Lions Rock Potter’s House, Score Season High 83 Points
November 30, 2011
The Potter’s House is a tough place to play. Ask visiting coaches and they will all tell you that it takes a special performance and effort to come out of the Potter’s House with a win.
Tuesday night, The Rock showed they are a special team beating the PHCA Lions 83-58.
In what was set up as a “let-down” game for The Rock coming off of two big wins against United Faith and The Miller School at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge last weekend. The Lions came out and established a 7 point 1st quarter advantage (18-11).
The Rock would move ahead in the second quarter only committing 2 turnovers in the period, something that has plagued them all season. Potter’s House hung close behind 15 first half points by Travis Littles to trail 38-26 at halftime.
Coach Justin Harden challenged his team to be up by at least 20 points with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter so that the crowd would not be a factor. His team responded in resounding fashion going on a 15-5 run to open the quarter and establish a 22 point lead with 3:58 remaining.
The Rock would outscore PHCA 27-12 in the quarter and eventually take a 30 point advantage in the 4th quarter before settling for 25 point victory. “I am very proud of my team today because they were set up to play poorly, but, for the most part, they didn’t,” said Coach Harden. “And when I challenged them at halftime to take the crowd out of it and not let it stay close in the second half, they came out and did just that.”
The Rock was paced by junior Christian Benzon who had a team-high 19 points, 7 assists, 4 steals and 0 turnovers. The Rock had 4 other players score in double figures: sophomores Mitchell Wilbekin (12), DeVaughn Jenkins (12), and Pape Diatta (10) and Senior Ousmane Ba (11). The Rock improves to 7-1 on the season and will face Faith Baptist (GA) at 6p in the first game of the Gatortown Hoops Classic at The Rock School this Friday, December 2nd. They will face Covenant Christian (GA) at 12p on Saturday.
Mitchell Wilbekin Named Third Team All-State by ESPNHS
November 28, 2011 (from ESPN.com)
"With the 2011-12 hoops season set to tip off, ESPNHS has all the info you need on the top players in Florida.
We’ve broken down the state’s top 20 players into four teams based on their talent. Keep in mind, these preseason selections are based on past accomplishments and projected on-court performance in addition to recruit rankings.
THIRD TEAM
G: Trey Boykin, Arlington Country Day, 6-5/200, Junior
Says one rival coach: “That boy can shoot it and can fly through the air.”
G: Dillon Graham, First Academy, 6-4/180, Senior
Florida commit led First Academy to state title game last year.
G: Mitchell Wilbekin, The Rock School, 6-0/165, Sophomore
Dynamic combo guard is brother of Florida sophomore Scottie.
F: Stephon Blair, Dillard, 6-9/240, Senior
A beast in the paint, Blair has offers from USF and UCF, among others.
C: Dakari Johnson, Montverde Academy, 6-10/250, Sophomore
Nation’s No. 4 sophomore is likely ineligible due to transfer rules."
Mitchell is one of only two sophomores included in the rankings of all four all-state teams.
Lions Pick Up Two Wins against National Opponents
November 27, 2011
The Rock left Gainesville at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning and traveled 8 hours to Charlotte, NC, with hopes of being able to compete with two the nations more prominent and known basketball programs. The Lions would take on nationally ranked United Faith Christian (#30 in ESPN Fab 50) in front of a hometown crowd at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge in the primetime event on Friday. United Faith boasts two highly recruited and touted players in Florida signee Braxton Ogbueze and Indiana signee Peter Jurkin. In last year’s match-up between the two schools at the Chick-fil-a Classic the Lions came up 3 points short and were seeking some revenge.
The Lions started slow allowing United Faith to get out to a 12-9 lead in the first quarter behind 2 threes (8 pts) from Ogbueze. The Rock would battle through 8 turnovers in the opening period and were fortunate to force 6 turnovers on the Falcons. Turnovers plagued both teams throughout the contest as the Falcons turned it over 6 more times to give The Rock an opportunity to cut the lead to 2 at half time, 24-22. United Faith would move ahead by 5 early in the 3rd quarter on another Ogbueze 3, but could not overcome 6 more turnovers and the Lions maintained the 2 point gap (36-34) despite 6 points from sophomore Mitchell Wilbekin. The Falcons carried the lead for the majority of the 4th quarter, the young Lions proved to have heart to withstand the “home court advantage” of the Falcons. The Lions only turned it over 3 times while they forced 6 more turnovers by the Falcons. The Lions were paced by junior Christian Benzon who scored 7 points in the quarter including knocking down 4 of 5 free throws and a three pointer. Junior Glenn Feidanga also got going in the final period scoring 8 of his 14 points going 3-4 from the field and 2-2 from the line. Ogbueze knocked down back to back 3 pointers after The Rock took the lead late in the period, but Benzon’s three point answer helped the Lions maintain their advantage. The Lions looked like the more experienced team forcing the Falcons to turn it over 4 of their last 5 possessions, including forcing Ogbueze to travel on the second to last possession of the game. “This was a great win for our program. I felt like we had a good chance despite the long trip and the two top level guys (Ogbueze and Jurkin) that we had to face,” said coach Justin Harden. “our defense this year is just so much better than in the past and we were able to force some turnovers late to give ourselves a chance despite committing some (turnovers) ourselves.” Wilbekin led the Lions with 16 points and 5 assists. Feidanga and Benzon each added 14 points.
The Lions had a quick turnaround as they played the last game of the night Friday and the first game of the day Saturday. The short amount of time for rest showed as the Lions came out lethargic and slow.
In 4 of The Rock’s first 5 games, the Lions got off to quick scoring starts and were able to score 20+ points. In the two games at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge, the Lions managed only 9 points in each of the two first quarters. Early turnovers and missed free throws were the reason for the slow start in Saturday’s game against The Miller School (VA).
The Lions picked up their defensive intensity and fought to outscore the Mavericks 21-7 in the quarter and take a 30-21 lead into the half. Junior Alain Chigha was the main reason for the second period rush hitting 2-3 from deep and pulling down 12 rebounds before half time.
The Rock increased its lead in the 3rd period and took a 43-29 advantage into the 4th quarter.
Both teams opened up the scoring in the 4th quarter combining for 34 points. The Rock had a 17 point lead with a little under 4 minutes remaining before the Mavericks trimmed the lead to 10 points with 1 minute left. Two free throws by junior Alain Chigha and a lay-up by Glenn Feidanga sealed the 59-47 victory for the Lions. “We came out extremely flat and that is probably my fault,” said coach Justin Harden. “But I was thoroughly impressed by our ability to respond to a bad first quarter with a very solid second quarter – both offensively and defensively. And anytime we can have four guys score in double figures we will be in good shape.” Chigha was named to the All-tournament team after putting together one of the best stat lines: 13 points, 18 rebounds including 7 offensive, 6 assists, and 4 steals all while holding ESPN Top-50 player Andrew White to only 12 points. The Lions had 3 other players score in double figures with Feidanga adding 13, junior Christian Benzon with 12 and sophomore Mitchell Wilbekin with 11 points while also dishing out 6 assists. “Alain had one of the best games I have seen him play and one of the best games in the program’s more recent history. I am sure others have scored more or possibly had more rebounds, but I am sure they have not put it all together the way he did today. Not only offensively did he do good work, but he was all over White who is a very skilled player.” The Rock’s record is now 6-1 and they take on The Potter’s House on Tuesday in Jacksonville at 730p.
The Rock Finishes 2-1 at Crusader Classic
November 20, 2011
The Rock won 2 games and loss one, but know they let one slip away from them and could have finished the event 3-0.
The Rock battled Central Park Christian (AL) in their first game on Friday, November 18th. The two teams met twice last year with Central Park defeating the Lions easily in both games. The last meeting took place in the championship game of the NACA National Tournament in Dayton, TN.
The Lions showed growth as they took a commanding 20-14 lead in the first quarter and stretched it to a 25-14 lead early in the 2nd period before turning the ball over 10 times in the quarter to lead only 32-29 at halftime.
Coach Justin Harden had to make halftime adjustments, going to a zone to try to prevent the Lions from incurring anymore foul trouble as 3 Lions players had 3 fouls in the first half. Thirty total fouls (15 each team) were whistled in the first half.
When the Lions went to the zone, they seemed to play complacent allowed the Eagles to take a 4th quarter lead on a ¾ court buzzer beater 42-40.
The Lions cut it close on back to back 3 pointers by Mitchell Wilbekin, but the Lions played loose with the ball all game and turned the ball over 5 more times in the final period and could not catch CPC who went on the win 60-55. “it was obvious that we did not take care of the ball,” said coach Justin Harden. “Even though we forced 28 turnovers, we turned it over 27 times and that should not happen at this level of basketball. We are better than how we played today. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win, but maybe our guys will learn from our mistakes.”
Junior Christian Benzon led the Lions with 17 points and 7 steals. Junior Glenn Feidanga added 13 points. The Rock’s record is 2-1.
The Rock had an opportunity to quickly rectify their poor performance from earlier in the day when they took on Charlotte based American Basketball Institute.
Once again, the Lions started hot in the first quarter on a 9-0 run and finished with a 22-4 lead. The Lions allowed ABI to get back in the game in the second quarter committing 5 turnovers and missing several lay-ups.
Coming out at half, the Lions got going again scoring 14 points in their first 7 possessions. Despite the on slot of points, ABI didn’t fold and The Rock was unable to completely put them away. The Lions won the 3rd quarter 22-17 and had a 57-35 lead going into the 4th quarter.
The Lions would battle through more turnovers (9 in the 4th quarter) to win 77-53. The 77 points are the most scored by the Lions this season who made 29 field goals, also a high for the season.
“What’s crazy is that we had 20 turnovers and still scored 77 points,” said coach Justin Harden. “We have to learn to take better care of the ball. But give it up to ABI, because they never stopped playing hard. They didn’t just fold or give up. But we have to learn how to really put a team away when we have them down.
Sophomore Mitchell Wilbekin led The Rock with 18 points on 4-7 shooting from deep. Juniors Christian Benzon (16), Glenn Feidanga (13) and Alain Chigha (11) scored in double figures also. The Rock’s record is 3-1.
In the third game of the Crusader Classic, The Rock faced Mt Zion (NC). For the fourth straight game, the Lions finished with 20+ points in the first quarter to lead 22-17. The Lions jumped out to an early 9-0 lead again in this one before squandering the big lead in the middle of the quarter on missed shots and turnovers.
The second quarter seems to be where the Lions have difficulties as they had 7 turnovers in the period, including a stretch of 6 in 7 possessions. The Lions were able to play solid defense to take a 32-26 lead at half time. The Lions missed 9 free throws in the first half.
The Rock struggled out of halftime only scoring 10 points in the third quarter thanks to Juniors Glenn Feidanga and Christian Benzon each scoring 5 in the period.
The Lions came alive again in the 4th quarter as they were able to turn some Mt Zion turnovers into fast break opportunities and baskets. Feidanga scored 13 points in the 4th quarter make both of his field goal attempts and knocking down 9 or 10 free throws in the period. “Glenn was special in the second half; especially after the first half he had,” said coach Justin Harden. “I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond because he played about as bad as I have seen him play. But he came back with a fury and made some really nice shots. But he made free throws which he has done so far this season.”
Feidanga led all scorers with 22 points (team season high) going 6-10 from the field and 10-14 from the line. Benzon added 15 points on 7-13 shooting and sophomore Mitchell Wilbekin had 14 points. The Rock’s record is 4-1. The Rock will face United Faith (NC) and The Miller School (VA) in the Charlotte Hoops Challenge November 25-26th.
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