Coming off a great showing in the KCAA tip-off tournament, HCA would host another gritty and fantastic opponent. This time from across state lines. Clarksville Christian came to town and you could tell it would be a game even during JV with the energy in the building.
Unfortunately the Warriors would be short handed due to illness, including being without stand out sophomore Jason Leek.
Good teams look out of sorts without key players, facilitators, and scorers like Leek. Great teams, have players and as a team rise to the occasion. That is exactly what HCA and Carlos Robles did.
A 64-47 final in which Robles had thirty points, twenty-four of which came in the first half.
CCS tried everything to slow him down and had no answer until they began denying him the ball or picking him up with a double at half-court.
The Centurions would put up a fight though, and they did it from the tip.
Early it was all CCS as they dominated down low defensively and moved the ball around to find their sharpshooter Seth Koenes. HCA struggled initially to close out defensively, much like the Galilean game, and it allowed Koenes to find a rhythm in quarter number one. He would make it 8-5 with 4:15 left in the first before HCA would buckle down on the defensive side.
The Warriors as a team did what they needed to on the defensive end, and offensively, at this point, it became the Robles show. He would score the next twenty-three consecutive points, mind you as I said he only had twenty-four in the first half.
As Robles found different ways to score, driving into the paint, going to the line, put backs off rebounds, his teammates rode the hot hand and played unbelievable defense as they are more than capable of doing. CCS went over three minutes without a bucket, finally forcing four points through off a free throw put back and a fast break opportunity. Then came Koenes again.
With under ten seconds to go in the first he would find his third three of the quarter and make it a 15-14 CCS advantage before Robles, smartly, drove hard to the hole and drew a foul to give his team the lead back, 16-15, at the end of one.
The quarter break clearly helped the undermanned Warriors who came out of it knowing exactly what to do. Offensively they created space for Robles and forced him the ball despite the CCS defense keying on him. Defensively it was straight up man-to-man and stick with your guy like a lost puppy. They did that flawlessly for quite awhile.
While Robles was scoring twelve straight points, HCA was holding CCS scoreless for nearly five minutes. Even when CCS finally scored, it was two at the line for Koenes. They would go on to get just one more point total at the line. Meaning HCA held them scoreless on the floor for the entire quarter, and they only managed three points at the line.
Against an aggressive, well-coached team, the Warriors not only played so well defensively they did not give up a FG, but they did it while not committing shooting fouls. Keep in mind, I did not say they didn’t foul, they did and it will come back to bit them a little, but they did not do it to shooters or on shots, which is incredible. Truly some of the best defense I have seen from a high school team for an extended period of game time against a quality opponent.
Coming out in the second half you knew two things. One, Robles was not going to get the same amount of open looks and shots period. CCS would have done whatever they had to, and they did. Two, HCA would need to be careful as they were already short handed and had multiple guys with two or more fouls.
That meant, first and foremost, someone would have to step up offensively. Early on, that someone was Trentin Fowler. Fowler came out and immediately dropped a trey to extend the lead to 37-18. HCA would give up a quick two and get the ball back when Head Coach Matt McGowan called an early timeout.
7:07 left, leading 37-20, I don’t know what he said or what he saw that made him feel the need to use a timeout, but it worked.
Out of the timeout Fowler cleaned up a shot with a rebound and a put back for two and then Robles reminded everyone he was ‘steal’ around with a swipe of the inbounds pass and a quick two for himself. 6:08 remaining, a 41-20 lead, and the way the Warriors were playing they are gonna coast to victory, yeah? Not against a scrappy and prideful Centurion team.
CCS amped up the ball pressure and took advantage of HCA turnovers to quickly make it 41-25 with 4:03 left. That pressure and the fact that the Warriors were trying not to foul themselves out of the game led to a scoring drought of over five, nearly six minutes. Luckily their defense held decently firm and both coaches got into their teams about a sloppy third quarter that ended, ultimately with a thirteen point HCA advantage 43-30.
The Centurions were not even close to making this game interesting as they struck first to cut the deficit to 43-32. As they did in critical moments throughout the night though, someone stepped up for the Warriors.
This time it was Camden Higgins. Higgins left open stroked the three with 7:07 remaining in the game to give HCA back a 46-32 lead.
Robles would again remind everyone he was still around with a college level steal and coast-to-coast fast break score. 48-32 and it felt like maybe this was where the Warriors would take control. They tried, turning up the defensive intensity as no one had fouled out yet. That would change.
Over the next few minutes CCS would drop a three and score on not one but two separate and-one opportunities to make the score 50-40 with 5:21 left in the game. At this point you could cut the tension with a knife.
The two teams traded buckets to keep the deficit at ten before HCA found a way to draw a foul of their own, finally as the discrepancy at grown at one point to more than five plus more fouls on the Warriors, and they converted one of two for a 53-42 lead with 3:39 remaining.
It was at this point, things got chippy. Two warriors would foul out over the next three or so minutes and somehow we would get to 55-44.
At that point, after two guys had fouled out and some shots had been had both sides that I cannot fully explain, it was as if HCA got fed up with being in a to tight game on their own floor. They ended the game on a 9-3 run that included a Tra Fowler trey and another two for Robles because why not.
A 64-47 score with 1:04 left and that is how it ended as both teams subbed in deep bench players for experience sake.
No doubt about it, this was a thriller and hard fought. All credit to Clarksville Christian for coming across the state line to take on a very good team and earn themselves some invaluable experience. That being said, before I end this article, we have to discuss the most invaluable experience gained, that of Tra Fowler.
The younger Fowler started in place of fellow sophomore Leek. He was asked at times to facilitate and dictate the offense, and of course defensively guard a highly skilled player be it Koenes or someone else. Despite only having three points, he looked comfortable and capable out there in high level varsity competition. That not only gives coach McGowan a huge advantage in terms of feeling like he can sub Leek out when he comes back, but imagine a small ball lineup with Leek, Fowler, and Robles, who can also handle the ball and run the point. A three guard lineup with two guys who can shoot the lights out, a guy who can beat any two or three guys to the basket, and all three can facilitate and bring the ball up.
That, that is invaluable for coach McGowan, but also invaluable experience and growth for Tra Fowler.