Pershing vs. Renaissance

Detroit- Pershing dominated Renaissance on their home court to advance into Friday’s PSL City Championship against Southeastern.  Renaissance just could not match-up with the beef Pershing has in the paint, particularly Derrick Nix.  The 6-9 post player was an instant factor and spotted his team an early lead with eight points in the first half of the first quarter.  After picking up his second foul Nix was forced to sit but his teammates didn’t let up.  Keith Appling’s “and 1″ put Pershing up 39-25 with 3:14 left in the second quarter.  Juwan Howard Jr. and Dennis Perry added baskets and then Nix reentered to score six straight points to end the half with a 55-32 lead.

The first half went fairly well for Nix but the second half was a whole other story as Nix put on a show.  Nix went on another 6-0 run by himself and later added a ridiculously powerful dunk to put Pershing up 69-49 with a minute left in the third. 

Back to back 3-pointers from Perry gave Pershing a 90-60 lead with 4:55 in the third as Pershing finished off Renaissance with a final of 101-74.            

BREAKDOWN: The Doughboys are playing their best basketball at the right point of the season.  They just took it right at Renaissance and the Phoenix couldn’t do anything about it.  Nix was dominate inside while Appling did his thing outside, but the job the rest of the team is doing, particularly players like Howard, Perry, and Tevon Conrad, make this team the favorite to win the Class A title.  

PLAYER OF GAME: Derrick Nix, Pershing Big Nix played liked he’s ready for the college level.  He controlled the glass on both ends and pulled rebounds down with authority, 21 to be exact, and he also blew up for 34 points.  Nix didn’t do anything fancy, just ran block to block and bullied his way for anything he could get. 

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Keith Appling, Pershing- Keith was on cruise control in this game and didn’t need to do much but just sit back and watch his teammate Nix take care of business…oh, but while Keith was on cruise control he managed to ring up a triple-double of 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assist while resting most of the second half.   

Juwan Howard, Jr., Pershing- Howard is his team’s X-factor as he can play up to five positions if needed.  He got his hands on a lot of loose balls and was able to make plays as he found openings against Renaissance’s defense.

Dennis Perry, Pershing- Perry was also left wide open at times and he made Renaissance pay for it as he sunk five 3-pointers on his way to a 25 point performance.

Daniel Sutherlin, Renaissance- led the Phoenix with 29 points and 12 rebounds.

Delano Collins, Renaissance- added 20 points from his PG position.