Cathedral no match for Durant

Published 12:17 am Wednesday, February 17, 2010

DURANT — The Cathedral Green Wave ran up against a buzzsaw in the South State tournament opening round, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Durant ran through, around and over the Green Wave to the tune of a 100-55 victory that ended Cathedral’s season with a 10-15 record.

“They have everything,” Cathedral coach Peter Arnold said. “They play about 12 to 15 people and sub five in and five out. They’ve got a big man in each group.”

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Arnold said no matter what defense the Green Wave played, Durant had little trouble scoring points.

“We started out in zone and they were knocking down threes,” Arnold said. “And when we go out to guard them, they cut right through us to the basket.”

Cathedral actually had a 16-13 lead in the first quarter before Durant went on a big run to seize control.

Durant led 24-19 after the first quarter, but outscored Cathedral 24-11 in the second quarter to turn the game into a blowout.

“They played a very aggressive 1-3-1 defense and when they get the ball they’re gone,” Arnold said. “There’s no way to slow them down.”

Cathedral tried to slow the pace on offense, but the trapping defense of Durant would not let that happen.

“When they’re playing such an aggressive 1-3-1 defense, you have to move the ball fast. When you try to slow them down and hold the ball, you get double-teamed. It never slows down. They say Arkansas played 40 minutes of hell when Nolan Richardson was coach, well Durant plays 32 minutes of hell.”

Tevin Marzette led a balanced Durant scoring attack with 20 points while Cortez Frizell had 18 and Jaffie Hoggett scored 14.

Cathedral was led by Carl Hammitte with 13 points and Jamon Gray with 10.

“As a coach, all you can do is tip your hat,” Arnold said of Durant. “We played as hard as we could. I don’t know what we possibly could have done to slow them down. I told their coach after the game, if there’s a better team out there, I would look forward to seeing them.”