The Hazelwood West Wildcats used a smothering defense to defeat the Rockwood Summit Falcons 66-42 in Friday night action. The Cats opened up the contest by jumping out to a quick 5-0 run behind the quick hands and aggressive defense of Senior Darius Cooper and Sophomore guard Arlandus Keyes. The pair wreaked havoc on the Falcons offense forcing an early Rockwood timeout. Summit would compose itself out of the timeout and get their offense steaming behind the sharpshooting of Senior guard Jon Thomas who closed the quarter with two triples under his belt. Rockwood would end the quarter trailing by three points 16-13, but that would be as close as they would come for the remainder of the contest.
Hazelwood West tightened their defensive grip during the second quarter. The Wildcats opened up the quarter with three steals in a row and converted each into offensive scoring. The Falcons would call a timeout, but it would be to no avail. Rockwood would still be unable to score until the 3:52 mark and after a 12-0 run by Hazelwood West. At the end of the half, the Wildcats had pushed their lead to 35-18. The lead would grow to 26 points at the end of third quarter, 56-30. The game concluded with Hazelwood West defending their home turf by defeating Rockwood Summit 66-42. Here are my three most intriguing performers.
2020 6-1 Darius Cooper, Hazelwood West – Cooper is a guard by position, but on a team that lacks size, his muscular frame and athleticism came in handy to attack the interior of the Summit defense. The athletic Cooper ducked in and out of the lane to pick up points by any means necessary, including high arching layups, pull up jump stops and attacking the rim on the break. Cooper also distributed a few dimes for good measure.
2020 6-5 Jacques Thomas, Rockwood Summit – The ultra-athletic wing had a low scoring night but still managed to stand out because of his ability to comfortably move the ball against pressure and his effectiveness when attacking downhill something which I thought he could have done more of this evening. Thomas has worked hard in the off season to improve his ball handling, so this game was a test for that progress. Of course, there is always his aerial display. On one play, the senior showed quick evasive ball handling to blow past two defenders, head right down the middle, and soar high above the rim before finishing with a thunderous dunk. It’s clear that Thomas is a special talent whose best days are ahead of him.
2022 6-0 Arlandus Keyes, Hazelwood West – The sophomore finished with 23 points and four steals. Keyes can really motor up and down the court and uses good instincts to get steals and deflections. Tonight, it would have been an understatement to say that Keyes is good at anticipating the turnover and filling the lane in transition. The young guard is built for the press and is able to transition from defense to offense with the best of them. The Falcons had no answer for the speed and finishing ability of Keyes.
Hazelwood West
2020 Darius Cooper 14 PTS, 4 RBS, 3 AST, 4 STL
2022 Arlandus Keyes 23 PTS, 4 STL
2021 Rashawn Riney 9 PTS
Rockwood Summit
2020 Jon Thomas 10 PTS, 3-3FG
2020 Seth McDuffie 10 PTS
