Fishburne Military School head coach Ed Huckaby expected a good defensive effort out of his team after the Caissons gave up 100 points in a one-point loss to Gray Military Academy Friday night.
Even Huckaby was blown away by what FMS did to third-ranked Kiski School on Saturday on the final day of the Best Western Waynesboro Caisson Shootout.
“I’ve known all along that we have the potential to be a very good defensive team. I think now we’re starting to get it,” said Huckaby after Fishburne’s 65-48 win.
Kiski had put up 117 points in a triple-overtime loss to Hargrave Military Academy on Thursday and 84 in a five-point win over Miller School on Friday. The Cougars had a hard time pretty much from the get-go on Saturday.
“For us to win, we have to be the best defensive team on the court, the best hustle team, and we have to be able to make shots. When you don’t do any of those three well, you’re going to have a hard time,” said Kiski coach Daryn Freedman.
This one was over early. Fishburne opened a 21-11 lead at the 11:47 mark on the strength of a hot start by Memphis signee Kuran Iverson. The 6’10” guard hit two early threes and scored on an alley-oop dunk.
Iverson ended up leading FMS with 20 points on the afternoon, but the story of this one was defense.
“We knew we had to come out and play hard on the defensive end after last night’s game,” said Zach Lewis, a 6’3″ guard who has signed with Canisius.
The key to the defensive effort: trust.
“We know we’ve got each other’s backs. If we trust each other, we can play really good team defense,” said Barnett Harris, a 6’9″ forward who has signed with Delaware.
Fishburne (9-2) led 47-24 at the half and opened a 30-point lead at 57-27 eight minutes into the second half. The game got a bit sloppy in the late stages, something that Huckaby used after the game to get his team’s attention ahead of its next game, on the road at #7 Hargrave, which swept three games from Fishburne last season.
Fishburne travels to Chatham for the game with HMA on Friday.
“Hargrave is just another team. They’re a good team, but if we do what we do, we can play with anybody in the country. We’re not scared of anyone,” Harris said.
More at www.FishburnePGBasketball.org.
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