Anne Arundel JV athletes laid the foundation during 2019-20 winter season

Like their varsity counterparts, this winter season was filled with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat for Anne Arundel County’s junior varsity programs. While the wins and losses were important, the growth of the programs and the foundation each JV team laid for their varsity teams were just as key.

A year after winning just one game, Indian Creek turned things around this winter and went 14-8 overall and 10-4 in MIAA B Conference play, good for a third-place finish and a conference tournament appearance for the first time in school history.

“The focus of the team this past season was on becoming a great man-to-man defensive team. There were some bumps in the road early in the year,” said coach Casey Corkin. “Many of these players grow up playing a lot of zone defense and it takes time for them to better understand their assignments in a man to man defense.

“By the time this team hit conference play, they started to play great team defense. This is a key skill they will all need to be a successful player at the varsity level.”

Among the top accomplishments for the team this season were two wins in which everybody on the roster scored, and the team nearly scored 100 points in one of those victories.

The team was led by freshmen Kyndall Crawford (14.3 ppg and 10 rpg) and Benny Carter (12.5 ppg and 7 rpg), who were the leading scorers.

“Kyndall was best with the ball in his hands in the open court, to either finish at the basket or pull up for a three,” Corkin said. “Benny Carter emerged as an equal to Kyndall as conference play started.”

Four other players averaged between 4-6 ppg. Freshmen George Weston, Josh Cameron and Dylan Harris were the leaders of the backcourt and “did a great job controlling the tempo of the game and taking on some of the toughest defensive assignments,” Corkin said.

Freshmen Patrick Smith and Logan Frazier and sophomore Cole Turner were strong defensively inside and controlled the boards well on both ends of the floor. Logan Frazier was a key player off the bench, averaging 5.4 ppg.

Sophomores AJ DePaolis, Lawrence Fowler and Roddy House and freshmen Garren Diggs Jr. Daniel Eckroad and Kai Melville also contributed.

“These boys grew both on and off the court and have a bright future ahead,” Corkin said. “The Indian Creek boys basketball program is set up well for success in the next few years.”

This story was originally published in the Capital Gazette News.  Click here to read the full story.