketball team sure is a pleasure to watch for a basketball purist like myself. 

Despite Tuesday’s heartbreaking loss at home to Class 2A No. 10 South Hamilton, the Rams are a joy to take in. 

Featuring a 5-2 record with narrow losses to the Hawks and a road overtime defeat to Southeast Valley last Thursday, this squad should contend in every game they play, if not win a majority of them.

And with the shooters they have – why wouldn’t they be entertaining?

First-year head coach Chris Nelson has really instilled a passion in these young student athletes. They play hard and they play fast – and the crowd has responded to them. 

Entering Tuesday’s game Greene County was averaging a blistering 70.8 points per game while converting on 52.8 percent of their shots including 48 made three-pointers at a 40 percent clip. That’s some prolific offense for a high school club. 

All but one of the marks (3 pt percentage) were tops in the conference. Additionally, their 70.8 points per game were fifth most in 3A while their shooting percentage was 12th in the state across all classes. 

And how this team scores is fun too – it’s not just the Trey Tucker show. Though he didn’t play a big role in Tuesday’s loss, sophomore Trey Hinote is off to a torrid start this winter, as he entered Tuesday’s contest averaging 16 points per game with a conference-leading 22 made three-pointers (45 percent). 

After missing the first game of the year, junior forward Wade Adcock has stepped in to average 10.8 points per game shooting at a 68 percent clip. Additionally, Lance Hughes contributes nine points per game. The sophomore has converted some big buckets so far this season, ending scoring droughts with drives to the hoop or even a clutch three here and there. 

Not to be left out, senior Tommy Jacobsen averages 8.3 points per game knocking down 57 percent of his shots. 

The Rams are no slouches on the defensive end either – they entered Tuesday’s contest averaging 12.6 steals per game with a season-high 18 steals in Friday’s win over Saydel. Tucker actually entered Tuesday with a five-steal lead on the next closest HOIC player, as he had swiped 20 total steals in just six games.

The Rams’ scoring runs are often kick-started by turnovers – runs that can quickly balloon into 10 or more points within a 90 second span.  

When you have Tucker and Hinote firing threes – Hughes and Jacobsen can also drain long balls when needed and the driving and passing ability of Tucker, there’s no shortage of scoring. 

What has impressed me the most over the last handful of games is the back-and-forth the senior and Adcock have built with their pick and roll game. It seems like Tucker always knows where to find the big man in the post, slicing through the defense to find an open Adcock time and time again. Boy, was that ever evident in Tuesday’s tough loss to South Hamilton. The pair combined for 43 points – most of it coming off the pick and roll, where Tucker found Adcock wide open for easy buckets in the lane. The junior is averaging 16 points over the last two games, thanks to hard screens and seamless transitions into the paint. 

Let’s not forget that Tucker is nearing the career Greene County scoring mark. The senior has scored 1,430 points to date and needs just 108 points over the Rams’ final 14 games (7.8 points per game) to break Adam Jones’ record. 

So that’s something else to watch for.  

One area the Rams do need to shore up is at the charity stripe – prior to Tuesday’s game they had made just 58 percent of their attempts. That won’t cut it in crunch time. 

If you want to witness some entertaining, well-rounded basketball, stop by the Greene County middle school gym this winter, I promise you won’t be let down.