Blue Jays win battle of young teams with Bearcats

After the varsity boy’s basketball programs at Dexter and Charleston High School combined for 42 victories and a pair of MSHSAA District championships a year ago, no one throughout Missouri is going to feel sorry for Bearcat coach Chad Allen and his Blue Jay counterpart, Jamarcus Williams, who are both working with very, very inexperienced teams this season.

“We lost six seniors,” Allen said following his team’s 65-48 season-opening loss at Charleston on Tuesday.

“We are extremely young. We only have three upperclassmen. It is going to be tough. I told the guys that, especially at the beginning of the season.”

Both teams played some seniors (Charleston four and Dexter two) on Tuesday, but in reality, Blue Jay forward Ko’Terrion Owens and Bearcat post Ethan Zabelin were the only players in the contest who possessed a great deal of varsity experience.

“Our guys were willing to come out and compete,” Williams said.

Regardless of his player’s amount of experience, Williams isn’t going to tolerate a lack of effort defensively from his team, which really went eight players deep on Tuesday.

The Blue Jays (2-0) limited the Bearcats (0-1) to just five points on two makes in the game’s opening period.

“We stuck to the game plan,” Williams said, as both teams played a lot of zone defense, both extended and in the half-court. “Our offense was a little better tonight and I think that was due to us having an opportunity to create offense from our defense.”

Blue Jay junior guard Tayshon Clark had an effective night at both ends of the floor, which may be a sign of things to come from the youngster, according to Williams.

“This is game two (for him at the varsity level),” Williams said, “and he performed well in game one also.”

In a season-opening win over Horn Lake (Miss.), Clark had six steals while against the Bearcats, he totaled 16 points.

“He plays (well) in that zone,” Williams said of Clark. “He handles the ball for us. He can pass it. He just knows what to do.”

The Blue Jays had solid ball movement against the Bearcats’ 3-2 zone, but Williams wants to see improvement in that area.

“It can be better,” Williams said. “It has to be better, actually. There were some possessions where we moved the ball well, it opened up their zone, and we got it in the paint, several times.”

That is where Owens and junior center Deshaun Henderson made their mark.

Owens led the Blue Jays with 20 points while making all three of his free throw attempts. The strong man even buried a 3-pointer in the third quarter.

Henderson, who is a brute force in the paint, finished with six points.

“It takes us so long to set up our offense,” Williams said, “and to let it develop.”

Charleston stretched its margin to 28-21 by halftime, but Bearcat junior guard Tucker Temples canned three 3-pointers in the second quarter to keep his team close.

“Tucker did a great job of spotting up,” Allen said, “especially in the first half. They covered him a little bit better in the second half.”

Tucker finished with 15 points while Zabelin was really effective with his cutting to open spots within the Charleston zone and tallied 16 points.

“I thought Ethan did great for us tonight,” Allen said.

Dexter, which really utilized just six players, senior point guard Nathan Harris, who had limited varsity experience a year ago, totaled 10 points in the loss.

The Blue Jays got eight points from senior Zachryan Thomas and seven points from freshman Treshaun Schandon.

“We just have to keep playing,” Allen said, “keep getting more experience, and just keep getting better.”

The Bearcats will visit Malden (1-0) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Charleston will travel to Notre Dame for its season-opening game on Friday at 7:30 p.m.