Joshua Bresnock and the rest of the U.S. Army Medical Department intramural basketball team were desperate.
Still looking for the first win of the season at Fort Meade, Md., the MEDDAC team let loose a dominating performance Jan. 20 at Murphy Field House. MEDDAC defeated the Naval Information Operations Command Khaki team by a score of 67-27.
MEDDAC's Clayton Hodge led the offensive rampage as he racked up 18 points. Bresnock added an additional 15 for the night.
The team initially had been off to a rocky start to the 2011 intramural season. In two previous games, MEDDAC lost by 10 points to the NIOC Gold team and fell to the 34th Intelligence Squadron by 21 points.
Bresnock attributed the losses to poor defensive play. In the games against NOIC Gold and the 34 IS, MEDDAC was averaging 49 points against a game.
"Not too many people know what to do -- we're two or three on a man," Bresnock said "Hopefully, we corrected that in practice."
As they took the court Jan. 20, the players knew what they needed to do to take down the NIOC Khaki team and end the losing streak.
"We need to move the ball, set screens and play good defense," Bresnock said.
NIOC Khaki entered the game with a 2-1 record, with victories over the NIOC Tiger team and the Company B Marines. Despite an age gap between players on the two teams, NIOC Khaki was holding its own on the court.
"We're a bunch of old guys. We're senior enlisted and senior noncommissioned officers," said Carlos Roebuck of the NIOC Khaki team. "We're 2-1, we're doing something right. Experience counts."
When the game tipped off at 5:30 p.m., it started the wrong way for NIOC Khaki. League rules forced the team to play shorthanded in the beginning of the game.
Aaron Smalley was on the bench for a good part of the first half, leaving NIOC Khaki to play five-on-four against the quick MEDDAC team. Smalley said he couldn't play because he was wearing shorts with pockets -- which is against league rules.
During the time Smalley was out of the game, MEDDAC went on an 8-0 run to open the game -- creating a lead that would last the entire night.
Despite good passing outside of the paint -- which caused scrambling among the MEDDAC defenders -- good screens and setups, NIOC Khaki was unable to sink their shots. NIOC Khaki didn't get on the board until six minutes into the game. Of the team's 16 first half-points, six were free throws.
Going into halftime, MEDDAC had the lead by a score of 27-16. Bresnock led the MEDDAC team in the first half with nine points.
MEDDAC came out of halftime on fire.
The team racked up more points in the second half -- nearly four times more than NIOC Khaki was able to conjure up.
NIOC Khaki was outscored 40-11 in the second half. Hodge put up more points in the half than the entire NIOC Khaki team with his 12-point offensive attack
Players from MEDDAC were able to use their speed and agility to make fast breaks up the court, leaving the NIOC Khaki players sprinting to catch up with the play.
MEDDAC was also able to drive to the net with ease, attacking the net and grabbing the rebounds -- sometimes getting three chances to score before NIOC Khaki could make a defensive play. The majority of their points were scored from within the paint. The team made only three perimeter shots during the night. The team's strong zone defense also helped keep NIOC Khaki from putting up points.
Content to finally have a win under their belt, MEDDAC players looked ahead to improve. Hodge said the team needs to continue to work on its "half-court offense and defense."
After allowing more than 45 points in the last two games, MEDDAC's defense may have turned the page as they held NIOC Khaki to under 30.
"[We won with] intense defense," Hodges said.
Social Sharing