... before I post anything about the game I would like to THANK both of these excellent basketball TEAMS ... great players ALL, great coaches BOTH, great fans for BOTH schools ... THANK YOU for leaving everything on the floor and then some ... one of those cases where you hate that either one of the two TEAMS had to lose ... I could have stayed and watched both of those groups of youngsters go at it for as many extra periods as they cared to go ... THANK YOU - I'm still smiling about the play on both sides last night, EVERY person to a man that I saw today greeted me with "What a game last night!!!" ... Thank you ...
... WOW!!! WHAT A GAME !!! between two of the best high school teams Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ... last nights semi final game between the Athens Bulldogs and the Warren Warriors has a legacy that will continue into the 2013 - 2014 season... both teams are talented, young, return the main cogs of their respective squads, both have their eyes fixed on runs into the tournament - the Regional Final , then onto the Final Four ... so much talent on the floor for both teams last night ... Warren drew first blood getting a three from THEIR "Big" Dylan Leffingwell , DL showed early on that the matchup with Jared Elmore was one sided in favor of the Warren big man - inside or getting to the rim off the dribble was a mismatch for the Athens post man - Leffingwell was too quick/the Warren big man led WHS in scoring in the first 2 quarters (9 pts) ... Warren got scoring from all corners of the court in period 1 & 2 ( Evan Yabs a trey, Reece Patton 4 pts., Danny Pannell a three ball, Adam Lang 3 pts - the only non scorers were French and Hall in the first) Warren went 3/6 from downtown in the first period ... Athens was led by Joey Burrow (8 pts) 2 threes in the opening quarter, Ibi Watson added 3 pts to round out the Bulldog scoring after one ...
Warren 18 Athens 11 end of one ... Athens offensively except for Burrow was anemic at best thru 1 1/2 quarters but as every game has its ebs and flows this one was no different - as we have watched at the Convo with seemingly EVERY game the folks in stripes had swallowed their whistles, in almost every game unless blood was drawn fouls were few and far between ... in quarter number 2 the refs decided to cough up the whistles and become part of the game - Warren was whistled for 10 fouls in quarter number 2, every WHS starter was whistled for 2 fouls - bench time for French/Patton/Hall/Leffingwell/Yabs ... Coach Maddox went 9 deep on his bench ... the offensive flow that Warren showed in the 1st quarter had disappeared/ trailing 22-11 with 4:43 left in the second Coach Skinner for Athens called a time out ... after the TO, and with Warren starters riding the bench with personal fouls, the Bulldogs showed their zone defense for the first time in the game ... ALL of the ingredients for a "perfect storm" were in place for AHS ... the fouls on Warren put Athens at the line, Warren had no scorers on the floor, Athens whittled away at the lead offensively while holding Warren to 2 points the rest of the quarter ...
Warren 24 Athens 21 at intermission ... Quarter number 3 continued the Athens assault, the "perfect storm" was unleashing it's fury on the Warriors - Athens from the 4:43 mark of the 2nd to the end of the 3rd went on a 35-11 run ! led by the " 3 youngin's" - Watson (fr)/Saltzman (fr) and Burrow (soph) - the trio knocked down 31 pts (3/6 triples) in the 35 pt Athens blitz ... as impressive as the offensive run for the Bulldogs was imo holding Warren to 11 points in almost 12 minutes of clock was just as impressive, Athens held Evan French to a total of 2 pts thru 3 qtrs/Michael Hall 5/Reece Patton 6 - great stuff to watch from the Cheap Seats ...
Athens 46 Warren 35 after three ... Storms - as bad as they can be, even the "perfect storms" have something in common - they have an end ... for Warren the storm clouds gave way to Evan French - instead of being a "perfect storm" French was simply "perfect" in the 4th quarter ... the junior poured in 21 points in the quarter/ 3 for 3 from behind the arc, 6/6 from the FT line ... by the time there was even a "cloud in the sky" the Warriors - with French providing the offensive assault,TEAM Big Bad Blue forcing the Bulldogs to turn the ball over 7 times - and even with the best that Joey Burrow (8 points in the 4th/2 threes) could muster - Warren had come all the way back tying the game at 60-60 with 1:36 to play in regulation (whew!!! I'm excited just typing that stuff! LOL) ... the final minute and half saw French hit a 15 foot jumper and 2 Ibi Watson "ice in his veins" FTs to tie it at 62-62 ... the Bulldogs had the ball with :09.4 seconds to play ... side out at mid court, inbound in the back court/ pass back to Burrow who took his eyes off of the pass - ball was going out of bounds Burrow with a GREAT athletic save back to Watson ( a BAD save would have had Warren going the other way for a transition 2 for the win) Watson was unable to get the ball off at the buzzer!
Athens 62 Warren 62 end of regulation ... sitting in the cheap seats I was looking for Athens to get the ball into Saltzman's hands - the kid "gets to the rim" - if he doesn't score he goes to the line - didn't happen - this one went OT ... Warren went on a 27-16 run in the fourth to forge the tie, momentum was wearing the Blue & White, the game was safely in the hands of Evan French ... French had 6 points in OT, the Warriors defensively turned Athens over 4 times in the overtime period, from the line WHS was 6/8 in OT ...
Warriors move on to the Elite 8 ... Warren 74 Athens 69 OT a final ...
... Pfloyd Napkin Stats - Athens ...
Scoring : Joey Burrow 28, Ibi Watson 22, Zacchia Saltzman 13, Ryan Leuhrman 2, Adam Leuhrman 2, Jared Elmore 2
3 Pointers : 8/19 ...
Burrow 6, Watson 1, Saltzman 1
FT's :
14/24
TOs: 14 ...
11 turnovers in the 4th & OT combined
... Congratulations to Coach Skinner and the Athens TEAM ... a pleasure to watch the Bulldogs this season, great accomplishment for such a youngster loaded team to make the regional semi finals even more impressive for them to play themselves into a position to be right there with a chance to move on to the Elite 8 ... the Bulldogs with Watson/Burrow/Saltzman/Leuhrman 'squared" will be battling it out for SEOhio regional supremacy for the next few years to come ... as far as a final imo on the game - the Warren comeback ? was a combination of WHS pressure defensively in the 4th/AHS youth getting rattled under the pressure AND a couple of TIMELY calls going in favor of the Warriors to keep the onslaught rolling (i.e. the phantom over & back call) ...
... Pfloyd Napkin Stats - Warren...
Scoring : Evan French 29
(27 pts. in the 4th/OT periods), Dylan Leffingwell 14, Reece Patton 13, Adam Lang 6, Michael Hall 6, Evan Yabs 3, Danny Pannell 3
3 pointers : 6/18 ... French 3, Yabs 1, Pannell 1, Leffingwell 1
FT's : 20/27 ... 13/16 in the 4th/OT periods
TOs : 10
... what can you say - the Big Stage brings the best out in some players - those that accept the pressures of the game - Evan French put the Warriors on his back and carried them to the regional final ... I watched Evan French throw down 44 points at Chillicothe during the regular season - the 29 points/21 in the 4th last night I won't forget this performance by Mr. French - incredible ... in the Athens stat line - I mentioned that it looked like the Bulldog youth showed up in the 4th (TO wise/shot selection wise) ... imo the Warren composure - a reflection of Coach Maddox's game demeanor - allowed the BBB to come back in this one ... nothing was rushed - passes/shots - even as the clock ran down, even as Lou bellowed "2 minutes! 2 minutes to the Elite 8!" - composure/floor leadership by French/Leffingwell/Yabs/Pannell/Patton/Hall/Adam Long - TEAM BBB ... great game !!! Congratulations to Coach Maddox, Coach Duckworth, Coach Mitchem (you can breath now !) ... Best of luck in representing the SE District tomorrow at 3 pm vs New Philly !!!
