Warren

Tower boys hoops team feels defensive issues will be solved in second half of the season

By Jason Carmel Davis
C & G Sports Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Patricia O’Blenes Warren Woods-Tower junior Tre Cokley squares up to guard senior Mike Fowler during practice. Defense has been a sticking point so far this season for the Titans, who are trying to improve that aspect of their game as MAC Gold play continues. Photo by Patricia O’Blenes Warren Woods-Tower junior Tre Cokley squares up to guard senior Mike Fowler during practice. Defense has been a sticking point so far this season for the Titans, who are trying to improve that aspect of their game as MAC Gold play continues.

WARREN — The good news is that the Warren Woods Tower boys varsity basketball team has the second-highest scoring offense in the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division, averaging 58.8 points per game.

The bad news, their average of 57.2 points allowed on defense is at the bottom of the division.

Tower senior small forward Joe Zannetti said he knows what the Titans need to do to fix their struggling defense.

“We’re helping late right now, and all that does is lead to teams getting open shots,” Zannetti said.

First-year Titans coach Nick Evola attributes it’s impressive offensive output to the team’s up-tempo style, but said getting stops may be even more critical to his team’s success than lighting up the scoreboard.

“We’ve got to start reacting quicker on defense, so we can contest open shots and not let teams get comfortable running their offense,” Zannetti said.

Evola has implemented a new drill in practice that aims to cure the team’s defensive ills.

The “Vegas Closeout” drill calls for defenders to “close out” on open shooters, forcing them to pass the ball or take a bad shot — all without flying into the shooter and committing a foul.

“We stress the importance of defense every day in practice, but we’ve got a young group of guys still learning how to play basketball and make adjustments during games,” said Evola, whose team sat at 6-6, 3-4 in the MAC Gold at press time.

“We’re one of two teams in our league that primarily play a man defense, so we’ll continue to work on things. We may mix in some zone looks, but we’ll stay a man-to-man team.”

Tower senior point guard Mike Fowler said what the team works on in practice related to defense needs to translate over to games.

Evola believes having seen each of the teams in the MAC Gold once already this season will aid his team in the home stretch.

“We have a bit of an idea of the things team run now, which could help us stay sharp on defense in the rest of our games,” Evola said. “But we know this is a tough division, so there’ll be no easy games.

“We just have to come to play every night.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Jason Carmel Davis at jdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1107.