Vidalia remains perfect
VIDALIA, GA -- On Senior Night, the Vidalia Indians relied on the core of the team to show the standing-room only crowd a little more of the same. Eight players on the Class AA power played their final regular season home game of their careers and went out with a bang, putting region foe McIntosh County Academy away by a score of 74-52 on Friday night.
Alton McCloud scored 25 points and hit five three-pointers in roughly three quarters of work. He did a lot of his damage in the first quarter, scoring 13 of his team's first 17 points. Vidalia ended the first quarter with a 28-11 lead.
MCA could never recover. That's been the story all season for every Vidalia foe this season.
The closest any team has come was 15 points when Benedictine faced the Indians over a month and a half ago. On average, Vidalia is winning by 42 points a game this season. The Indians are 21-0. The team has cracked the 100-point mark twice this season. They've won by as many as 65 points this season. The team has seven wins by a margin over 50 points seven times.
The numbers are staggering. The interesting part is this - there isn't a household name star on the team. The team is deep, unselfish, quick and fearless. So, what's the secret? Head coach Tommy Dalley said there isn't one. It is just simple, well-executed basketball.
"I think it is our defensive pressure. Our kids just play so hard on the defensive end and they create so much havoc. We have quickness and athletes so it creates offense by getting fingers and hands on balls," Dalley said. "We are able to get loose and make some things happen. Tonight we played much better in the half court offense. We got some guys some looks that we wanted to."
Having eight seniors certainly helps to build the chemistry needed for a successful March to Macon. The team went 29-2 last season with the losses only coming by a margin of five and two points, respectively.
"These guys have been playing together for a long time. They just have so much chemistry. They feed off of one another and they get that spark," Dalley said. "One guy hits a shot and we are going right back to him. That's their mentality. This is probably the most unselfish team we've had here. They really care about finding that open guy."
Friday night's win yielded a learning experience for the team. How can the team play without 6-foot-7 forward Ramel Thompkins (pictured above)? The team's versatile big man picked up two early fouls and Dalley sat his cog in the middle on the bench for roughly 10 minutes in the first half. The team responded in a positive way. McCloud and junior guard Jordan Black responded offensively.
"That was good for us because he hasn't been in trouble all year. When he came out, I wanted to see how they would respond. I thought our guys did a great job of responding. They were able to answer some questions against a really good opponent," Dalley said.
The team improved to 21-0 on the season and judging by previous match-ups against the final four teams on the schedule, the Indians are favored to finish the regular season undefeated. The final four games on the schedule come on the road. But history has proven this bunch is mentality tough enough to roll through the challenge of closing out on the road.
Dalley said the focus all season, like every other season, is centered directly on the next game.
"Some of them may not even know our record. They just don't pay attention to that. That's part of mentality at practice. We are just looking at the next game. Part of that is just maturity with eight seniors," Dalley said. "They haven't said anything about a ranking or where we stand or anything like that. They know where we want to finish. And that's the goal."