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Tough test for Madison

Shroder Jaguars have notched some quality wins to make tonight’s D-III district final.

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer 12:34 AM Thursday, March 11, 2010

MADISON TWP. — Madison High School boys basketball coach Jeff Smith has seen two Shroder games in person and several others on film. Each time, he said it’s looked like he was watching the game in fast-forward.

“Their nickname is the Jaguars, and that’s a good nickname for them, because baby can they run,” Smith said earlier this week.

Madison (23-0) will go up against Shroder (13-10) tonight, March 11, in a Division III district championship game at the University of Dayton Arena. Game time is 9 p.m.

Jaguar coach Thomas Owens downplayed his team’s abilities, but did admit he has a few weapons in his lineup.

“We are still in the learning process of how to play the game the right way,” Owens said. “We have a very young and talented squad. And if we can put together consistency, we should be able to accomplish the goals that we set out for at the beginning of the season.”

Owens said 6-foot-6 junior forward Jalen Billups (14.9 points per game), 5-11 senior guard Antwan Tolliver (10.8 ppg) and 6-2 junior post player Landon Williams (11.6 ppg) are the team’s top players.

Shroder entered postseason play seeded third in the Western Brown sectional with a 9-11 record. They finished fourth in the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference behind Taft, Aiken, Woodward and Withrow. Smith isn’t fooled by the Jags’ record, however.

“They’re a very athletic, very good basketball team,” Smith said. “They’ve beaten Reading and Madeira, two very good teams, to get this far. So we know they’re going to be a tough test for us.”

Madison beat Reading in the Brian Cook Classic earlier this season.

“We’ve got to be great in our transition defense, so we can stop their fast break,” Smith said. “And they’ll spend most of the game applying defensive pressure on us. We’ve worked on that considerably this week.

“A lot of teams have tried pressing us, and at times we’ve been able to light up the scoreboard on them. Hopefully, this will be another one of those times.”

Madison’s offensive depth could be a key. It’s hard pressing a team when anyone on the floor can score.

In the team’s last four games, including a make-up regular-season game with Waynesville, each one of Madison’s starters has scored in double figures at least twice.

Talk about diversity, senior center Justin Brunswick led in scoring against Waynesville (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Clinton-Massie (18); and junior point guard Josh Foster led the team in scoring against Carlisle (18 points) and Badin (19).