Pressure defense allows Olivet to race past turnover-prone Pennfield in boys basketball
OLIVET - Pennfield has had periods of time this season where it has had trouble holding on to the ball.
Olivet wants to play the game this season with an eye toward taking the ball away.
That combination was a recipe for success for the Eagles as Olivet defeated Pennfield, 65-44, in this non-conference boys basketball game at Olivet High School on Tuesday.
OIivet forced Pennfield into nine turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game to set the tone. By halftime, the Panthers had 18 turnovers and it was clear that Olivet's strategy was going to work on this night.
"With our size, we're not big, we want to try and play pressure defense. We have to play that way, use a press and try to get turnovers and deflections and get our steals," Olivet coach Brian Lincoln said. "When we are doing that, creating easy baskets, we can be a good team."
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The early spurt of turnovers had Pennfield trailing 15-6 after the first quarter and 20-6 after the first few minutes of the second quarter. Pennfield made a dent into that lead by halftime, to trail only 29-18 at intermission, but with nine more turnovers in the second quarter, every time the Panthers would get close, Olivet would be able to take back control of the game.
"Early on, those turnovers really hurt. A lot of deflections, a lot of lazy passes," Pennfield coach Nate Burns said. "It wasn't so much we didn't know they were going to press. We handled moving the ball up the floor fine, but in the halfcourt, we couldn't get in our sets and we couldn't get shots because we couldn't hang onto the ball."
Pennfield thought it still had a chance to get back in the game early in the second half. But after three straight Olivet 3-pointers to start the third quarter - two by Bryce Wine, and one by Bo Lincoln - as the Panthers failed to get a shot off on their own, that put away any hopes of a comeback as the lead grew to 38-16.
"Thought the first four minutes of the second half was going to be key, that's what we talked about at halftime," Burns said. "We wanted to chip away and then give ourselves a shot. But then those two things, defense and ball control, those were going to be the keys tonight, and we didn't do either one of those things tonight."
Lincoln, an All-State guard and four-year varsity player, led Olivet with 24 points, including three 3-pointers. Wine added 15 for the Eagles and Ethan Milars chipped in with nine points and four steals.
Lincoln added six rebounds and five steals and his ability to be efficient with the ball to get his nightly 20-plus points per game has been the key to the Eagles 11-4 season so far.
"Bo knows how to get others involved. He has been doing it since third grade. And when it's time to go win the game for us he will," Brian Lincoln said. "But we have a core group of seniors that have been playing together for a long time and it's been a lot of fun this year."
Brevin Bailey led Pennfield with 14 points as the Panthers hadn't played in 10 days and dropped to 4-10 overall. Calvin Paesens added 11 points and eight rebounds and Johnathan Lake came up with 10 and six rebounds.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Boys Basketball: Olivet rolls past Pennfield in non-conference tilt
