There is a reason you do the layup drill before the game. There is a good chance you will get some chances over the course of a game.
Then again, if you are No. 1-ranked Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (31-0), a layup was commonplace against Lakeview Christian (25-6). The Jaguars continuously pounded the paint in the first half while building a 19-point lead at one point, and then held off the Lions' comeback bid for an 85-76 victory on Thursday at Williams Arena.
Sophomore guard Brian Goodwin scored on back-to-back layups two seconds apart, the second after stealing the inbounds pass, giving the Jaguars a 36-17 lead with about 5 minutes left in the first half. He finished with a game-high 25 points.
"When I saw an opening, we wanted to expose them," Brian Goodwin said. "I was going to penetrate to all the way to the basket or pass to a teammate."
Senior center 6-foot-7 Connor Goodwin, three inches taller than any Lions starter, had 24 points. He also had 10 rebounds.
"We knew they played a really loose defense, and could get inside," Connor Goodwin said. The Jaguars finished with 48 points in the paint.
The Jaguars held Lakeview Christian's prolific scorer Anders Broman to 18 points, far below his season average of 44.6 points per game. His previous low on the season was 30. He went 5-for-19 from the floor against the Jaguars' often changing defenses.
"I saw Anders when he scored 71 against Melrose," Jaguars coach Dave Montbriand said. "I was impressed. We just wanted to keep switching defenses (1-3-1 zone, 3-2 zone, triangle-and two and man-to-man) on him. We wanted to confuse them."
That they did.
RON HAGGSTROM, Star Tribune
Connor Goodwin, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
A dominant force in the post, Connor Goodwin was able to keep Lakeview Christian out of the paint and put their top post player in foul trouble early in this game. Scoring 24 points and pulling in 10 rebounds, the box score did not begin to mention the difficulty he presented to the opposing team.