Boys basketball preview
Boys Basketball seniors Adam Taylor, Gabe Patterson and Reggie McDonald during the team practice on Tuesday.
Last year there was an astounding 78-68 victory at Southport during a conference game. The two rivalries face off again on Thursday February 1 when PMHS hosts rival Southport during a conference game at 7:30pm.
In comparison with Southport, Perry has the youngest team with five freshmen, one sophomore, five juniors and two seniors. The cardinals count with two seniors, four juniors and five sophomores.
The Falcons are ranked 286 in state and have the deficit of home victories with only one and four lost games. The Cardinals, however, are ranked 166 state but have no knowledge of what an away victory is with zero victories in seven of their away games.
Both teams have faced some struggle so far in the season: Falcons with a record of 2-12 and the Cardinals with 3-11.
According to Maxpreps, the opportunities to win are against the falcons with a .143% compared to the cardinals with a .214%. According to coach Brent Keck, these numbers don’t bother as the matter is what happens on the court.
In agreement with Keck, Cardinals coach Kyle Simpson said “those numbers really don’t mean anything to me.”
Coach Keck said “we need to improve the defense but that will depend on the atmosphere on the stands.”
As far as team scoring average, the Falcons average 52.1 points per game while Southport averages 53.9, considering the Falcons won one game in overtime at Whiteland while the cardinals haven’t had an overtime game.
According to Keck, the team needs to improve offensively and part of that is the shoot selection. While he considers Southport as “skilled,” he describes “they got a brutal beginning of the schedule.” Describing his rival, Simpson said “Coach Keck runs a very good, patient offensive system.”
Right now if you look at both teams points per game, it looks like two teams that want to keep the game in the 50’s, who are patient offensively, and close to evenly matched. Obviously, playing at Perry Meridian gives them an advantage, because it’s on the their home floor, said Mr. Simpson.
The Falcons are known to register fourth quarter as their most explosive quarter with 17.0 points and the first quarter with the lowest at 12.0 points. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have their fourth quarter as their most productive with 14.1 points and the first quarter as their lowest with 13.0 points.
