The San Quentin Kings’ defense overcame bad shooting to beat an unnamed outside team 67-44.
The Kings normally stellar three-point shooters couldn’t buy a bucket. Oris “Pep” Williams, who is usually hot from three-point land, was cold, missing 11 out of 15 shots. He was still a factor, scoring nine points, snatching 11 rebounds, getting four assist, one steal and spreading the defenders.
Teammate Thad Fleeton commented, “Williams spreads the defense, so we can play inside out.”
Aubra-Lamont McNeely is normally money in the bank from deep, but he went 0-8 from three-point land. He did score two points from the field and two from the line for a total of four. Asey is another good outside shooter, but missed his first six shots, before hitting three treys in a row.
However, Fleeton held the Kings down, leading with outstanding inside and short jumper game, hitting nine of 12 shots, scoring 16 points and getting six rebounds. “Defense was the key to winning,” Fleeton said.
The July 20 game started out going back and forth, with the Kings only up one point, 24-23 at the half. Kings coach Orlando Harris told his team, “The game is close ‘cause they’re outhustling us; move the ball inside. They’re playing harder than us. Defense is where it starts. Don’t worry about scoring, box out when the ball goes up.”
His team listened, played good defense in the second half, took a 12-point lead by the end of the third, and never looked back.
The outside team included David St. Geme, Jeremy Voss, AJ Comeau, Mike Edmonds, Danny Sullivan and Ben Draa.
