By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Trenton Neiderer‘s recent shooting performances had Okarche head coach Aaron West going deep into his memory bank to recall a hotter stretch of 3-point marksmanship.
“I don’t remember anyone shooting like that two games in a row,” West said.
Neiderer hit 6 of 10 3-pointers in back to back games against Turner and Lomega – both Okarche victories – to even the Warriors record at 2-2. He cooled off a bit in the Warriors’ 66-45 win at Harding Charter Prep Tuesday, making 3 of 11 from deep.
“We know he can shoot it. He’s been blistering here lately and that has really opened things up,” West said. “Hopefully he keeps it up because he’s been clutch these last few games.”
Neiderer is 18 for 42 (42.8%) on 3-pointers this season and is averaging just less 12 points per game.
West said opposing teams didn’t know much about Neiderer early this season, but West expects that to change quickly. What probably won’t change, at least for now, is Neiderer coming off the bench.
“I feel comfortable with him coming off the bench. I don’t want to mess with anything that’s going on right now because he’s shooting so well,” West said. ” He has confidence and he has good form. When you put those two things together, you can be dangerous.”
Caden Schieber added 14 points against Turner and 10 more in the Lomega game. Hunter Mueggenborg put in a career-high 21 points versus Harding Charter.
Defense, rebounding strong in victories
West wasn’t happy with Okarche’s defense in its first two games, but the script has flipped lately.
Okarche’s goal is to hold the opposition to 50 points or below and they’ve accomplished that in consecutive outings. They held Lomega to 48 points, limited Turner to 47 and allowed 45 to Harding. The Warriors did a good job on each team’s top scorer in those games.
“After the first quarter, Lomega’s best player didn’t score again and Turner’s best player only had three points in the game,” West said. “We just played better overall defense as a team.”
The Warriors also pounded the offensive glass, collecting 21 offensive rebounds against Turner and 16 versus Lomega. They grabbed 15 more Tuesday vs. Harding Charter. Anything over 10 is considered good, West said.
“Everyone likes scoring, but when you get guys that want to rebound and play defense, that’s when you can have a really good team,” West said.
The Warriors dished out 16 assists on 23 made baskets against Turner.
Okarche won’t play again until they host Cement Nov. 30.
“We have two weeks to work on things we need to do to get better,” West said.
