Rockets chipped away at Hornets’ second-quarter lead

Even No. 1-ranked teams have to consider they’re best path to victory and steer around possible dead ends.

Judson coach Mike Wacker knew from experience that his team didn’t want to run with host East Central (9-6) Tuesday at the Stan Bonewitz Center. So the Rockets (16-1) worked on slowing things to a crawl in the second half of a 56-44 non-district victory over their former district rivals.

The veteran Rockets coach understood the threat posed by Hornets senior guards Ceddrick Ali and Brandon McClure. He also respected East Central’s team speed.

“(McClure) is such a great scorer,” Wacker said. “He and Ceddrick are outstanding. They lit us up last year. We didn’t want to run with East Central. It was to our advantage to lower the number of possessions. Our defense was really good in the second half.”

Unranked East Central led the Rockets, No. 1 in the Express-News area rankings, by as much as seven points in the second quarter. Judson, however, scored seven of the last nine points in the first half in what became a 20-7 run.

“We turned the ball over six times (in the third quarter) when they were not pressing,” East Central coach Jeff Sweet said. “We only turned it over once in the first half, and we were still tied at halftime. We should have been ahead. Then we just got sloppy.”

East Central took an 8-4 lead at the outset, following back-to-back, three-point baskets from McClure and 6-foot-7 senior post Jeremy Jones (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals). The Hornets’ lead quickly grew to 13-5 as junior wing Brandon Keno nailed a 15-footer and Jones scored three more points off a pair of drives.

“Jeremy was really effective early in the game,” Sweet said. “He had bigger guys on him, so he’s going to look to go (to the basket). He was our leading scorer with 10 points at halftime, but then he didn’t score in the second half.”

After a steal, Jones was on a breakaway when a Judson player fouled him from behind. The flagrant foul left Jones with a bloody nose, which meant that Sweet could choose a player to shoot the resulting foul shots Ethan White came off the bench to make a free throw and it was 14-7 Hornets.

As a consequence of the flagrant foul, the Hornets maintained possession. Ali drove the ball and dished to senior Albert Jimenez to complete the three-point possession with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

“We played pretty well,” Sweet said of the first half. “We were very competitive and we opened up a lead, but I thought (Judson) did a good job of coming back and getting the win. We played well, but we still were tied at halftime.”

Judson slashed into East Central’s nine-point lead with a long outlet pass from 6-7 Tanner Leissner to speedy guard Julian Erickson. Erickson (19 points, 3 assists) returned the favor with an alley-oop lob to Leissner (14 points, 9 rebounds) for a dunk that made it 16-13 on the Rockets’ next possession.

“Julian is a tremendous competitor,” Wacker said. “He’s still learning the pace of the game. He can drive the basketball and he can pull up and shoot. He’s a talented young man.”

The second quarter opened with Judson trailing by three, but East Central quickly doubled the deficit with a three-pointer from McClure (8 points) on the left wing. A basket by Jones on a skillful finger roll and a three-pointer from Wanya Ward off an assist from Jones extended the lead to 26-19 with 3:48 until halftime.

“I give a lot of credit to East Central,” Mike Wacker said. “They knocked us on our heels. They made it hard to score. They’re a quality team. Any time you win at the Bonewitz Center, you’re fortunate.”

Two consecutive baskets from 6-9 David Wacker, son of the Judson coach, followed by two from substitute Rayshon Winn – the latter a three-pointer – gave the Rockets a brief 28-26 lead. Ali (14 points) closed the half with a driving layup.

“The height really helped us,” Wacker said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had this much height.”

Ali scored the first five points in the second half, but Erickson launched two 3-pointers to put Judson ahead. The second began a run of 10 unanswered points that made it 41-33. It included a three-pointer and a rebound basket from Wacker.

“We couldn’t get a run like that,” Sweet said. “(Erickson) really hurt us in the third quarter. He was good coming off their screens.”

East Central, which only made one turnover in the first half, committed five in that stretch.

“We switched defenses effectively,” Sweet said of the first half. “But they started hitting some shots and knocked down some threes. We stopped scoring and the pace got really slow. They ran some matchup zone. That hurt us.

“We got really sloppy.”

A basket from Jimenez ended the run with 3:22 remaining in the third quarter, but it counted as the Hornets’ last points until 5:49 remained in the game. Judson outscored East Central 15-7 in the quarter.

The Rockets began the final quarter with a 7-2 spurt. A jumper from Jimenez on the right side, a transition basket from Ali off a steal and a three-pointer by the senior guard put East Central within 52-44 with 46.3 seconds remaining.

Judson made four of six free throws to secure the win.

“It’s a good group,” Wacker said of his team. “We have good senior leadership. We have good players inside and good players outside. And they work well together.”

East Central has had some big wins against Judson in recent years, and looked like it could be on the verge of another in the first half.

Ali scored 29 points and McClure had 21 as the Hornets won the scheduled game last year. The Rockets won the first meeting of the season. East Central also nipped Judson 62-61 in  2010 when they were in the same district.

“Judson was No. 1 coming in, so this game meant a lot,” Sweet said. “Defensively, they got their hands on a lot of balls. Leissner did a great job. We didn’t get many rebounds. We didn’t play well offensively in the second half. We just weren’t sharp.”

Unfortunately for the Hornets, the same problems that plagued their football team have dogged them on the court.

Jones and Jimenez were both playing with shoulder injuries.  Additionally, McClure was under the weather with the flu against Judson.

“We’re going to be right in the mix,” Sweet said. “We definitely have a chance to win it. We need to lock teams up defensively and our young guys have to continue to get better, and it’s tough to do that when the minutes aren’t there.”