KP Boys Basketball Beat Avon

Foregoing participation in a holiday tournament, it’s been a quiet couple of weeks for the King Philip boys basketball team. A quarter and a half into the game, the Warriors looked liked they might of walked into a trap game with the Avon Panther.

“That is a really nice team there and I think we got caught looking past them,” King Philip head coach Sean McInnis said.

After waking up and mounting a comeback midway through the second quarter, the Warriors beat the Panthers 84-57 in a non-league match up.

The Panthers got ahead of the Warriors after turning the opening moments into a track meet. Giving the Panthers little pressure, Avon was able to get 12 points off of three point shots to take a 19-11 lead with less than 90 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Down by seven, the Warriors went on a 7-3 run to end the quarter down 21-18 with momentum slowly going their way.

The Panthers got the lead back up to seven, but could not handle King Philip’s adjustments. The high pressure defense from the Warriors began to produce turnovers and points. Without the ability to shoot the three-point shot, the Panthers were forced to drive to the basket which resulted in Warriors rebounds and turnovers.

“That forced them [Avon] into doing some thing that they weren't comfortable doing,” McInnis said.

By the third quarter, it was apparent that Avon was simply worn out after trying to keep up with KP in the first half. The fatigue led to turnovers and those turnovers led to break away points.

It was common during that quarter to see Jake Layman (33 points, 14 rebounds) on those breakaways. The University of Maryland-bound senior was all over Avon the entire game. The Panthers attempted some double and triple teaming early on but it was no use once all of KP began shooting on all cylinders.

On the boards, the Warriors clearly dominated the offensive boards with 20 offensive rebounds to earn multiple second and even third chance points against the Panthers. The stat is an improvement from the early struggles the Warriors had earlier this year with rebounding.

“We attacked the offensive glass tonight. That’s what we wanted to do,” McInnis said.

In addition to Layman’s double-double, John Mullane finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds. The points, that all came in the first half, were critical in keeping KP in the game early on.

Dever Carrison and Tykei Hallman both chipped in eight points each.

Despite winning by 27 points, the score is not a reflection of how this game went. Early signs indicated a possible upset from the Panthers before the Warriors came back to life to outwork Avon.

“This teaches us we have to keep maturing as a team and this teaches us not to look forward,” McInnis said.

The Warriors are now 3-1 and will be back on the court at North Attleboro on Friday, January 6 at 6:30pm.