Trinity handles Red Land
Agnew finishes with season-high 22 points.
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Article RatingLarry Kostelac knows that opponents are learning a thing or two about his Trinity Shamrocks as the season goes on.
One thing visiting Red Land got a first-hand lesson in Friday night was the maturation of Trinity sophomore guard Kevin Agnew.
Agnew anchored a ferocious 3-point shooting clinic in the first half and poured in a season-high 22 points as the Shamrocks handled the Patriots 73-63. The sophomore was one of three Shamrock players to post double figures as Trinity hit eight of its nine 3-pointers in the first 16 minutes.
Trinity (7-4, 5-3) led by as many as 18 with just under six minutes to play.
“He’s playing great. Kevin’s leading us in assists, he’s leading us in three or four categories on the defensive end,” Shamrocks head coach Larry Kostelac Jr. said. “He’s just having a heck of a sophomore year for us and people want to play off him and they’re learning that the kid can shoot the ball. He spotted up, got his feet set nicely, spotted up and drained it.”
“We do have a lot of weapons and that motion offense we ran, the kids did a nice job with it. Our three perimeter players are very athletic and did a nice job. They look for one another.”
Trinity’s perimeter game kicked into high gear between the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second, burying five 3-pointers on eight trips to take a commanding 25-17 lead with 3:34 to play until halftime.
Both teams face a quick turnaround today when they travel to Harrisburg High School for the annual Hoop Group Showcase, weather permitting. Red Land (8-5, 4-4) will kick off the event against Living Faith, N.J., at 1:20 p.m.. Trinity plays nationally-ranked St. Benedict’s, N.J., at 3 p.m.
“We would never overlook Trinity,” Red Land head coach Scott Slayton said. “Completely out-executed. And that’s on me. I shoulder the blame of this one because I just didn’t have us prepared to beat this team tonight. And Larry did.
“They came out and methodically ran their stuff, and defensively they clamped down on us and we looked like we were scrambling.”
Nick and Max Liddell shared 37 of Red Land’s 63 points, but bigs Stephen Zack and Mike Zangari struggled with foul trouble and a tough Shamrocks interior defense led by Steve Bruening and Eric Kindler.
Agnew helped the Shamrocks extend the margin at the half, hitting the remaining seven Trinity points of the second quarter to close with a 32-21 lead.
“He’s been playing well for them all year,” Slayton said. “I think he played like a varsity basketball player should play in a big game and I think some of our younger kids didn’t step up to another level to be able to win a game like that.”
Slayton agreed the Shamrocks defensive effort took his team out of its game.
“When they took our first options away we just kind of froze,” Slayton said. “Rather than being able to counter what they were trying to do or run something different or move into a kind of different set or continuity, we just weren’t able to counteract the fact they took away our first or second option.”
“Our kids really did a great job,” Kostelac said. “It started on the defensive end. We made them work for everything they got. At halftime they only had two 3s and that’s a big part of their game. I thought our kids did a good job of being close to them when they got the ball and did not give them good looks.”
Kindler opened the third rolling off a screen and burying a jumper from the top of the circle to give the Shamrocks a 14-point advantage. Two Bruening baskets sandwiched around a Matt Donahue jumper made it 41-28.
Trinity’s defense forced five third-quarter turnovers and held the Patriots to just nine points.
Agnew added four more points near the end of the third and Donahue’s jumper made it a 20-point advantage before a Nick Liddell 3-pointer closed the quarter.
“We just never got into a flow offensively, and that’s a credit to their defense,” Slayton said. “They were ready to guard us and they were ready to defend us. They knew what they had to take away our best option to score. They did it and we didn’t respond. And we didn’t do it to them on our defensive end.
“We didn’t play very well at all in the first half yet I think it was still only 13, but they were never really threatened by us at any point tonight and that disappoints me because again, I don’t think it was a lack of effort on our kids part, it was a lack of effort of preparation on my part.”
Trinity won for the third time in as many games, all coming by 10 or more points.
“I thought our kids overall, defensively, did a good job. We rebounded the ball well which is important against a big team like that. I’m not sure if we won the battle of the boards but they didn’t crush us by any stretch of the imagination,” Kostelac said.
“You’ve got to give our guys credit, they made plays for one another. It was just a good team victory all around.”
As for facing St. Benedict’s, Kostelac said he embraces the challenge at hand.
“Hey, we’re playing the No. 3 team in the country. It’s nice to be able to get that situation, we’re looking forward to it. We’re going to go in there relaxed, play the best we can. Big guys have gone down before.”
