City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
--

SPRING GROVE — Hit the launching pad with a full payload of fuel and collectively charged emotionally for liftoff — even after a disappointing setback some 24 hours before — many times is a successful formula for success.

And for a basketball-playing Spring Grove side determined to bounce back and capture a positive result, those elements were clearly evident Saturday night at home against a talented Carlisle bunch that also played Friday.

Factor in some energetic defensive play by a Spring Grove club that is sneaky long and terrific ball movement, not to mention dedicated off-the ball action, and one can rapidly see why James Brooks’ fluid Rockets were able to bounce off their home floor celebrating a 59-39 victory over the visiting Thundering Herd.

“Energy was a big part of the emphasis of our game plan, because we knew they were going to play up-tempo and we wanted to prove we could run with anybody — but I think we already did with York High,” said junior guard Eli Brooks, referring to the Rockets’ 84-74 overtime win last month at York.

“Just another big win for us.”

Eli Brooks cranked out a double-double (19 points/14 boards) — the 6-1 Brooks banked nine points in the opening three minutes — and York College commit Darin Gordon pocketed 16 points and eight boards as the Rockets (11-2) successfully bounced back from their 53-50 to York County rival Central York.

Grant Wierman chipped in nine points, six boards and dropped three dimes for Spring Grove — the Rockets also picked up a combined 11 points off the bench from reserves Drew Gordon and Austin Panter — which assisted on 15 of its 23 buckets and outboarded the Herd 34-25 while winning for the 11th time in 12 outings.

“That’s great,” James Brooks said. “When we get to double figures in assists, that’s what I really push for.”

Spring Grove, which was playing for the fourth time in five days, also has four contests scheduled for next week.

No one, however, looked even slightly weary.

DeShawn “Dey Dey” Millington racked up 18 points and Jordan Purcell finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Andre Anderson’s club (11-3), which was riding a four-game winning streak when the game tipped off.

Not even two minutes later — and just several more minutes after Eli Brooks’ brother, Evan, was part of a duet that polished off a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner a capella — Carlisle was looking up at an 8-0 deficit.

Although the numbers on hand weren’t as large as the packed house the Rockets and Central York played in front, an older crowd of long-time Spring Grove hoops fans eventually shuffled off satisfied — yet again.

Same for Mount St. Mary’s assistant coach Donny Lind, one of the many Division I programs intrigued by Eli Brooks and the first to offer.

“That’s a big emphasis we have, family. We break out the family thing every time,” Eli Brooks said. “We want the community to keep coming back to our events and it’s been showing; we’ve been getting a lot of people out."

“We go up and say hi to every single one of them and we treat them like ours,” continued Eli Brooks, who is holding at least 10 Division I scholarship offers. “I shake 250 hands a night and hug at least 150, but it’s a good atmosphere to be in.”

While a pair of Millington freebies slowed the Rockets for just an instant, another 8-0 salvo capped by the 6-4 Gordon’s mid-range jumper had Brooks’ bunch sitting on a 16-2 cushion with just over two minutes to go … in the first.

“We talked about winning each quarter and doing what we needed to do to win each quarter,” James Brooks said. “I think what we did tonight we didn’t do last night; we didn’t take care of that first quarter.

“When we do play well in the first quarter, it usually sets up the rest of our game.”

Anderson’s group never really recovered, as Spring Grove led 18-6 after one quarter, 29-12 at the break and 43-25 with one stanza to go.

Successful in transition — particularly early — the Rockets also displayed plenty of patience while running their half-court stuff. On several occasions, in fact, Spring Grove players were all alone under the hoop waiting for the ball to arrive.

“That’s the beauty of us is that we can score both ways,” James Brooks said. “Some of our guys want to be on the fast break and score those easy points and get the score up higher, but we have to be able to compete and play in the half-court.

“’Cause some teams are going to make us be that way.”

Although Carlisle was able to use some pressure to force several turnovers and draw within 15 (45-30) early in the fourth quarter, the Rockets shrugged off the Herd’s efforts and went back to doing what they do.

When it was over, Spring Grove had locked up a tidy non-league success over another District 3-AAAA playmate that, like the remarkably experienced Rockets, was parked near the top of the power rankings that determine how each line of the sprawling circuit’s postseason tournament’s 20-team bracket is filled out.

“Long story short, in all facets of the game these guys just destroyed us,” Anderson admitted. “Hats off to them, those guys were ready to play. We weren’t ready to play.

“Even in some of the games we’ve been winning, we haven’t brought the intensity in the first half. Totally different team in the second half and that’s been our theme. Us as coaches, we have to find a way to get these guys ready to play in the first half.”

Experienced? Spring Grove returned eight of its top nine from a season ago, when the Rockets reached district play for the first time in several decades.

And that continuity and familiarity really was apparent throughout the 32-minute exercise — at both ends of the floor — as Brooks’ Rockets briskly moved the ball around at the offensive end in their half-court sets and used that aforementioned sneaky length to disrupt Carlisle’s advances whenever the Herd had the ball.

“We really talked about not making just one cut, but to continue on with that cut and be looking toward the paint, that we need to get paint touches,” James Brooks said of his team’s offensive execution. “I think we did a good job with that and we got paint touches, which made us be open when we swung the ball.”

Eli Brooks, one of several long-armed Rockets, even blocked several shots as Spring Grove limited the Herd to just 27 percent shooting from the floor (14-for-51). The Herd was even less effective from the arc, canning just two of their 14 looks.

“They don’t have that wow factor when you look at them, but, man, these guys are athletic, they’re long, they’ve been playing together forever and they’ve got a stud [in Brooks],” Anderson continued.

“They’ve got two studs in all reality. The Gordon kid’s good, too.”

Conversely, a Spring Grove group that opened the game by nailing five of its first eight looks buried 47 percent (23-for-49) of its field-goal tries. The Rockets were 7-for-9 in the fourth quarter, completing their wire-to-wire effort.

Impressively, too.

“That’s a big emphasis, too. Just keep circle-cutting,” Eli Brooks said. “They know the emphasis is going to be on me and Darin, so other guys are going to have to step up and make big shots and they did that tonight.”

“I like my team — maybe because I’ve been with them so long,” James Brooks admitted. “But it’s pretty exciting.”