This was a good high school basketball game which was topsy turvy in the first 3 quarters. Central Catholic jumped on top early, St. Michael's regrouped with a 22 point 2nd quarter to take an 8 point half time lead (30-22). Central scrapped back in the 3rd with the two teams neck and neck.
That's when the real game began. In an 8 minute span the Buttons finished on an 21-9 run to win going away. Two things were critical in the win. Keeping in mind that I don't have a dog in the hunt as to who gets the W, my focus is on who the prospects are and individual performances (within the team game).
The game featured two of the better scorers in the Austin/San Antonio area locking horns in 2011 Cole Martinez who finished with 17 points, 5 steals and 3 assists and 2011 G Jake Kocher (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) who had 20 points and 5 rebounds. It's clear that St. Michael's has no other reliable scorer to step up when Kocher is neutralized or double teamed. They'll need someone to step up if they want to go deep into the TAPPS playoffs.
As mentioned, two things occurred to swing the game in CCHS favor. #1 & #1A were 2011 G Tommy Berry stepping up and being a complimentary second scorer next to Martinez. In fact, on this day he led all scorers with 21 and was aggressive going to the hole all day. The 2nd thing was Coach Romy Vela switching to a 1-3-1 zone, which with Kocher positioned on the wing kept him to zero meaningful touches in the 4th quarter. Your best players have to touch the ball down the stretch. Berry & Martinez did, while Kocher did not. Chalk one up for Central on a nice Saturday afternoon.
2011 G Tommy Berry had 21 to lead all scorers
Top dogs, Jake Kocher (left) of St, Michael's and Cole Martinez (right) of Central were both relegated to second fiddle and overshadowed in the scoring department by Berry during this contest.
