Respect.
It’s the one-word message Westside boys basketball coach Jerry Hunter had for his team in the locker room before Tuesday’s season opener against Lakeside.
Well, we’ll call it a two-word message.
“I also wrote the word ‘rebound’ over the word respect,” Hunter said. “That’s what’s going to get this team respect.”
Not the dunks. Not the 3-point shots. Not the alley-oops. But respect for the game and the boring, routine, foundational fundamentals. That’s what Hunter wanted to see from a talented, but young Westside squad in the Patriots 97-38 win against a Lakeside team that was somewhat short-handed, given a good chunk of their main contributors are still playing football.
But for Hunter, Tuesday was less about the caliber of opponent than it was measuring their maturity.
Talkin’ about practice
“I’m watching to see if they execute the things we practice,” Hunter said.
Things like rebounding, shot selection, defensive intensity. Oh yeah, and keeping those emotions under control.
Take senior Aldrion Jones for example. He erupted for 17 points, most of them in the first half, and seven of his buckets were dunks.
After his third highlight reel style play, he took a quick second to woof a bit at a Lakeside player while getting back on defense.
Refs T’d him up. Then Hunter pulled him off the floor for a minute to help him calm down a bit and re-center.
“I told him, ‘Don’t let your mouth write a check that your you-know-what can’t cash,’” Hunter said. “But, you know, that’s the maturity thing. That’s what I had to explain to the official. He was jacked up, man. This is what he’d been waiting on. It’s his turn to shine, so to speak. But my thing is, they have to understand that this isn’t a tournament. This is a season. When they play summer, more or less it’s just tournaments. Now it’s getting their minds ready for the long haul.”
Jones’ 17 points was part of a Westside effort that included five total double-figures scorers with junior Keori Atwell leading the way with 20 points, Dontrell Jackson adding 15 and sophomore Delontae Dagget and Jayden Adkinson pitching in with 10 points each.
But then there was senior Karsten Bryant — a rarely used player from last year’s 3-peat team. Bryant scored the first bucket of the season on a corner 3-pointer Tuesday night as part of his eight points.
Senior Zackery McFadden earned Hunter’s praise by grabbing a team-high 14 boards, and all-in-all, Hunter was pleased with what he saw. Now he just wants to see more.
“It’s just a maturation process with these guys,” he said. “They’ve got the ability. I don’t think we’ll have a problem scoring. I think, at times, we’ll have problems just learning how to win.”
More help on the way
Hunter said it’ll help when J.C. Crawford and Jarious Adkinson return — likely sometime in December. Crawford is part of Westside’s football team that will play its first round Class AA playoff game Friday night. And Jarious Adkinson is recovering from a torn ACL from the offseason.
“We’re going to need their experience and their decision making and shot selection,” Hunter said. “These guys here [Tuesday night] missed a couple of open looks because they tried to score in a big crowd. Parents in stands and all that.”
The coach also noted that he felt Lakeside got too many second-chance shots late, due to lack of communication on defense.
“I think we let them get to the lane too often,” he said.
The good news is, in a long 30-plus game season, there’s plenty of time to get better with the next opportunity coming Friday at 9 p.m. against Shiloh in the Ricky Moore Invitational.
After that, Westside won’t play again for eight days when it starts a holiday tournament run of opponents such as Cedar Grove, Etowah, Tampa (Fla.) Catholic and Plant City (Fla.).
What will this young Patriots squad focus on in between games? In a word, practice.
“Things we see them do in practice, we’ll watch to see if they do them in a game,” Hunter said. “Did I see them all Tuesday night? No. But I do see some growth. I always tell them I enjoy watching them play, but I absolutely love watching them practice.”
