Highland coach Chris Jones said he believes when teams arrive at Olympus for a boys basketball game, most of the time they’ve already lost before stepping on the floor.
“I mean, 99% of the teams that get off the bus don’t think they can come in here and win,” said Jones. “So I’ve been preaching, preaching, preaching for three years, you got to think you can beat them. And if you think you can beat them, then you got a half a chance.”
Fortunately for Jones, not only do his Highland players think they can beat Olympus, they know they can.
Highland beat Olympus 64-58 on Tuesday night in relatively dominant fashion, its second straight win on the Titans’ home floor after winning 50-47 a year ago.
The Rams led by as many as 19 points early in the fourth quarter and then held off a furious rally by the Titans to secure the region split after Olympus won the first meeting back in December 77-72.
“It got a bit sweaty there,” said Jones about the fourth quarter.
The teams, who were ranked No. 2 and 3 in 5A coming into Tuesday’s game, have now split the season series in three straight years.
If they meet in the playoffs for a third straight time next month, Jones hopes Tuesday’s performance strengthens his team’s belief that it can beat Olympus in the postseason too.
“They kicked our butts in the state tournament when it matters (two straight year). But you know, hopefully we get a chance to play them again,” said Jones.
Highland never trailed on Tuesday as it shot 47% from the field led by Jordan Oberholtzer’s 20 points and Grady Lee’s 17. Bodie Dodge added 15 points as the Rams improved to 16-2 on the season while the Titans dropped to 16-2 as well.
“I’m just so happy for Highland and the community. They’ve bought in so much the last four or five years what we’re trying to do,” said Jones. “Olympus is the crème de la crème. They’re the best there is. They’ve been the best for 10 years. And so just a chance to be able to compete with them and play with them and give them a game—not many people give them a game.”
Highland led by 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, 26-17 at the half and then 43-31 heading into the fourth.
Jones admits his team was a bit fortunate that Olympus leading scorer Gavin Lowe — who averages 25 points — missed all seven of his shots in the first half and went scoreless. But at the same time, he said it was the result of a much tougher defensive performance than the first time around when Olympus had five players score in double figures.
“They have Gavin, who is elite, elite, elite, but they’re also big. And they got a bunch of guys that are big, and we got a bunch of guards. So our thought was, we got to pressure them. We can’t let those big guys just stand around and pass and throw high-low on us because last game they killed us on high-low because we were soft,” said Jones.
That wasn’t the case in the rematch as Highland was elite definitely in the first three quarters holding Olympus to 36 percent shooting and just 3-of-16 from 3-point range.
Down nine at halftime, the Titans came out and tried to press their way back into the game, but the Rams — who Jones jokes are a team with four point guards and a big — handle it well and extended the lead to double digits heading into the fourth.
“We did a great job against their press. I mean, they got a couple, but we scored plenty on their press. And we just wanted to get up and down the court and play with them,” said Jones.
Highland opened the fourth on a 9-2 run as Oberholtzer and Isaiah Drisdom drained 3s, and Oberholtzer converted a 3-point play after a difficult finish at the rim.
For Olympus, trailing 52-33 with 5:25 remaining was the final wake-up call, and it finally started hitting shots — particularly 3-pointers.
Lowe and Caden Jackson both made a pair of 3s over the next five minutes, while Adam Bywater made another as Olympus whittled the lead all the way to 63-58 with 15 seconds left in the game.
The Titans forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass and got a good look at 3-pointer that could’ve made it a one-possession game with 12 seconds left, but the shot rattled out and Highland corralled the rebound to finish off the win.
Lowe finished with 18 points in the loss as he scored all of his points in the second half. Jackson added 13.