LaReau gets what he wants
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ New Southeastern Illinois College head coach Justin LaReau wanted strong defense and a balanced offensive attack in his team's season opener Monday night against New Creations Prep.
While navigating the expected speed bumps of a season opener, he got those characteristics in spades as his team rode a comfortable lead most of the way to a 79-59 victory.
The Falcons got their scoring early on the interior from Quintrel Morris, who banged inside for a couple of buckets and added a pair of free throws, scoring SIC's first six points.
A three-pointer by Dominique Hagans gave SIC a 13-4 lead nearly eight minutes in, and after a brief rally by New Creations, back-to-back turnovers by the guests led to buckets by Morris and Mike Walker, pushing SIC to a 28-17 advantage - and in the end, getting the lead into double digits to stay.
From there, both teams went into a prolonged drought, but Lee Hassan hit a three pointer from the wing - his second of the half - and that shot, along with a third trey a minute later, sandwiched by a thunderous runout jam by Hagans, helped SIC to a 39-21 lead at the break.
"Lee (Hassan) was a nice surprise for us there," LaReau said. "He came off the bench and gave us a big lift there."
New Creations started the second half on a brief 6-1 spurt, but Morris went back to work, getting to the rim for a score on some nifty, spinning footwork in the lane for SIC's first field goal of the half at the 17:12 mark, and his score was added on to on the next trip down, after Walker picked off a pass near the opposing three-point line and took it three-fourths of the way down for a layup.
Two more turnovers in quick succession led to a pair of layups on the other end by the Falcons' Corey Jackson, putting the team in full control again at 48-29, just four minutes into the half.
That set a trend for the rest of the half as Jackson - held scoreless in the first half - repeatedly found himself on the finishing end of passes both in transition and in the halfcourt. He added one of those near the 12 minute mark on a fast-break dish from Teon Beckett to give SIC its first 20-point lead.
The advantage swelled to a game-high 29 near the four minute mark, when Walker downed a pair of treys and Hagans dropped in a nifty floater in the lane, before things got a little ragged at the end, with New Creations scoring 13 of the game's last 17 points.
"I think we executed a lot better in the first half," said LaReau. "We basically only played seven guys, so maybe fatigue was a factor in the second half in terms of getting to some loose balls and rebounds, and I think we tended to gamble too much defensively, looking for steals instead of guarding for 35 seconds…but those are things we'll definitely address."
In the end, SIC placed four starters and one bench player in double digits in the scoring column. Morris had 18 and a team-best 11 rebounds; Walker added 17, and Hagans - in what his coach deemed his first-ever in-game action at point guard - had an all-around good night of 16 points, five rebounds, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.
Joining those three in double figures were Jackson - who had all 14 of his points in the second half - and Hassan - who recorded all 11 of his in the first half.
New Creations was led by Chase Campbell, with 19 points - while Marshall Bennett added 15 and 10 rebounds, and Michael Knight posted 10 points and six boards.