Freshman shines: Caleb Dawson’s double-double leads the Eagles in win against Highland Home 76-57
Published 3:30 am Thursday, December 3, 2015
![Submitted Photo Freshman Caleb Dawson’s double-double lifts Eagles to 76-57 win over Highland Home on Tuesday night. Above photo of Goshen’s match up with Goshen earlier in the season.](https://www.troymessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2015/12/1203-goshen2editweb1.jpg)
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Freshman Caleb Dawson’s double-double lifts Eagles to 76-57 win over Highland Home on Tuesday night. Above photo of Goshen’s match up with Goshen earlier in the season.
Freshman Caleb Dawson scored 29 points and hauled in 10 rebounds in a 76-57 win for the Goshen Eagles on the road against Highland Home Tuesday evening.
The win for the Eagles marks the second time this year the Eagles have defeated the Flying Squadron. The Eagles routed Highland Home 78-30 in Goshen to kick off the season.
This time the game was a little tighter. The Eagles were able to answer each challenge the Squadron threw at them.
“Highland Home had a tremendous gameplan,” said Eagles head coach Ethan Carroll. “The game was close. A lot of our problems were self afflicted problems that we caused.”
With the Eagles struggling to play a constant game Dawson stepped up in a big way to help get things under control. The young freshman’s double double set the tone for the Eagles all night.
“He is a competitor,” Carroll said. “Regardless of his age, he plays a lot older and a lot more mature. We had to have some people step up, and Caleb Dawson definitely did that.”
The two teams battled throughout the first half of the game and entered the locker room at halftime with the Eagles holding a 10-point advantage at 32-22.
“We were able to score at times,” Carroll said. “We just turned the ball over so much. They put a little more pressure on us. We seemed to panic. We haven’t been used to that this year. We are still trying to grow into playing under pressure.”
In the second half, especially late, the Eagles were able to pull away thanks to some easy lay ups by senior Shelby Styron to help secure the win for Goshen.
“It was a good win toward the end because in the last four to five minutes of the game we were able to get some key lay-ups,” Carroll said. “We were able to take care of the ball a lot better.”
Now five games into the season and the Eagles sitting at 4-1, Carroll has had the opportunity to gauge his team so far in the early going.
“One of keys to our success is so far about every game we have had a different leading scorer,” Carroll said. “That means that some of the kids are accepting their roles, and they are starting to understand the different defenses that we get. We are understanding the process and starting to see the floor more.”
Following Dawson’s 29 points for the Eagles, sophomore Michael Hollis finished with 18 points and Styron had 10.
The Eagles will be back in action Thursday evening when they host Carroll High School at 7 p.m.
“It’s going to be our biggest test of the year,” Carroll said. “They have a couple kids on that team that are extremely talented. It’s going to be a big test for us. The kids are up for the task and it’s a really good measuring tool at the beginning of the year.”