Roche, Navarro worth watching for Neuqua Valley

Here's what you tend to see:

Neuqua Valley's John Poulakidas stepping up for a long 3-pointer, or Nonso Obguefi driving the lane for a layup.

Here's what you probably missed:

Tough-as-nails perimeter defense and in-your-face ball pressure by guys like Wildcats senior guards Erik Roche and Donovan Navarro.

That turns into deflections and turnovers. Which turns into opportunities to score for Poulakidas and Obguefi and others.

Which turns into wins, like Friday's 62-31 drubbing of Metea Valley.

The key to that kind of defensive output?

"You've just got to have help side from your teammates, so if they blow past you, they can pick up your man for you," said Roche, whose stat line was 2 points and one defensive rebound.

But like Navarro, the value was there. You just might have missed it, especially the finer points.

"For me, when I'm on defense, I look his belly button, to see where he's going," Navarro said. "If I look at his belly button, I know when he's going to change direction."

Don't get us wrong. Poulakidas and Obguefi were stars in their own right Friday, with 25 and 10 points, respectively. But it's that man defense - which contributed to 16 Metea Valley turnovers - that leaves guys like assistant coach Tyler Sutton smiling at the end of the night.

"Our last game against Plainfield North, we were horrendous defensively," Sutton said. "We told the guys we need to refocus and lock back in on defense. The thing why we were so good (tonight) is we got deflections. We got so many deflections in the second quarter, and that was out of our reserves."

Consider this: Neuqua Valley held its rivals to the north to just a pair of field goals in a nearly nine-minute stretch midway through the first quarter to midway through the second. When Metea Valley senior forward Will Hopkins hit on a pair of free throws with 3:39 left in the first half, the Wildcats were up 31-14.

They never looked back.

"They were really good tonight," Metea Valley coach Isaiah Davis said. "They got off to a good start. Poulakidas hit some tough shots to start the game, and then we adjusted to really try to key in on him, and then they did a good job of establishing the inside.

"You know, you get certain nights in sports where, it's an avalanche. One side, things are going really well, and us, we struggled to knock down some shots."

No Mustang scored in double figures, with senior guard Myles Leavy the closest with 8, including a pair of 3-pointers - the only ones Metea Valley hit all night. Senior guard Kymari McBride and junior forward Tahj Morgan each had 6 points.

But the kicker? Despite the defensive output by Neuqua Valley, Metea Valley outrebounded the Wildcats 13-12.

Poulakidas's 25 points included five 3-pointers, three in the first quarter. He also had a pair of rebounds and a blocked shot.