4A NORTH REGIONAL TOURNAMENT: Harris’ Game All Business

SOPHOMORE A FLOOR LEADER

— The snooze button is a close friend to most high school students, but every day when most teenagers are hitting it for a second or third time on a school day, Shiloh Christian sophomore Darian Harris has already been awake and productive for an hour.

Each morning as the clock strikes 6:30, Harris is out shooting jump shots, refining the rainbow stroke that has garnered him a vital role on the Saints varsity basketball team.

When his peers are at home playing Xbox, Harris is practicing - he recently sold his Xbox anyway.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard’s all-business approach helped Shiloh (15-13) reach the 4A-1 Conference tournament finals last week, as he scored 19 points in the 4th-seeded Saints semifinal upset of topranked Farmington.

Harris put up 14 points in Shiloh’s double-overtime loss to the host Pea Ridge Blackhawks in the championship game, and he was the one who took the last shot when the Saints needed a 3-pointer to push the game to a third extra period. If his contested shot hadn’t rimmed out, the Saints and Blackhawks might still be battling today for district supremacy.

“We really elevated our play for (that) tournament,” Harris said. “Me and David Matthews, we are both team leaders, but everyone on our team is really a leader. They all step up when they need to.”

The 16-year-old Harris and senior point guard Matthews form a formidable scoring backcourt for Shiloh Christian. They combined for 37 of the team’s 58 points (64 percent) in Saturday’s conference fi nal.

Matthews and Harris shared the ball in crucialmoments in the district tournament, and Saints coach Brent Hester doesn’t have a problem with the sophomore taking the big shots.

“In the tournament, he (Harris) gave us what he gives us every night, a steady offensive guy who can handle the ball and run the team,” Hester said. “He’s a guy that wants the ball in his hands. You’ve got to love a kid like that, and he just hates to lose. He’s got a winning mentality and just will not accept losing.”

Harris got his first exposure to varsity basketball in the 2010 conference tournament, and his first full year in senior high has been as much about learning his teammates as it is learning the game.

“From the beginning of the year to now, it’s been a complete 180,” Hester said. “He had no idea how to play team basketball and trust his teammates, or about senior high basketball size and speed, but the guy’s come a long way and is playing super for us.

“He makes sophomore mistakes once in a while mentally, but talent wise he’s terrific every night.”

Harris said the biggest adjustment to his game has been not leaning too much on outside shooting, but instead getting to the rim and creating more opportunities for his teammates in the process.

“At the beginning of the year I didn’t drive much, I just relied on my 3-point shot,” Harris said. “As the year’s gone on, I started going to the hole more and playing better defense.”

Sports, Pages 8 on 02/22/2011

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