Opportunistic Garnet Valley outruns Kennett

EAST MARLBOROUGH >> It was a season-opening high school hoops matchup pitting two teams that want to push the pace. But on Friday at the Unionville Tip-Off Tournament, the Garnet Valley boys were able to do that much more effectively than Kennett, and the Jaguars ran off with a 75-52 victory.

“We aren’t very big, so we like to run,” Garnet Valley coach Mike Brown said. “Half-court offense just doesn’t suit us.”

In all, the Jags forced 19 turnovers, and then it was off to the races. It meant that Garnet Valley simply had more transition opportunities, and with junior guard Austin Laughlin leading the way, Kennett was never going to be able to keep up.

“Our turnovers led to more than 20 points for (Garnet Valley),” Kennett coach Brian Grashof said. “That just killed us. And when we made those mistakes, we just didn’t get back on defense.”

Laughlin poured in 10 of his career-high 30 points in the pivotal second quarter, and that’s when the Jaguars took command.

“Defense comes first so that we can push the ball. That’s what we focus on,” Laughlin said.

“I tell the kids, we are not going to fast break if we don’t play good defense,” Brown added. “Once we did that, it converted to turnovers and easy layups at the other end.”

The Jags actually shook off a slow start to score 26 of 33 points in one stretch of the opening half to open a double-digit lead. Garnet Valley turned most of Kennett’s nine first half turnovers into points, and Laughlin had 18 by the halftime break as the lead ballooned to 36-24.

“Austin is a very good player,” Brown said. “He can drive, he can shoot, and he’s a difficult matchup because he can do both.

“Early in the game, we had other guys who were struggling, but fortunately Austin wasn’t. He had a great first half and that kept us afloat.”

Another shaky start by the Jags enabled the Blue Demons to pull within five on a couple of occasions early in the second half, but Garnet Valley closed out the third quarter with a 13-0 rally to widen the margin to 19.

“Oh, we have work to do,” Brown said. “Our offense was fine but overall I didn’t think our defense was consistently that good.”

Brandon Starr added 12 points and Cade Brennan chipped in 11 for the Jaguars (1-0 overall). But Laughlin was the story.

“It felt great, but to get the ‘W’ in our first game, that’s the main focus for me,” he said.

“It’s good to get our first win out of the way,” Brown added. “It sure beats the alternative.”

Senior guard Bowen duPhily knocked down six 3-pointers and paced Kennett with 24 points. But other than Mitchell Kosara’s 12, nobody else helped shoulder the scoring load.

“When something doesn’t go our way, we need to work on keep pushing and fighting,” Grashof said. “I want our kids to be coachable. We need to be able to correct our mistakes, cut down on the turnovers, get back on defense – all of the little things.”