Boys Basketball: Jimmy Braddish, Sandwich 'D' lock down La Salle-Peru

PLANO — When Jimmy Braddish is rainbowing his high-arcing 3-point shots, Sandwich basketball can be quite a show.

But it's not all that makes the Indians go.

Sandwich's defense, that's been a story this year. The Indians' pack-line defense has proven quite effective, giving up just a tick over 40 points per game.

And it's like second nature to guys such as Braddish, who have played it since they were freshmen.

"We take pride in it and work on it all the time in practice. Teams struggle with it," said Braddish, Sandwich's senior guard. "It's pretty much ingrained in our heads."

It downright confounded La Salle-Peru Wednesday.

The eighth-seeded Cavaliers shot just 23.8 percent from the field. Braddish heated up after a slow start to score 20 points, leading ninth-seeded Sandwich to a 47-29 win in the first round of the 56th Annual Plano Christmas Classic. Sandwich (7-4) won its third straight game to remain in the winners' bracket.

The Indians' latest defensive lockdown was nothing new to head coach Jim Braddish.

"Defensively, we've been doing well. When we make shots, we're tough to beat," Coach Braddish said. "We're 7-4, and in our minds we're 9-2. We have two losses we should have gotten. It almost refocused us a little bit."

They're doing it with Braddish the player's heroics, but also with a supporting cast not afraid to scrap. That was clear Wednesday.

On two occasions late in the first half, 5-foot-10 guard Bryan Leon snuck in among the trees for offensive rebounds. Later, Jimmy Roop went to the floor to tie up a loose ball.

"We have a lot of guys that can do the little things," Coach Braddish said. "We focus on staying within ourselves."

That's not always easy on the first day of this tournament.

Braddish missed his first four shots and even airballed one 3-point attempt. But he got cooking in the second quarter, hitting a deep 3-pointer and scoring 10 of his 20 points in the period.

Sandwich's 9-0 run to end it opened up a 25-13 halftime lead.

Later, Jimmy Braddish dropped in a beauty of a runner high off glass and in.

"First game in the tournament, we were all a little long," Jimmy Braddish said. "We had to come out, take a deep breath. We did that, we started to roll."

Indeed they did.

Rex Avery, who hit seven 3-pointers in a recent win over Newark, made three on Wednesday for nine points. Roop, who scored eight points, hit two, part of Sandwich's 9-for-21 effort from distance.

"We were a little amped up for the first day," Coach Braddish said. "We missed some shots we normally make. I don't think anybody was really hitting from the outside today."

La Salle-Peru sure didn't. The Cavaliers shot just 1-for-16 from 3-point range and turned it over 15 times against that pack line defense.

"We go out and pressure the guards, and the wings are there to help," Jimmy Braddish said. "Teams honestly struggle with the pressure. There are no driving lanes."

Next up is likely an unbeaten Ottawa team ranked eighth in the Class 3A statewide rankings.

"We think we can beat anybody; everybody on our team believes that," Jimmy Braddish said. "We want the challenge, we got nothing to lose. All the pressure is on them. We'll come out ready to go and see what we can do."