Duke recruit Josh Hairston leads Courtland past Eastern View

Courtland’s Josh Hairston was all smiles as he crouched in a defensive posture while waiting for his man in the first quarter of the Cougars’ 88-39 dismantling of Eastern View Friday night.

“That’s just who I am and how I play,” he said. “When I play I have fun. I don’t let things stress me out. Even if I’m having a bad game I try to keep a smile on my face because basketball is a job, but at the end of the day it is a game and it’s fun for me.”

Hairston’s smile didn’t fade even though every time he touched the ball he attracted a swarm of Cyclones, who sent him to the foul line 11 times during the game.

His grin stayed in place when Eastern View’s Belial Williams was called for a flagrant foul for shoving him to break up an alley-oop attempt. It even remained when Courtland coach J.T. Nino pulled him off the court when the game was out of reach late in the third period.

“I expected them (Eastern View) to play physical,” the third-year starter on Courtland’s varsity squad said. “I know they didn’t mean anything with the flagrant foul, but they are a real strong physical team.”

And why not be a happy guy?

Rivals.com ranks Hairston as the sixth power forward in 2010’s recruiting class, and the 6-foot-8-inch 195-pound junior has already committed to play basketball at Duke University.

“That (committing to Duke) was the greatest feeling ever,” Hairston said. “I was nervous at first because it was just me and ‘Coach K’ in a room and I was stumbling all over my words. It’s a great feeling to know that I have my college decision made and I can just be a kid again.”

Duke was Hairston’s clear-cut choice because he has a lot of family in North Carolina and southern Virginia, and as he said, “It’s Coach K. Who wouldn’t want to play for him?”

Ohio State, Georgetown, U.Va., Va. Tech, Maryland and Memphis were also in the running for the talented post player’s services.

Hairston led the Cougars (11-0 overall, 4-0 in the Battlefield District) with 22 points and eight rebounds, while 6-foot-4-inch senior Lamar Giggetts added 16 points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.

“We just played our style of ball tonight,” Nino said. “We pressed and got the ball up and down the court. They (EVHS) tried to rattle Josh early with the box-and-one, but we just kept plugging away and played unselfish basketball.”

Early in the third quarter, Giggetts lobbed a long pass to Hairston who caught it in stride and barely had to jump to connect on a one-handed slam-dunk.

Moments later, the duo hooked up again but this time Hairston looked like he was going to pull the rim down while driving the ball through the hoop with both hands.

“We had a game plan tonight but we just didn’t execute,” EVHS coach Walter Wright said. “We planned to play a box-and-one on Josh and make the other guys beat us but somehow in the middle of the first quarter, execution broke down and it got pretty ugly from there.”

Hairston was certainly the star of the show but he didn’t do it alone. Courtland senior Luke Sellers — who also was the Cougars’ starting quarterback — finished the game with 17 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Kyle Brooks added nine points and two rebounds.

“We know most teams are going to throw something tricky at us to try to stop Josh,” Nino said. “But what a lot of teams don’t understand is we have three or four guys averaging in double figures, so it’s really pick your poison.”

The Cougars got 27 points out of their bench players, while the Cyclones’ substitutes were only able to muster 12 points.

“It makes it real tough to win when you’re facing a team with a bench that can score like theirs,” Wright said. “But once they got the ball rolling, it was all downhill from there. It seemed like every shot they took went in.”

Sophomore Drayton Shanks led the Cyclones (6-5, 1-2) with 10 points, two rebounds and a block, while Mo Safren added nine points and Nick Glascoe finished with seven.

The Cyclones were without two of their best defenders Friday, and it showed. Senior Stevie Strother was on a football-recruiting trip at Southern Illinois University and 6-foot-3 senior Andrew Hoffman was suspended because of disciplinary issues.

“Everybody saw how tough it was without him (Hoffman),” Wright said. “He’s our main horse inside and we didn’t have him, so we had to depend on our bench.”

Friday night’s loss was the worst the Cyclones have suffered this season, but Wright knows his team just has to focus on the future and they’ll be fine.

“We just have to look forward to James Monroe and Monday and come out and have a nice hard practice tomorrow,” he said. “I think the guys looked at the scoreboard tonight and got a little frustrated, so we just have to take this one out on James Monroe.”