Before the SWBAD Regional Tournament there was talk that Mississippi Deaf Club would give the Austin Deaf Toros a run for their money. It sure looked that way in the early going of the championship game. Mississippi led by the much ballyhooded Roderrick Brown, Cortland Clay, showed a youthful exuberance. This young duo wasn’t quite ready to unseat the two time SWBAD champions from their throne. Never before had they faced such a heady veteran team as the Toros. Fans were predicting an upset. The Deaf Toros were not hearing any of that static being raised.
Mississippi started out really quick with a couple of baskets to set off the early scoring. Soon enough the Deaf Toros would answer back with successive baskets from Darnell Woods and RJ Kaufman. Both veterans scoring from three point range and a short jumper in the corner respectively. Woods continued to with the hot hand early as he did in the first game, knocking down a couple of treys in the first five minutes of the game. Anton Jackson searching for his touch but continued to do other things for the Toros in the rebounding and passing departments.
The Deaf Toros started the game playing man to man defensively. Mississippi attempted to spread the floor and try to break down the Toros defense by going one on one. Using a solid man to man pressure the Toros were able to execute help side defense with Shannon Simon cutting off slashers. The Toros had built a ten point lead but could never extend it. The Toros either made untimely errors or Mississippi made timely baskets to cut into the Toros lead.
The starters for Toros kept the young bunch at bay then the second unit took the floor and maintained the slim lead. The refs were quite busy during this game. They called everythinng single thing that occured on the floor which made the fluidity of the game stagnant. Neither team could get a on a run due to the constant whistles and stoppage in play. The shady officiating didn’t effect the Deaf Toros at all. As the game progressed you could see it had flustered the young Mississippians. The Deaf Toros took at seven point lead into the half 37-30.The second half would start out just like the first half with Mississippi striking first. Only this time the young team wanted to make an adjustment that would minimize touches by Woods. A devised box and one defense was used for the remainder of the game with the primary target for defense, Woods. The Deaf Toros began to heat up at this point. Transition baskets were at a premium but could not pull away from the pesky young team. During a stretch the Deaf Toros had led by as many as 12 points and led by ten at least five times.
With under five minutes to play Mississippi made a late run. Clay knocked down two big three pointers and pulling with in four points twice. Chris Hamilton, Termiea Bowers, and Jackson keyed the final surge for the Deaf Toros to end Mississippi run with easy layups in the paint on drives and dishes. Yo Moore, contributing quality minutes, banked in a couple of crucial baskets to push the lead to 10 again.
Down the stretch the Toros showed considerable poise as they executed play after play to put away the young clan. The Mississippi club slowed the game down to a crawl losing several turnovers due to shot clock violations. The Deaf Toros used a 2-3 zone defense to contain the young guards who failed to create shots for anyone but themselves. The shot selection consisted of mostly long NBA range three pointers. Again, the Deaf Toros defense was as solid as we’ve seen.
Without a doubt the Toros showed they are still the champions of SWBAD. In a few years the Mississippi club will be able to compete with the likes of a veteran team. The Deaf Toros gave credit where it’s due to the young group who played hard and fierce to win this game. Mississippi will get their first taste at the national tournament in Orlando, FL
Jackson led the Toros in scoring with 20 and 13 rebounds. Woods finished with 17 including 5-9 three pointers. Bowers dished out eight dimes to lead the three time champions Deaf Toros. Next up for the Toros is the USADB National Tournament in Orlando, FL. The Deaf Toros will be seeded fourth or higher depending on the outcome of all the upcoming regionals this weekend and the last being March 13-15.
