DARLINGTON — For the first time since the 2018-19 season, the Redbirds (15-1, 7-1 SWAL) earned the season sweep over Cuba City (5-8, 3-5) with a 64-33 win on Friday, Jan. 19.
The opening minutes of the matchup indicated a low-scoring affair was in the cards, with each squad missing their opening shots.
“The Cubans’ game plan coming out was to be patient on offense and try to burn as much clock as possible in order to limit our offensive possessions to keep things close,” Darlington head coach Tom Uppena said. “In the first game at Cuba City, they shot the ball very well from three, and we weren’t going to allow that to happen again.”
Miles Hinderman (8 pts) drew first blood for the Cubans with a 3-point jumper over Will Murray 3:15 into the contest.
“We had to adjust on the fly and come out and apply pressure in order to speed them up,” Uppena said. “It was a slow start, but we were able to eventually get them sped up.”
The third-ranked Redbirds got their own scoring engine started by overcoming full-court pressure. Reagan Jackson (4 pts) beelined the ball to Will Murray (20 pts) at the baseline. Murray drove under the hoop and hooked the ball in around Andy Miller for the quick two.
Brady Long (22 pts) tied the game 40 seconds later at three points, making the first of two free throws on a foul from Hinderman.
Darlington got Long involved on the only lead swap of the night, as Carter Murray came down with a defensive rebound and marched the ball down the court. At the top of the key, Carter Murray fired a pass to Long at the team-side corner of the arc. Long then drained a three over Miller.
The Redbirds kept Cuba City scoreless until the 12-minute mark, putting down three baskets — a dunk and a layup from Will Murray, and a fast break layup by Carter Murray between Will Murray’s scores.
Cuba City head coach Tanner Schieve called a timeout at 12:15 to attempting to regroup, as his squad was down, 12-3.
Gavin Vaassen (4 pts) and Henry Kruser (8 pts) put down a pair of shots to claw back within five points. A three from Long and a two from Broker Buschor (4 pts) erased the gain and pushed Darlington’s advantage to 17-7.
Cuba City went on a 7-2 run over a 40-second period shortly after to climb back within five points, but giving up the lead wasn’t the game plan for the Redbirds.
Jackson got his first points of the night rebounding his own miss for a second-chance shot in the paint that fell through the hoop.
The Cubans got their response in the form of a 2-point fade from Tyson Richard (3 pts), and the back-and-forth play continued to the conclusion of the half, with the scoreboard favoring Darlington, 29-20.
The Redbirds maintained their lead at the offset of the second half, matching Cuba City shot for shot through 15:39. A bomb from Long outside the arc a minute later kicked off a 34-9 scoring spree from Darlington to the conclusion of the contest.
“We didn’t shoot particularly well from the perimeter, so we leaned on our defense to help us separate from them in the second half,” Uppena said. “I was very proud of our defensive effort, and our execution of the game plan.”
