Eagles look sharp on offense in 67-48 win over Fort Osage

by Michael Smith
 
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The Grain Valley boys basketball team may have had their best offensive performance of the season.
 
The Eagles took on Fort Osage in the third-place game of the Grain Valley Invitational and looked like a well-oiled machine on offense. Cuts and screens led to wide open shots behind the 3-point line or an open look right at the basket in the second half.
 
Not only that, but seven players scored at least six points and three of them had double figures in Grain Valley’s 67-48 victory Friday at home.
 
“Coach told us that this was the best team and the best offensive basketball we have played this season,” Grain Valley senior forward Stylz Blackmon said. “It was very entertaining for him to watch, he said. Just watching us being able to orchestrate our offense for an entire 32 minute game, is something he’s been waiting for us to do.”
 
Grain Valley (10-7) was tied with the Indians 15-15 at the end of the first period and dominated from there. The Eagles outscored Fort Osage 20-10 in the second period to take a 35-25 lead into halftime.
 
“They went to the zone at one point and we were able to dismantle that.”
 
Blackmon dominated in the first half, scoring 13 of his game-high 19 points and junior Aaron Barr chipped in with nine points in the first 16 minutes.
 
Grain Valley then started to run away with it in the third by extending the lead to 54-37. The team ran the offense well and used organized plays to find easy looks.
 
In that period, a pick and pop set up by sophomore Eli Herbert led to a wide-open three from the right wing that he buried. Herbert also made an open layup on a back cut and a pin-down screen from Blackmon opened up a cutting lane for senior Logan Marcum, who put in an open layup.
 
In the fourth, the Indians didn’t get any closer than 14 points as the Eagles continued to get it done on the offensive end. Senior Jackson Schoen threaded a bounced pass through a tight window to hit a cutting Herbert, who converted on a conventional 3-point play after making a layup. Senior Matthew Leonard also had an assist in which he found Schoen cutting baseline for an open layup.
 
“We did a great job having balance,” Grain Valley head coach Andy Herbert said. “We’ve found that groove and rhythm on how everyone is going to get theirs. We executed well. We laughed because we talked about how earlier in the year, we couldn’t even set up a play.
 
“There was the back cut Eli got that led to the and-one, we have worked on that all year. (That play) hasn’t gone well in the past.”
 
Andy Herbert noted his team looked better on defense in the second half and that was especially apparent on a play Leonard made midway through the fourth. He blocked the shot of Fort Osage’s 6-foot-2 forward Grayson Harris, rifled a pass to Marcum on the fast break, which led to another basket for the Eagles.
 
“I don’t know how tall he is, he’s 5-8, 5-9 or 5-10,” Herbert said of Leonard, “but he’s an explosive athlete and he can get off the ground quickly and he’s smart. He’s the unsung hero of this group.”
 
Barr and Herbert each added 13 points apiece for the Eagles and Marcum and sophomore forward Samuel Pendergrass added seven each.
 

Grain Valley senior forward Stylz Blackmon goes up for a layup while his shot is being contested by a pair of Fort Osage defenders during a 67-48 victory Friday at home. Photo credit: Clara Jaques

Grain Valley sophomore Eli Herbert drives baseline for a layup attempt. Photo credit:  Clara Jaques