Those were just some of the words that I heard around the Preston gymnasium on Saturday afternoon to describe the superb play of Eastwood's ultra-athletic yet undersized (5'10" ish) power forward, Ousmane Kromah.
Kromah finished with a 26-point, 10 rebound double-double as the (#5 seed) Eastwood Rebels led for all but the opening couple of minutes en route to not only upsetting --- but dominating --- the top ranked WCI Vikings to the tune of 62-47.
After Nick Johnny knocked home an early three in the opening minute, the Rebels went off on offense and defense, using their half-court pressure to force numerous Viking turnovers --- they would go on an 11-0 run to lead 11-3 before the Vikes would make a bit of a push near the end of the first quarter. Johnny was fouled on a three-point attempt at the buzzer, and his 2-of-3 effort from the line would make it a 13-9 ECI edge after one.
Eastwood's pressure caused so much frustration for WCI that the Vikes only had 5 total shot attempts in the entire first quarter.
The Rebels continued to lock down on defense in the second quarter, holding the Vikes to just 5 points while Kromah and company put home 11 of their own to own a double-digit halftime lead (24-14).
In the third, it looked as though the Vikes would make their surge as Johnny knocked in another three and two free-throws to quickly cut things down to 5 (24-19). As always, though, the Rebs kept responding with Kromah, Sydney Stewart and Izzy Nemeth making key baskets.
In fact, Nemeth drilled a key three-pointer as the third-quarter wound down to give Eastwood a 12-point (39-27) lead heading into the fourth.
In that fourth frame, a couple of "and-ones" from Stewart and some great play inside from Kromah (including a key two off of an offensive rebound) pushed the lead out to 20 (52-32) with 5:00 remaining.
As you would expect, and to their credit, the Vikings never quit. They would chip things back down to 15 before Tyrelle Rafferty hit some big free-throws to continue to keep Eastwood's cushion around that margin and 3:30 left.
The Rebels would again push things out to 20 (60-40) and 1:30 left before putting their bench reserves in and allowing WCI to chip things to a 62-47 final.
For Eastwood, Kromah finished with the aforementioned 26 points and 10 'boards. Nemeth netted 13, on a very efficient 5-for-7 effort from the floor. Sydney Stewart had 11, while other Rebs on the scoresheet included Tyrelle Rafferty (5), Tre Nicholson (4), Raymond Ly (2) and Mohammed Kawe (1).
WCI received a team-high 16 from Nick Johnny and 13 from Bojan Vincic. Ivan Bilandzic (9), Etai Mizrahi (5), Shamar Bailey (2) and Adam Carter (2) rounded out the WCI scoring.
With the win, the Rebels also advance to "AAAA" CWOSSA while the Vikings season is done. Eastwood had gone the longest among "AAAA" schools since their last CWOSSA appearance but that streak has now been snapped.
Boxscore
ECI 13-11-15-23 = 62
WCI 09-05-13-20 = 47
Eastwood
I. Nemeth 5-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 13 Pts.
O. Kromah 10-17 FG, 3-6 FT, 10 Reb, 0 Ast - 26 Pts.
T. Rafferty 1-3 FG, 3-6 FT, 0 Reb, 3 Ast - 5 Pts.
S. Stewart 5-11 FG, 1-2 FT, 2 Reb, 3 Ast - 11 Pts.
T. Nicholson 2-8 FG, 0-1 FT, 10 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
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A. Ali 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
M. Kawe 0-1 FG, 1-3 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 1 Pt.
R. Ly 0-1 FG, 2-2 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
Farquharson 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
A. Jabateh 0-0 FG, 0-2 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 23-48 (.479). Free-Throws: 10-22 (.455). Three-Point Goals: 6-16, .375 (I. Nemeth 3-5, O. Kromah 3-7, T. Nicholson 0-1, S. Stewart 0-3).
WCI
N. Johnny 5-10 FG, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 16 Pts.
A. Carter 1-3 FG, 0-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
B. Vincic 5-11 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 13 Pts.
E. Mizrahi 1-2 FG, 3-10 FT, 0 Reb, 1 Ast - 5 Pts.
I. Bilandzic 3-5 FG, 3-3 FT, 9 Reb, 0 Ast - 9 Pts.
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Despotovic 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
Sutherland 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
S. Bailey 1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
Field Goals: 16-33 (.485). Free-Throws: 9-19 (.474). Three-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (N. Johnny 4-7, B. Vincic 2-7, A. Carter 0-1).
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