By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
MOODY— This was the version of Moody basketball that head coach Chad Bates had been waiting on all season.
Moody’s coaches watch the Blue Devils work during a 56-45 victory against Leeds on Tuesday, February 1, 2022. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
With one of their best inside players benched due to injury, the Blue Devils changed things up and went small against Leeds, topping the Green Wave 56-45 here on Tuesday night.
It didn’t look like it was going that way at first. Leeds streaked out to a 7-0 lead before the Moody players could blink. Junior forward Davion Dozier stopped the bleeding for the Blue Devils, rebounding his own missed shot and going back up for the score in traffic.
“I knew it was our best chance to win,” Bates said after the victory. “We ran our matchup zone, and our players played that the best we ever have, so we switched off and guarded their shooters way better than we did the first time. Davion, with his length in the middle, they couldn’t really get any layups, so it really helped us out.
The teams traded leads in the first quarter until Moody captain Mason Trimm nailed a three-pointer to give the Blue Devils the edge.
From there, Kolby Seymour pushed the lead to three, going into the paint and scoring his third basket of the quarter to make it 13-10 after the first period. Seymour finished with 13 points in his first start of the season, including six points in the first.
“We just figured since that loss was so tough on us last time, we figured had to come out here and execute a lot better than we did last game,” Seymour said. The 5-8 junior banged inside against much larger defenders for most of his points. “That was the role that Coach Bates put me in, and I just figured I had to fill it. I just had to get it done down there.”
During the teams’ first meeting this season on January 20, Leeds used a big third quarter to pull away after being tied 28-28 at halftime. This time, however, it was different. Bates didn’t just change his starting lineup. On the defensive end, the Moody coach had Dozier guard dangerous Green Wave shooter Tanner Chambers.
That matchup was key, as Chambers — normally a threat from beyond the three-point arc — had to change the trajectory of his shots on multiple occasions. As a result, he could never find his range.
By halftime, the Blue Devils led 28-18, and by the end of the third period, they had stretched the lead to 40-26. In the second half, Caden Helms stepped up to drain two huge momentum-killing treys when he was left open as the Green Wave tried to stop Trimm, Seymour and Dozier.
“I had a couple of open ones in the first half and couldn’t get them to fall,” Helms said. “I came out at halftime and felt pretty good, and they kept leaving me open. I just started hitting my shots.”
But most importantly, Moody’s squad weathered the storm as Leeds attempted a furious comeback in the second half. The Green Wave cut the lead to seven points twice in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but it’s like I told you against Ramsay — we’re not tough,” Millington said. “We’re not mentally tough enough to understand that shots aren’t falling so what can we do to get a shot, what can we do to get a bucket, what can we do to get ourselves going. We consistently kept making the wrong decision, trying to shoot over all their length. We just got beat by a team that wanted it more, played harder.”
Trimm led all scorers with 15 points, while Seymour had 13 and Helms added 9 for the Blue Devils.
Chambers led the Green Wave with 12, while Jamal Jordan had 9 and Ford Barnes had 7.
