Going into Tuesday's contest against Burlington County College, Head Coach Johnson says, "I was looking for a better defensive effort. We lost to them earlier in the year in an overtime match and we gave up over 100 points. That is not acceptable."
Coach Johnson went into this game with high hopes of a strong defense that would lead to a victory. The Blue Jays started the game on fire, and scored 53 points in the first half, leading BCC by 20. Top scorers for Manor was Johnathan Richardson, Khalil Williams, Thomas Farrior and Marcus Glover. Glover had 17 points with four steals. Shaquille Ford had eight blocks along with eight points. Coach Johnson says, "Our approach to defense as truly helped this team improve, but the addition of Shaquille Ford and James Lewis has made an immediate and positive impact on the team. Shaquille is a very talent post player with a skill set superior to a lot of players and James is a tough and gritty point guard who defends and looks for the open man."
"We looked very strong in our defense, our help-side defense and in our transition offense. Our defense led to a number of fast breaks that we were able to score with."
Coming out into the second half, the Blue Jays were still playing hard and made sure that everyone got off the bench and into the game. The Blue Jays netted another 30 points during the second half, making the final score 83-69, with the Blue Jays on top.
Moving in the last part of their season, the Blue Jays are looking to continue to improve defensively and to build on the team chemistry.
Up this week – the Blue Jays will face Valley Forge Military College on Tuesday, February 10th and this weekend, on Saturday, February 14, they will play Mercer County Community College in our home gym at 12pm.
Stay up to date with all of the Blue Jays contests by following the hashtag #manorbluejays on Twitter.