The Springstead Eagles (2-3) hit the home hardwood for the first time this season against the Weeki Wachee Hornets (0-4). It was a great time for them to have it, too. After a challenging start against tough opponents on the road and in tournaments, Head Coach Matthew McGarry and the Eagles picked apart the visitors 70-24 at Greg O’Connell Court on Tuesday night.
“One thing about Springstead basketball, it’s aggressive and it’s fast-paced,” said Coach McGarry. “We definitely try to impose ourselves and beat up on anybody regardless of the skill level, but we needed that. We started the season on a rough patch […] Any chance that we get to do what we do at a high level and play Springstead basketball, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
From the jump, the Eagles were in control. The home team began the night on a 17-2 run and did not surrender a field goal until more than 5 and a half minutes into the initial frame.
This was thanks in part to execution, but also the aforementioned aggressive play. Time and time again, the Red, White, and Blue would create turnovers through opportunistic defense.
The Energizer Bunny Senior Guard Ryan Sayre forced multiple steals alongside Senior Forward Jamin Pond and Sophomore Guard Orlando Feliberty. No one had a bigger night than Senior Zion McKenzie, though.
His final stat line would be stuffed from top to bottom. 30 points (85 adjusted field goal percent, 3/3 on treys), 6 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 assists. Coach McGarry was effusive in his praise of McKenzie on Tuesday.
“Zion is an extremely hard worker and he’s a very smart kid,” the Eagles’ coach said. “He’s been in our IB program the last three years. He’s now a full-time PHSC student. He doesn’t even come on campus. Sometimes he’s an overthinker and he’s very hard on himself. So, for himself to see that success tonight, I think that’s going to be very helpful for our team moving forward.”
Springstead blew past Weeki Wachee in the home opener, but Hornets Senior Shooting Guard Alex Wilson had a solid night for the Hornets. He recorded 9 points in total with 7 comprising the entirety of his team’s scores in the opening frame.
While the Eagles had a fantastic outing, there are certainly areas Coach McGarry wants to continue working on that he noted were exposed more in their earlier road matchups. Despite this, he feels his squad can be even better if they can successfully address these issues against teams like Lecanto on Friday.
“We need to get better at the guard,” said Coach McGarry. “Our guard play is not as strong as it needs to be to be a successful team. We just got to continue to execute what we do and believe in it. There’s still a level of buy-in that needs to happen. Once they fully buy-in and we start executing at a high level, then we could be pretty tough.”
