Sports
Northeast Boys Basketball Squad Pulls Away From Pinellas Park
Andres Sanches scores 33 points as the Vikings win on the road, dodging an upset bid by Pinellas Park.
LARGO _ Andres Sanchez was on fire.
The Northeast High School guard shot and drove and put back rebounds for 33 points, leading Northeast to a win over Pinellas Park at Largo Thursday.
"That's what my mom told me," said Sanchez after he was informed of his point total.
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Sanchez didn't need his mom to spread the word he was a virtual one-man scoring machine. He shot from the outside well and when Pinellas Park decided to go after him to stop the outside threat, Sanchez simply raced past defenders to the basket.
When Sanchez wasn't doing that, he was scoring off of rebounds.
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"I try to stay consistent and hit my jump shot," Sanchez said. "Taking it to the basket is just as well as shooting an efficient jumper. You can do a lot more that way. You can throw a pump fake [at the defender] and take it down the lane."
Sanchez's performance didn't come as a surprise to Northeast coach Dave Redding.
"The only negative thing I can say about him is he needs to box out," Redding joked with a wry smile. "If he could box out he'd have a hundred rebounds instead of 15 or whatever he has, and he has a bunch.”
Scoring 33 points, "that's not unusual for him. He goes to the hole well. He does a lot of things very well and he's very athletic and competitive."
And Sanchez can also play some defense.
Late in the third quarter the Patriots came within one-possession of tying the game when Redding decided to use what he later called a "junk defense," a 3-2 defense, using three guards, including Sanchez, and two post players.
The ploy worked as Pinellas Park never got any closer.
"We frustrated them enough to get some rebounds off of their missed shots and turn that into some offense."
Meanwhile, expect to see Sanchez racing to the basket, weaving through traffic the rest of the season.
"Taking it to the hoop is my bread and butter," Sanchez said. "Your jump shot can get streaky. But if you can take it to the basket, you can [score]."
