High School Hoops: Yellow Jackets' Swarming Offense Too Much for Highlanders

Ray Tillman scored 28 points in Avondale Yellow Jackets' 73-60 victory against the Highlanders. The win advanced Avondale’s record to 7-1 and dropped Adams to 4-2.

The Highlanders jumped out to a 6-0 lead and kept it close during the first half. But the lead changed six times, and the Yellow Jackets entered halftime with a 6-point advantage.

The Hero: Tillman, with a 28-point performance.  Tillman is also an all-state athlete in football and has offers from Division 1 schools for both sports.

The Turning Point: Avondale set the tone by scoring six quick points at the beginning of the second quarter. The second half was all purple and gold.

The Quote: “Avondale is a very athletic team that likes to keep the pace of the game moving fast,” Adams coach John Hall said. He was correct in his pregame predictions of a fast-paced and high-scoring game. 

The Bottom Line: The second half was a different game, favoring the swarming Yellow Jackets offense.

“I think we wore them down a little bit with our athleticism,” Yellow Jackets coach Jeff Borja* said. “People say they are one of the top defensive teams, and they certainly are."

Key Stat: A.J. Susick, center, put up 22* points for the Yellow Jackets.

Who’s next?  Avondale travels to Birmingham Seaholm (2-5) on Thursday. Adams hosts Lake Orion (1-4) Friday.

*Correction: We had originally misidentified the Avondale coach in this story. We had originally reported that Susick scored 20 points; he actually scored 22 points.