On every scouting report, opposing teams will immediately circle Chapelgate seniors Matthew Frierson and Malik Grandy.
The senior duo has combined to average more than 40 points a night this winter and one of the two of them has led the team in scoring every game.
On Tuesday, though, in the championship game of the Panther Invitational against Long Reach at Paint Branch High School, it was a different face that set the tone for what finished as a 68-58 Yellowjackets' victory.
Seth Madden scored nine of his 15 points in the opening four minutes — all on 3-pointers — to stake Chapelgate (8-8) to an early lead and open the floor up for Frierson (26 points) and Grandy (19) to take over down the stretch and pull out the tournament title.
"Everyone's focus is on Matt to shoot and Malik to drive … I think some teams think that's all we've got," Chapelgate coach Frick Frierson said. "But if we run our offense, our other guys are going to get open looks and they are capable of making those shots. We try to put them in spots that they are really good at and Seth, as he showed tonight, he's really good from the corner.
"You leave him open down there and he's going to hit it."
As a team, Chapelgate shot well from beyond the arc all night. Frierson hit 5 threes, Madden had his three triples and Earl Mitchell added a pair of shots from long range as well.
"Those kids can shoot the lights out and when you give them a couple early, that confidence skyrockets," Long Reach coach Al Moraz Jr. "We knew who their guys were, but for whatever reason it wasn't until they knocked down a bunch of them that we fully realized what they were capable of."
Chapelgate's hot start included a 16-2 run to close the first quarter that opened up a 26-11 advantage. That lead grew to as many as 17 points early in the second quarter following a basket by Mitchell.
But Long Reach (4-4) finally began to settle in toward the end of the first half and put together their own push to get the score manageable at the break.
Behind the outside shooting of Kevin Duckett (8 points) and Andre Brodnax (8), along with the inside play of Ron Carter (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Terrell Lamar (11 points), the Lightning cut the Chapelgate lead to just five, 36-31.
"We talk all the time about how you are going to get runs both ways and Long Reach got their run at the end of the first half," Frierson said. "The thing I didn't like was that we were getting bullied inside and a lot of that was because we were playing too passive. We lost our aggressiveness a little bit there."
But for as successful as Long Reach was in getting back in the game, Chapelgate managed to keep the Lightning at arm's length the entire rest of the way.
The Yellowjackets pushed their lead back to nine, 55-46, on a 3-pointer by Frierson as time expired in the third quarter. Then, after Long Reach got within four points early in the fourth quarter following a put-back by Carter, Chapelgate got back-to-back baskets from Jon Hughes and Grandy to open things back up again.
"We were in just too big of a hole to have to come back from … you can't shoot yourself in the foot giving up 26 points in the first quarter and then have to play catch-up all night," Moraz said. "I thought our defense definitely stepped it up some late in the game, but we still have a lot of work to do going forward."
Chapelgate finished the game on an 8-3 run to create the final 10-point margin. The win makes three wins in five days for a Yellowjackets' team that will return to action against Boys Latin on Jan. 7.
Chapelgate 68, Long Reach 58
CCA (8-8): Frierson 26, Grandy 19, Madden 15, Mitchell 6, Hughes 2.
LR (4-4): Carter 17, Lamar 11, Brodnax 8, Duckett 8, Avery 6, Stamatiades 6, Menusan 2.
Half: 36-31 CCA.