Without the services of Zaire Wade, the American Heritage Patriots dropped a 57-48 decision to the Hallandale Chargers. According to Wade, a bad hip kept him sidelined as he is considered day-to-day.
The absence of Wade seemed to show on both ends of the floor for the Patriots. Senior Hallandale guard Carrington Campbell, hit from a variety of spots on the floor, including opening up the first half with four 3-pointers. Campbell iced the Patriots in the fourth quarter with a driving pull-up jumper with just over four minutes to go to give the Chargers a 55-46 lead. Campbell finished the night with 24 points.
Congrats to our Student Athletes of the Month for October and November! October: Natrone Baptisteđ and Victoria Singhđ(Pictured). November: Carington Campbellđ and Isabella Cespedesâ˝ď¸. Continue the excellence on the field and in the classroomâĄď¸âĄď¸@Hallandale_High @BCAA_Sports pic.twitter.com/1NGyhIhwat
— Hallandale Athletics (@HH_Athletics) December 21, 2018
âWe knew that Dwayne Wadeâs son was going to be here so we expected a big crowdâ, said Campbell. âOur team works really hard in practice and we tend to get a lot of shots up. We do a lot of running and conditioning to stay in shape to keep the pace up.”
“It is just a mindset. When you get in the game you canât ‘frog up’ and get scared. Once that first shot goes down you catch a rhythm. When you get one shot down you get confidence. You keep getting confidence and if the shots are not falling you get to the basket. You got other options to score than to just shoot.â
The effort by Campbell and company was a sticking point throughout the entire game. Whenever Heritage seemed to close the gap, Hallandale was able to create a turnover and find a soft spot in the Patriot defense. London Prevelion put on an equally good offensive effort around the rim with 24 points of his own, including 16 in the first half.
Without the offensive slack from Wade, junior Andrew Volmar led the Patriots in scoring with 18 points. However, Volmar was notably absent for much of the fourth quarter, possibly an acknowledgement of the teamâs overall effort against the Chargers. One of Heritageâs bigger front court players, Masai Olowokere, finished with a quiet seven points.
âOur effort was poor,â said head coach Fred Battle. âI can tolerate losing the way we did against Chaminade, but tonight was nowhere to the level we have been working for. It was lay-ups after lay-ups for them and no help defense. The lane just parted all night long like the Red Sea.
“I tell them all the time to hustle. That team we played had some talent, but they out worked us. They hustled and they played hard. We sometimes think because we have talent we donât have to play hard. The old saying goes hard work beats talent when talent doesnât work hard. That was the case tonight, we didnât work hard and they out worked us. Number eleven (Campbell) just got penetration lay-ups to the rim with no help side defense.â
With hopes of good news on the status of Wade, American Heritage will look to respond to Battleâs message when they face Coconut Creek. The loss drops the Patriots below .500 on the season with a record of 7-8.
Michael Costeines is a contributor for Mars Reel based in South Florida
