Shawn Strickland

Here are a few articles about Middletown's Shawn Strickland over the last few weeks.
Boys Basketball Notes: Healthy Strickland A Boost For Middletown

By TOM YANTZ, tyantz@courant.com

The Hartford Courant

9:59 p.m. EST, February 2, 2012
Shawn Strickland has his legs under him, and that's a welcome, formidable foundation for Middletown.

Strickland dislocated his right knee earlier in the season and missed a few games. Coach Dave Sytulek said the knee had to have fluid drained from it.

"When he came back, he was a little reluctant to push off on it and really test it," Sytulek said. "I think his fourth game back, against Glastonbury [Jan. 23] he played much better and looked like the Shawn we know."

Strickland, a 5-oot-8, junior point guard, scored 18 points and displayed excellent court vision and passing skills in the Blue Dragons 61-52 overtime victory.

He scored 11 and 21 in the next two games against Berlin and Bristol Eastern, both Middletown victories.

The effort against Bristol Eastern in overtime happened, despite Middletown's trailing by 11 in the fourth quarter and the Lancers Elias Rodriguez scoring a school record 46.

The Blue Dragons (11-4),, winners of nine of their past 11 games, are playing their best basketball of the season.

"Shawn was an all CCC [South] guard last season as a sophomore," Sytulek said. "He's our leader on the floor. He makes everyone better."

Mikie Rhodes, who had 20 against Bristol Eastern, averages about 20 points and 13 rebounds. Jerry Robinson, Jalen Manzie, Taji Owens, Andrew Campbell, Brandon Simmons, Greg Fudge and Jaquan Collins are some of the team's other contributors.


BOYS BASKETBALL: Middletown wins OT thriller against Bristol Eastern, 77-73
By JIM BRANSFIELD
Posted: 01/31/2012 1:12 AM

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MIDDLETOWN — One player doesn’t beat five.

At least, that’s the consensus. But Monday night at Middletown High, Bristol Eastern’s brilliant Eli Rodriguez almost did exactly that. Almost.

Instead, the Blue Dragons overcame both Rodriguez’ stunning 46-point performance and an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Eastern 77-73 in overtime. It was Middletown’s third win in a row and the Dragons’ eighth in their last 10 tries.

“The key was our second half defense on Rodriguez,” said MHS coach Dave Sytulek, who saw his team improve to 10-4. “We opened the second half trying to deny him the ball and Andrew Campbell did a nice job for a while. But we had to make an adjustment with our press on the fly. We tried to take him out of their offense and force other guys to handle the ball and keep it out of his hands. I give the credit to the kids who dug down deep for this one and were able to make the adjustment.

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Thursday, January 26, 2012Shawn Strickland is Outstanding Leader for Middletown on the Court

The point guard is the floor general who teammates look to for leadership on the court. They are the primary ball handlers and initiate the offense, and on defense their peskiness and hard effort causes poor execution and turnovers. The point guard exists within the flow of games, and understands when to get teammates going on offense and when to take over games themselves. For better or worse, they are the emotional leader of the team. The average point guard certainly doesn’t possess all of these ideal qualities. If a team has a point guard who possesses even one or two of these qualities then they will be pleased. But a point guard who is all this, and more, is special. He is a difference-maker. Shawn Strickland, the junior point guard and captain for the Middletown High Blue Dragons, is just that.

Shawn Strickland is skilled all-around. He is a deft ball-handler who’s adept at scoring off the dribble and shooting the three. Strickland’s speed, passing ability and basketball smarts allow him to find open teammates for good looks at the basket. The junior’s smarts and physical gifts make him a tenacious defender who can pick up blocks or steals at any time. However, Strickland’s greatest asset is his leadership abilities. He is the player who makes MHS go and who teammates consistently look to for direction.

“I try to get my teammates involved on offense before anything else,” said Strickland when I spoke to him. “I want everyone to be involved and helping us out. I only worry about scoring when we need me to.”

The ideal point guard didn’t used to have this mindset. At one point, Strickland worried about his game before that of the rest of the Blue Dragons, an approach which he realized was a dead end.

“I used to think it was all about scoring,” said Strickland. “Once I got used to being a point guard I realized getting other players involved win games. That’s more important.”

Strickland has helped lead MHS to an 8-4 record and second place in the CCC South. The team has already qualified for the state playoffs and is on their way to its best regular season record in three seasons. Strickland, who was voted All-CCC South in only his sophomore season, has had a strong junior season despite dislocating his knee and missing a few games. Though he’s rarely been 100 percent, Strickland has been an outstanding facilitator for big men Mikie Rhodes and Taji Owens and backcourt mates Jalen Manzie and Jerry Robinson, while still occasionally scoring on his own. Strickland’s strongest games had come at the beginning of the season before his injury, and the star was quiet for a few games after making his return. On Monday night Strickland broke out in a big way, dominating on both ends of the floor in leading the Blue Dragons to their biggest victory of the season.

All of the skills which make Strickland a unique point guard were on display Monday in Middletown’s 61-52 overtime comeback win over Glastonbury, the strongest team that MHS has beaten all season. Strickland scored 18 points in the contest, but much of what made his performance great wasn’t evident in the box score. Strickland’s ability to handle the ball with complete care and initiate the offense never wavered in a pressure-packed game. As the Blue Dragons zone defense began to slow Glastonbury down, Strickland’s speed and court vision was key in his teammates finding open shots and MHS rallying from being down 24-17 at the half.

The captain put up seven in the first half when his teammates were slow to get it going, and made clutch play after clutch play as MHS as rallied in the second half. Strickland earned a trio of blocks in the second half that swung momentum the Blue Dragons way. His steal and layup halfway through the third quarter narrowed the deficit to three, and Strickland later picked up a beautiful assist on the hoop which gave MHS its first lead of the game with 20 seconds remaining in the third, 36-35. His pinpoint jumper gave the squad a three-point lead midway through the final quarter, and Strickland’s fallback jumper reclaimed the lead for MHS at 47-46 just over two minutes later. Finally, Strickland made three of six foul shots in overtime as the Blue Dragons took control, going on to win by nine.

“I wasn’t doing anything different when I scored,” said Strickland. “I was just trying to make plays within the flow of our offense.”

Throughout the contest, Strickland exhibited the ability to take on whatever role his team most needed him to fill. Whether the role was that of an expert ball-handler, dynamic point guard or athletic defender, Strickland performed it with aplomb. Meanwhile, his cool and confident demeanor noticeably rubbed off on his teammates, allowing them to retain momentum throughout Middletown’s comeback. Playing (by my count) 34 of the game’s 36 minutes, Strickland both controlled the action of the game while seemingly receding from it. Like a cobra waiting to strike, he would hang back before threading a pass to an open teammate or blowing past the defense for a layup. To use another analogy, Strickland was the cat, and Glastonbury was the mouse. In doing so Strickland demonstrated not only how much more athletic he can be than his opponents but how much more intelligent he can be than them also.

If Shawn Strickland can remain healthy, Middletown should continue to improve through the rest of their schedule. A smart, dynamic point guard is the first chess piece any basketball team needs to be successful, and the combination of Strickland and the Blue Dragons skilled front line will make MHS consistently dangerous. It’s impossible to know what record Middletown will finish with and how far the team will go in the state playoffs. But with Strickland at the helm, the Blue Dragons can make a deep run.

“It’s great to make states with this win,” stated Strickland. “That’s what we’ve been working for, and it feels good. I think we can get even better and win the rest of our regular season games.”
Danny Atkinson at 2:57 PM
Share 1 comments:
AnonymousJan 26, 2012 04:54 PM
fantastic article -nice job - go MHS and Shawn!
ReplyDelete


BOYS BASKETBALL: Middletown sinks FTs, Glastonbury in OT, 61-52
By PRESS STAFF
Posted: 01/23/2012 10:06 PM


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MIDDLETOWN — Middletown’s Shawn Strickland scored 18 points and the Blue Dragons sank 11 free throws in overtime, earning a comeback win against Glastonbury on Monday, 61-52.

Middletown’s Jalen Manzie scored all 11 of his points (including three 3-pointers) in the second half and overtime, and Mikie Rhodes had 14 points and 18 rebounds.

Eleven of the Blue Dragons’ 14 overtime points came at the free throw line (11-of-16 in OT; 14-of-23 total).

Glastonbury led 24-17 at halftime before Middletown rallied back in the second half, then sank their free throws for the win.

Luke McNabb and Jordan Butler each scored 13 for Glastonbury (8-5). Taji Owens had nine rebounds for Middletown (8-4). Middletown outscored Glastonbury 14-5 in overtime.

The Blue Dragons, 6-2 in their last eight games, will host Berlin Friday, then Bristol Eastern on Monday.