Font ResizeFrom any basketball team -- even a can't-miss squad like Eastern York -- complacency poses a threat. It's a coach's job to constantly prod and tinker, to find new ways to motivate players during the course of a season.
It's with that in mind that Larry Fisher toted a plastic, highlighter-orange hard hat into the Eastern York boys'
The idea: Award it to the hardest-working Eastern player from each game.
"It's something we've been talking about doing for a while," Fisher said. "It's not the stats guy, although it could be. It's the guy who's on the floor, the guy who makes the hard-working plays."
The concept was dreamed up by Fisher, who grew up north of Pittsburgh and had uncles that worked in the coal mines. He wanted to impart a "hard-hat mentality" onto his players.
Eastern (18-0, 12-0 in Division III) exhibited more than a bit of that attitude Friday, flashing a pressure defense forced the Squires (12-6, 8-3) into 17 turnovers and produced several breakout buckets. The easy offense helped Eastern to another double-digit win on a night when its jump shots weren't always falling.
Austin Tillotson and Andrew Nicholas each dropped in 20 points for Eastern, continuing their stellar junior campaigns. Neither, however, left Eastern's locker room with the hard hat.
The inaugural honor went to junior guard Ryky Smith, a starter who came into the game averaging 2.8 points.
Smith scored nine Friday, but his contributions elsewhere on the court were even more important.
"Ryky's always in the mix of those tipped balls, the rebounds, the diving on the floor, the defensive stands," Fisher said. "Although he did have nine (points) tonight. We were wondering if it was really him."
Smith said he wasn't too surprised his coaches picked him. His role is to be an energy guy.
"I have a bulldog style that I play, just with the hustle I play with," Smith said. "So they gave me the hard hat."
Smith's hustle play toward the end of the second quarter put a bow on a 10-0 Eastern run that broke open a still semi-tight affair.
With Delone in transition and Smith trailing the play, the 5-foot-9 guard reached around the back of a Squires player and punched the ball into the hands of Eastern senior Nate Bollinger.
He heaved a pass downcourt to Tillotson, who shuffled the ball to Nicholas for an easy lay-in to put Eastern up 28-12.
That certainly wasn't Eastern's only defensive highlight. Delone shot 6-of-18 in the first half, and missed its first five shots of the third quarter. Eastern led by as many as 28 before the Squires pieced together some offense late.
"Your margin of error is so small, because every mistake becomes so large," Delone coach Jim Dooley said of playing Eastern.
That margin of error is made smaller by players like Smith and senior forward Luke Barton. Players who help free up Tillotson and Nicholas to post their huge numbers.
Hence the hard hat.
"It's kind of new thing for us," Fisher said. "They're enjoying it."
jclayton@ydr.com; 771-2045
DELONE CATHOLIC (46)
Smith 2 0-0 4, Becker 2 0-0 4, Brady 3 1-2 7, Hoffman 1 2-3 4, Die 0 0-0 0, Orndorff 0 0-0 0, Brandon Noel 4 0-0 8, Tompkins 2 0-0 4, Faber 0 0-0 0, Mark Staub 3 2-2 8, Kump 2 2-2 7, Raber 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-9 46.
EASTERN YORK (66)
Stoutzenberger 0 0-0 0, Smith 4 0-0 9, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Sheetz 1 0-0 3, Austin Tillotson 6 7-9 20, Zimmerman 1 0-2 2, Bollinger 4 0-0 8, Barto 2 0-0 4, Diehl 0 0-0 0, Armitage 0 0-2 0, Bixler 0 0-0 0, Andrew Nicholas 8 3-3 20. Totals 26 10-16 66.
Delone 6 10 14 16 -- 46
Eastern 16 16 19 15 -- 66
3-point goals -- Delone Catholic 1 (Cody Kump), Eastern York 4 (Ryky Smith, Ben Sheetz, Tillotson, Nicholas).
J.V. score -- Delone Catholic 52, Eastern York 33.
