BOYS' BASKETBALL: Taylor's 'platoon system' proves effective

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on February 1, 2017 9:57 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- It was clear from the opening tip that Spring Creek head coach Taylor Jones had a game plan in mind.

Halfway through the first quarter, he swapped all five of his starters out for five bench players. That switch happened seven more times throughout Tuesday night.

Carolina 1-A Conference rival Princeton had no answer for the bum rush, which helped the Gators cruise to a 76-65 victory at "The Swamp."

"We just felt we needed to speed the game up a little bit," Jones said. "I thought the last time we played them, we just played too methodical and slow. A couple of guys have practiced better, so we felt like we could go a little deeper."

The "A" group -- or the starting five -- was Najee Young, Landon Smothers, Cameron Jones, Dominique Morse and Jamerion Dawson. That group scored 15 points in the first quarter.

A few minutes into the game, the "B" group entered -- Jordan Gerringer, Daquan Bynum, Tahj Edwards, Matt Dupuy and Lowell Smothers. Those five combined for eight points in the opening stanza.

SC led 23-5 after eight minutes.

"That second group, I thought, played terrific," Jones said. "The biggest thing we asked out of the second group is locking in on the defensive end and taking care of the ball. And any offense that came would just be a bonus."

The game didn't get much better for Princeton in the second quarter. The Bulldogs were outscored 22-16 in that stanza, which put the halftime score at 45-21 in Spring Creek's favor. Ten Spring Creek players recorded at least one point in the first half.

Princeton outscored the Gators 44-31 in the second half, but the damage had already been done. The mountain was too steep for the Bulldogs to climb.

"We weren't ready to play," said Princeton head coach Jeff Davis. "...When they shoot that well, they're tough to beat. In the first half, they got every loose ball and every offensive rebound. There were two or three plays in the second half where we could get it back in striking distance, but we just couldn't quite do it."

Jones, Young and Morse led the Gators with 13 points apiece. Princeton's Colby Sullivan scored a game-high 16 points. The Bulldogs' Rahjai McPhatter tallied 15 points -- 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter.

Jones said he is confident in the depth of his bench, and believes more players have earned time moving forward.

But as for the mass-switch strategy -- it all depends on the situation.

"I don't know, because sometimes you don't get in a flow," Jones said. "It worked because we were in a flow early. Sometimes you can't do that because you're not in a flow early. We will play more guys, and to try to keep guys fresh."