By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County coach Tremaine Aaron wants to approach the basketball season with a simple goal – do more positive than negative.
“Right now, we are inconsistent, and it’s how can we do more positive than negative over and over again?” Aaron said. “I know it sounds cliche, but that’s ultimately what success is – doing something positive over and over. That’s what we’re working toward.”
Too many turnovers and too few rebounds Friday night couldn’t be overcome by the Rebels during a 72-55 defeat against New Hampstead in ECHS’ home opener.
Effingham County (1-1) will have 11 days to clean things up before meeting Glynn Academy on Dec. 3.
“I learned our (lack of) experience is going to be big, but there’s some fight in the guys, no quit when things go ugly, and that’s something to grow with,” Aaron said after the loss to the Phoenix.
With the football players having less than a week to transition to basketball, Aaron’s starting five Friday night didn’t have much varsity experience from the previous season.
A bright spot, however, was Elyjah Doty, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior forward who poured in a game-high 22 points, including three of the team’s four 3-pointers.
“(Doty) played great and kept us afloat,” Aaron said. “He battled on the boards, but it has to be a team thing. It can’t be just one guy. We’re not too tall, so we have to rebound as a team and play team defense. If we can do those two things, we’ll be in a lot of ballgames.”
New Hampstead’s experienced players from a 23-win Class 4A Elite Eight state team last season posed defensive problems. Steady senior point guard Antoine Youman’s had 21 points while controlling tempo. And Ra’Shawn Truell, who threw for 466 yards and five touchdowns against ECHS in the football season, had four 3-pointers and 20 points as a spot-up shooting threat.
The Phoenix had a 24-8 run during a nine-minute stretch of the first and second quarters and a four-point deficit became a 30-18 lead and the Rebels played catch-up the rest of the night.
ECHS fell behind by 21 (51-30) midway through the third quarter before the Rebels’ full-court press helped spark a 9-0 run to give the team some life.
Truell sank a 3-pointer to end the run and ECHS never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
“When we pressed, it changed the game and that’s something to grow on,” Aaron said.
Football players Lamar Roberts, Noah Reese and Damion Gordon returned to basketball and combined for 16 points in the second half.
“It’s good to have those guys back. They were a key to some of our success last year,” Aaron said.
Aaron hopes to have 6-2, 270-pound Joseph Polite, an honorable mention all-region performer last season, back after the Thanksgiving break. Aaron said Polite is recovering from a football injury.
