February 2016 – The Payne Chronicles

Yes, more basketball photos, but not the usual basketball photos this time. In addition to the usual photos of Alex playing great defense or guarding the other team’s best player (even if he is a foot taller), this time we have more photos of Alex dribbling and shooting! You might have to turn away if these are too graphic for you. Alex has been averaging about 3-4 shots now a game and has been handling the ball a lot more, including dribbling, driving and setting up some nice plays. Although he is probably only averaging a couple of points per game, his shot selection has been very good and he hasn’t been passing up the open shots like in the past. Alex is also getting quite a few assists with some nice passing into the lane. Now he is not a Seth Curry by any far stretch of the imagination, but he has improved greatly over the last couple of months and the coach has relied upon him more on more – not just to stop the best player but to help lead the team.
Sam meanwhile has been getting a few minutes each game and although not getting a lot of playing time, has managed to take advantage of the time he has – grabbing rebounds and hustling for loose balls. Sam played up against some players on Tuesday that were probably sophomores and about a foot taller. These guys had quite a bit more experience and also played on the Varsity team against Alex. Sam was not shy and managed to push the guys around a little on the inside – you could tell they weren’t used to that and they weren’t able to score when Sam was in the game. We are very proud of these two guys.