By Will Bryan
MaxPreps.com
On the surface, Charlotte Catholic didn’t seem to have much hope for a victory heading into their basketball conference opener with Olympic on Friday night.
The Cougars had dropped non-conference contests to Charlotte Christian, Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte Latin and Ardrey Kell and entered the game with a 1-5 record. Olympic was undefeated at 6-0.
But the Cougars were playing at home. And they had John Hatton.
The junior guard helped spur a flurry of scoring in the first quarter as Catholic jumped out to an 11-3 lead after giving up the first three points. Catholic held on to win 49-35
Hatton scored seven points in the first quarter, including two three-pointers, and finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds.
“Sometimes, you kind of feel like you have to step up and make some big baskets,” Hatton told the Charlotte Observer. “I felt like I needed to do that for my team in key spots. We needed a big win.”
Perhaps even more impressive was the Charlotte Catholic (2-5, 1-0) defense, playing with a fever-pitch intensity. The Cougars only gave up three points in the first quarter with the second quarter being the only period where Olympic (6-1, 0-1) scored more than 10 points.
Catholic employed a 2-3 zone in order to slow Olympic down and the Trojans were ineffective at reversing the ball and hitting jumpers in the zone’s soft spots.
“We didn't attack and we let them push our offense way out,” Olympic coach Ty Baumgardner told the Charlotte Observer. “We can't win like that.”
Drew Minton had a solid stat line for Catholic with eight points, four rebounds and five assists. Darius Carrier led Olympic with eight points.
