PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Same old struggles for Danville

Jan. 6—DANVILLE — Danville basketball coach Durrell Robinson knew back in November that it was going to take some time to put all the pieces together this season.

He admitted as much after the Vikings suffered a 70-63 loss to the Champaign Centennial Chargers at the Lincoln/Eaton Thanksgiving Tournament on Nov. 21.

"We basically have a brand new team. They are getting used to each other," is what Robinson said after that game.

Fast forward to Friday's Big 12 Conference game against those same Centennial Chargers.

Danville once again struggled with its shooting and the Vikings defense had way too many breakdowns as Centennial remained perfect in the Big 12 Conference with a 58-42 triumph in essentially the midway point of the season.

"It's the same things," Robinson said. "We try to emphasize growth and getting better game-to-game.

"I felt we took a stride forward on Tuesday in Hammond, but tonight, we went back to the beginning of the year when we were struggling with rebounding and making the simple plays."

Danville, which beat Cardinal Newman of Columbia, S.C., 62-51 on Tuesday, trailed Centennial from the opening tip.

The Chargers (11-5 overall, 3-0 in the Big 12) secured a double-digit lead as they outscored the Vikings 18-7 in second quarter.

One of the problems for Danville on Friday was a lack of communication on the court.

"I feel like as a team, we are good with each other but when we get on the court, we don't talk enough," said senior Persiris Menifield, who came off the bench to score 11 points for the Vikings. "We haven't been doing it well in practice and if you don't practice it, you won't play like it.

"It can't be just one man talking on the court, because there will still be mistakes. It takes the whole team. It takes everyone buying into communicating. It takes everyone buying into defense and everyone had to buy into the offense."

Robinson acknowledges it something that he has tried to fix over the last seven weeks.

"We have been preaching that all year," he said. "I know these guys like each other, because they talk all of the time on the bus, but when they get on the on the court, they just stop. I tell them all of the time 'a communicating team is usually a winning team.'"

And how does he plan to fix this problem?

"I have no idea. I wish I could solve this puzzle," he said. "If someone else can solve it, they can email me and let me know. We have tried everything and we will keep pushing to get it done.

"It's like they are not in tune with the same goal of 'we are better together.' Hopefully, they figure that our real soon."

And as Menifield pointed out, it's not a 32-minute problem for the Vikings (5-10 overall, 0-3 in the Big 12), but it's something that happens in bad stretches during the games.

His 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second quarter allowed the Vikings to pull within 15-14 of the Chargers, but that was as close as they would get.

"We were getting ball movement, but we were just missing some shots," Menifield said. "We just needed to keep doing what we did during that stretch and get a few more shots to fall."

Danville junior CL Dye finished with a game-high 18 points, including 9 in the fourth quarter and Menifield was the only other Viking in double figures with 11.

Centennial had three players finish with double-digits. Jadin Schilb led the Chargers with 16, followed by Todd Makabu with 12 and Kayden Peat had 10.

Robinson said that junior Jerry Reed did not play Friday night after suffering an apparent concussion on Tuesday against Cardinal Newman.

"He's in the concussion protocol. It's safety over anything else right now," said Robinson, noting that Reed is glue-type player on both ends of the floor for the Vikings.

Danville was also without Darius Jay, who has missed the five games with a knee issue, while junior Eric Bryant hasn't played a single game this season.

"Those are some key parts that could definitely help our team right now," Robinson added.

In the junior varsity game, Centennial held off a furious comeback from Danville to claim a 54-52 victory.

Jaymion Avery scored a game-high 20 points for the Vikings, while Kinden Mason and Nathaniel Forthenberry each had 10.

Up next for the Vikings is a Big 12 Conference contest against the Urbana Tigers on Tuesday. The JV game will tip at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity contest tentatively set for 7 p.m.

Champaign Centennial 58, Danville 42

Centennial (58) — Demariea Willis 0 0-0 0, Todd Makabu 5 2-2 12, O'Neil Johnson 2 2-2 7, Kellen Foltz 3 0-0 6, Voldy Makabu 3 1-1 7, Jadin Schilb 6 2-2 16, Kayden Peat 4 2-3 10. Totals: 23 9-10 58.

Danville (42) — Diddy Robinson 0 1-2 1, Devan Larkin 2 0-0 4, CL Dye 6 4-6 18, Demarcus Lucas 0 0-0 0, Jentezen Harris 0 0-0 0, Perciris Menifield 5 0-1 11, A'Jani Davis 4 0-1 8, Tayvion Diltz 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 5-10 42.

Centennial '15 '18 '15 '10 '— '58

Danville '11 '10 '6 '15 '— '42

3-pointers — Centennial 3 (Schilb 2, Johnson 1). Danville 3 (Dye 2, Menifield 1). Total fouls — Centennial 9, Danville 12. Fouled out — none.

Records — Centennial 11-5 overall, 3-0 in the Big 12 Conference. Danville 5-10 overall, 0-3 in the Big 12.

JV score — Centennial 54, Danville 52.