FORT BENNING, Ga., (Feb. 11, 2015) -- The 11th Engineer Battalion disassembled D Troop, 1st Squadron, 16th Cavalry Regiment, 69-29 in an intramural basketball game Feb. 2 at Smith Fitness Center.
Ineffective ball handling and passes crippled D 1/16 Cav's game, setting them back from the beginning with the offense being held to eight points in the first 13 minutes of the game.
"They were making careless decisions with the ball, which helped us out a lot," said Kyle Ferguson, 11th ENG's head coach. "They tried to break our defense by skipping the ball down passed half court, which is never going to work if our defense is working how it's supposed to be."
He said aside from one or two minor hiccups, the two defensive schemes they ran were flawless and "executed to perfection."
The 11th ENG's were able to exploit D 1/16 Cav's weakness and produced several six- to seven-point runs, putting up 22 points before the two-minute mark.
With 1:05 remaining, baskets were rotated giving D 1/16 Cav the opportunity to add to their score while the 11th ENG's held them to a 29-14 halftime lead.
Ferguson said what worked for the Engineers in the first half was switching zones.
"We put them into a 1-2-2 press, to press those guys and then (we'd) fall back into another zone once we got back half court," he said. "(In) the second half, it worked to start off, but then we went to a man - a man press - to try and get them out of their rhythm."
11th ENG's Andrew Johnson and JaQuavis Rozier contributed a combined total 17 points in the first half while Justin Huff, who had a game-high 21 points, contributed only two, but scored 19 points in the second half.
The 11th ENG set the tone for the win in the second half by breaking out with a 13-point run and extended their lead to 42-14.
Like the first half, D 1/16 Cav wasn't allowed to sink consecutive baskets in the first 13 minutes, which allowed the 11th ENG to put up another 11-point run to secure the 69-29 win.
D 1/16 Cav's Darius Jackson, who had a team-high 11 points, sank eight of his shots in the second half.
Ferguson said he had no complaints about his defense and thought the offense faired well.
"Overall, offensively, we did pretty good ... finding an open man, knocking down 3-point shots, looking for the big man down low, getting offensive boards, going back up ... ," he said. "Just toward the end when they started showboating (is) the only bad piece. We are going to get back inside the gym and put some more work in and fine tune that ... (and) open it up with more teamwork."
11th ENG 69, D 1-16 Cav 29
11th ENG (69)
Huff (21), Johnson (16), Rozier (10), Miller (6), Uzzell (4), Fourlough (4), Madiena (3), Jones (3), Norwood (2)
D 1-16 Cav (29)
Jackson (11), Cepeda (8), Herbin (6), Rickets (4)
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