Poulakidas, Nalls spark Neuqua Valley win vs. Marmion
Neuqua Valley's John Poulakidas scored a team-high 23 points Thursday in a 78-57 victory over Marmion at the East Aurora Holiday Tournament.
The left-handed sophomore with the neon pink high-tops scored the same amount at the same gym the day before in a loss to Wheaton Academy.
The overall difference?
"Passing," said Tyler Sutton, Neuqua's acting coach Thursday in one of those instances Wildcats coach Todd Sutton delegates game responsibilities.
"We put an emphasis on that," said Tyler Sutton, 2-0 this season when heading the squad, 5-1 overall. "We tell the point guards to move that ball around. It makes things so much easier when you have ball reversals, find posts and kick out."
Despite Marmion (5-11) committing 6 of its 18 turnovers in the first quarter, Neuqua Valley (5-7) trailed 18-17 courtesy of the Cadets' own gunner, Jonathan Reid, who finished with a game-high 26 points, including five 3-pointers.
Then energy off the bench by Mark Gronowski, Justin Blazek - "our hustle guys" along with Patrick Hoffman, Tyler Sutton said - a driving basket and pullup jumper by point guard Sentwall Nalls gave Neuqua a 9-3 run and 28-21 lead it held for good.
"Defense," Nalls said, was the key.
"We constantly try to stress that," said Nalls, who scored 9 points with 5 assists. "The last few games we came up short because we didn't play defense. We saw today, once we kick up the defensive energy, we get stops, we push in transition and get easy baskets."
Leading 34-26 at halftime, Neuqua Valley bumped it to 48-26 at 6:03 of the third quarter on a Nalls 3 out of the gate, 3 Hank Pelter free throws and 8 points from Poulakidas, who also hit five 3-pointers.
"I have to pass first, and once I get my guys involved then that's just going to make my job easier as the game goes on," said Nalls, whom Tyler Sutton called "the player of the game."
A surge by Reid plus a putback by freshman Sean Kavanaugh, who scored 12 points, moved the Cadets within 48-37. Gronowski took an offensive charge that spurred the Wildcats again to a 60-39 lead after three quarters.
Donovan Navarro, Blazek and Gronowski each scored 7 points and Blazek pulled down 10 rebounds. Connor Davis and Nonso Obguefi also impacted the Wildcats' inside game. Hampered by foul trouble, Marmion guard Thomas Surges finished with 8 points.
"We've just got to be more disciplined defensively," said Marmon coach Tony Young. "I think that's the big thing, learn to follow the game plans and execute game plans properly. And little things.
"We'll figure it out," he said. "Slowly but surely it's starting to come together. Some days we look great, some days we don't. I think the biggest thing is just consistency with this group right now."