Laney High School has played under the mantra of playing anyone, anywhere will help the greater goal of being at the top in March. The Augusta crew had the biggest test to date when they played No. 1 Pebblebrook on Saturday evening at the Nike Explosion.

A defensive gem was pitched by the Wildcats in a 65-59 win over the state's top ranked team on the Power Poll. It was a win that left a sold out gym buzzing.

Laney put pressure on a very good Pebblebrook backcourt for 32 minutes and took the Wolves out of their traditional fast passing attack. Pebblebrook scored just 23 points in the second half.  

"What we tried to do was pick up man to man and play defense. We wanted to be relentless. We want to wear you down and wear you down," Laney head coach Buck Harris said. "We knew they weren't going to go deep into their bench and we wanted to pick up Ty full court and (Jared) Harper full court. Eventually those shots were going to fall short. It worked to our advantage."

Laney junior Zep Jasper led the charge on the defensive end of the floor. He was charged with slowing down Clemson bound point guard Ty Hudson. The match-up was one of the best guard battles we've seen this season.

Jasper scored 12 points but also glued his offense together, freeing up sixth man Collin Young who scored a team high 19 points and five three-pointers. Harris praised the play of Young after the win.

"We always say are only as good as our bench. So, I feel like we have eight or nine starters. Collin has fulfilled his role. He knows he can be a starter but he'll play starter's minutes off the bench. He's a scorer," Harris said.

Jashawn Brooks added 10 and Christian Keeling scored nine in the win.

"We want to give our kids a chance to play in front of a big crowd, in front of a big audience on a national level," Harris said. "We felt like this tournament was a national tournament and we wanted to give these kids a chance to play in front of some people and against some teams like Pebblebrook that has some kids that are going to high-major schools. I think they showed that they can play against that kind of talent tonight."

Pebblebrook came into the contest beating opponents by an average of 28.5 points a game. Harper played well in the defeat, scoring 19 points and continues to shine as one of the elite perimeter scorers in the state of Georgia.

Big man Derek Ogbiede scored 14 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked seven shots. The future UGA big man continues to get better and better. Hudson finished with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Laney will be back in Atlanta on Saturday when the Wildcats play another AAAAAA power in Norcross at the Blue Collar Basketball Showcase at Greater Atlanta Christian. Pebblebrook will host a talented and young Langston Hughes team on Tuesday night.