Clover to host Hunter Huss Friday

The Clover High School basketball team hosts Hunter Huss Friday.

The girls’ varsity game starts at 6:30 p.m. start and the boys’ game follows at 8 p.m.

The Blue Eagles of head coach Bailey Jackson hosted a preseason scrimmage last week and Sherer Hopkins’ Lady Blue Eagles competed at Union County.

Jackson talked about the advantages of hosting Union County and Indian Land in preseason scrimmages.

“A lot of kids get experience who haven’t played at this level before,” said Jackson after a three-team scrimmage that included two 10-minute-quarters.

“Our first scrimmage was OK,” he said. “The second was a little better, so we’re getting there. There are things that happen in scrimmages that we can’t work on in practice.”

Jackson continues to evaluate personnel.

“We’re looking at different combinations,” he said. “I’m pretty solid on our first five. We’ve got to find four or five more to help us out.”

Senior point guard Noah Lindsay believes the Blue Eagles have benefitted from a heavy slate of preseason scrimmages.

“The preseason action really helps us prepare for the regular season,” Lindsay said. “The key for us is to be ready for region play. There is a lot of pride in starting the season as defending region champs.”

Junior Quise Robbins understands the challenge the Blue Eagles face to start the season.

“We lost a lot of players from last year’s team,” he said. “We have to regroup and keep working. We’re putting in a lot of effort.”

Added Robbins: “After winning the region last year, we’ve got to work twice as hard. We’ve got to have the right mindset. We have the talent and the players to respond to the challenge. We’ve got to have the dedication and the hard work it takes.”

Robbins uses his speed off the penetration dribble to score on a drive to the basket or dish the ball to a teammate.

“Whatever comes up, I’m gonna do it,” he said. “The key to success is to keep working hard and running hard. We’ve got to keep it in our head that we can do it.”

Junior Aaron Milner finds a way to take it to the hoop against taller opponents.

“I’m quicker and more agile than some of the bigger defenders I face,” he said. “I use my quickness a lot to get open around the basket.”

The key to early-season success, according to Milner: “We’ve got to find some good looks. We’ve got to settle down and work the offense.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Clover to host Hunter Huss Friday."