By Edwin Sam ’13, Sports Editor
This year’s basketball team has shown a good balance between experienced seniors that have grown throughout their CCDS careers and inexperienced but talented youth that will be the basis for the program’s future. CCDS seniors Robbie Pierce ’11 (pictured), Ryan Galloway ’11, and Dan Angus ’11 have been in charge of piloting the young squad this year, and their leadership has made the largely inexperienced team into an intimidating, well-organized crew.
The team suffered an early pre-season setback when Galloway sustained a knee injury during the football season that sidelined him for the first few games. The senior went
through extensive rehab to get back to the level that he is at now. After his rehab, he worked hard to get his starting role back as soon as possible, and his performance makes it seem as if he had never been injured. Galloway’s return has had a big impact on the way CCD’s offense is run. “Having his presence in the offense has had a big impact,” said Assistant Coach Greg Ross. “He is always there in the middle and he provides help when other teams get into the center of our defense.” Without Galloway, the team focused on swinging the ball around the perimeter without much play inside the paint. They worked outside-inside, trying to get opportunities on the inside by moving the ball on the outside. When this did not work, they seemed to only have an outside presence, and no real threat down-low. The offensive issues were exacerbated by the team’s lack of an experienced, playmaking point guard. “We have more inside presence. Our offense worked outside-in and sometimes outside only, but with Ryan we can play inside-out,” noted sophomore Trent Babb ’13. “Ryan makes plays for others to get open because he draws so much attention.” In the home game versus Cincinnati Christian School, there were a few plays where Galloway attracted a double-team and was able to skip pass the ball out to Pierce for a quick three pointer that gained momentum for the team. Though the team has Galloway’s strong presence in the middle, it still tries not to build its offense around him. “We try not to focus on Ryan because we have Robbie, who is our leading scorer,” said Ross. “We now have an inside-outside threat. People have to respect Ryan, and he can kick the ball to the outside shooters.” Galloway has been dominating the boards, averaging 13 rebounds a game. The extra rebounding has helped the team get even more second chance points.
Dan Angus is an anomalous leader for the basketball squad. Angus leads in a quieter and more reserved way. He guides not by telling others what to do, but by demonstrating. Ross mentioned that “Angus stays after practice and puts extra time in. He leads by showing the others what a hard worker looks like.” When younger players see the work ethic and dedication that Angus has, they want to emulate his hard work. Tractability is also one of Angus’s strong suits. He is a great listener that will do whatever the coaches tell him to do. He has had the biggest impact for the team in the clutch games on the road. The senior provides lots of energy when he comes off the bench because he can be a shutdown defender. In the thrilling away game against Lockland, Angus hit a clutch three-pointer to keep CCD in contention and during the winter trip to Florida, he hit a game-winning shot for the Indians. As tournament play rolls around, his reliability will be a valuable asset for the squad.
The play of Robbie Pierce speaks for itself. Anybody that watches him sees the obvious offensive and defensive influence that Pierce exudes. His red-hot shooting and on-court leadership is why he has emerged as the team’s go-to-guy. Last year, the CCDS basketball team had multiple guards that could handle the ball and shoot. CCD lost Rameez Khan, Rob Klug, and D.J. Wingfield, who together could provide all the offense the team needed. Losing these three quality players, the team needed somebody to step up. “Last year, [Pierce] did not have as many opportunities to shoot,” said Babb. “Being a senior, he is getting the green light from Brownstein and Ross, and he is given more opportunity to shoot. Ryan has also opened up Robbie for shots.” However, one of Pierce’s weaknesses is that he tries to be too unselfish.
CCD plays a complicated matchup-zone defense. For those unfamiliar with a matchup-zone defense, it is somewhat a combination of man and zone defenses. The quicker guards aggressively and tightly defend the person on the ball, while the power forwards and center play a help-side zone away from the ball. It can confuse offenses because opposing coaches often cannot figure out what type of defense the Indians are running. The matchup zone requires a lot of talking because it can quickly get disorganized. Pierce consistently talks to the other players and tells them who to guard in this complicated defensive scheme. Earlier in the year, when the team struggled to score, it was the defense, led by Pierce, that kept the team in games. As the tournament nears, it will be up to these three seniors to lead the team to victory.
Photo by Ilana Habib ’11, Photography Section Editor
