Poolville no match for No. 1 Lipan as Indians roll, 67-32

POOLVILLE—After an unexpected week off, Lipan started slow Tuesday but finished strong as the No. 1 Indians turned back Poolville for a 67-32 District 11-2A road win.

The Indians (24-0, 5-0) didn’t get to play Friday due to illness swamping Ranger High School and sidelining staff and players. That incident left coach Brent Gaylor looking for comparable situations for his team, and he settled on how his team’s current dilemma might play out in the future.

“I was pleased with our effort on both ends. We had a week off between games with not getting to play last Friday,” Gaylor said. “I told the guys it’s just like when the playoffs get here. We will play our last district game on a Tuesday and then our next playoff game is going to be a week later.”

At one point in the first quarter, it looked like Poolville (12-6, 2-3) might have a chance as Lipan led 10-8 before turning up the heat on offense and galloping to a 21-10 lead.

“It’s always good to take your current situation and turn it into something you can relate to – you could call it a look at the future,” Gaylor said. “The start of the playoffs is how we related this situation. We needed to see if we could come out with that same intensity and defensive effort.”

Paced by seven first-quarter points from Garrett Smith, the Indians got scoring from Keaston McClure, Jadon Redwine, Tripp Phillips, Cody Harwell, and Tate Branson before focusing on defense and shutting down the Monarchs’ offense. Lipan limited Poolville to just five points over the next eight minutes.

“I was very pleased with our effort. Poolville is a really solid team, especially defensively. They do a good job, and they always have, but I thought we played really well on both ends of the floor tonight,” Gaylor said.

The Indians’ best job of the evening may have been how Lipan transitioned off a Poolville bucket into the fast break.

“We have 8-9 kids that play the game really well, and I’m not afraid to put them out there – when you have that depth and a couple of guys who are very fast and running the floor you try and take advantage,’ Gaylor said. We tell the guys that even though they have made that basket, let’s get that ball into our hands as quick as we can and see if we can push it down and see if we can get an easy one on the other end. If not, we are putting pressure on their defense to get back and get set up.

Getting the quick, easy layup isn’t always the goal for Gaylor.

“A lot of times, it’s not necessarily a layup. Instead, we are creating a disadvantage with the post player running the floor and him forcing a guard to have to pick him up, and now they have their post on one of our guards,” Gaylor said. “It’s not always something you get in the initial transition game, but instead, it’s the secondary break that creates a mismatch on who they are guarding defensively. Our kids are very smart, and they have been playing together a long time, and they do a good job.”

The Indians played almost flawless basketball in the second half drawing only five fouls.

“We played a lot more zone in the second half to mix it up and work on it a little bit. One thing that we talked about when we put in our man pressure that they would try and drive into us and pressure and create that contact,” That is something they (Poolville) always do the last couple of times we played them. We talked about not getting your hands on them and moving your feet. Beat them to the spot and try to get them out of control. I was very pleased with that and thought we did an excellent job of keeping our hands off of them and just keeping them in front of us.”

With the second half of district play at hand, what’s the biggest obstacle for the Indians?

“Just not being satisfied. Satisfaction can lead to failure, so staying hungry and motivated and knowing what our end goal is what we are looking for and keep pushing to get better every day,” Gaylor said. “Immediately, we will be hitting the weights. We gave up a few offensive rebounds because we were getting pushed out underneath the basket.”

Smith’s 18 points were a game-high, followed by Branson with 11, Phillips 10, Harwell 9, McClure 6, Redwine 6, Cole Reynolds 3, Branson 11, Reese Cook 4.