Fairfield Union 60 OT a final
... FU played the Dragons of Fairland about as well as you can play the #1 Team in the Southeast District in the opening 2 quarters : taking a 14-13 advantage after the first quarter was in the books - Evan Conley looked more than comfortable on the Big floor of the Convo as he dropped 8 first quarter points ( 2 treys and a deuce) ... Colin Woodside added points in the paint (4 pts) to match the 4 points of Kollin Van Horn the 6-8 D2 POY for the Dragons of FHS ... Conley's 8 point opening quarter tally was matched by Fairlands opposite number PG Keedrick Cunningham's 9 points as the Dragon PG was unstoppable getting to the glass for 9 points ... FU 14 FHS 13 after 1 ... the Falcons played one of the better quarters in the tourney as they held the Dragons to 2 points on an Isaiah Howell pick and transition bucket with less than a minute into the 2nd quarter ... who knew at the time that THAT was the ONLY basket for Fairland in the 2nd ... the FU defense shutout FHS for over 7 minutes on the game clock in quarter number 2 ... on the FU side the offense continued to get down low in the paint as Woodside added 6 more points (10 points for the half) ... FU had good balanced scoring in the 2nd as the Falcons went 6/7 from the FT line ... a triple off the bench by Jacob Baker and a putback bucket by Houston Harrah opened up the Falcon lead to the 16 point margin ... in a game that was going to be decided by tempo - FU had it in the opening half of play ... a half court game that played into FU's comfort zone ... Fairfield Union 31 Fairland 15 at intermission ... the Dragons aren't the #1 Team in the SE District because they throw in the towel when things aren't going their way - and NOTHING was - the ball wouldn't go down, FHS was forcing shots , the bigs were a wash in that Van Horn could not, did not get inside in the first 2 quarters of action ... on the other side of the court the Falcons were one upping the Dragons with the Conley/Woodside combination as the inside/outside duo accounted for 18 first half points ... (fade to last weeks district semifinal Sheridan vs Waverly ... Sheridan 37 Waverly 21 at intermission ... jump ahead 2 qtrs Waverly has just outscored Sheridan 50-23 to win going away 71-60 ) fading back to Friday night Coach Speed's Dragons have seen the script written by Waverly ... Fairland must have studied it well as they followed it to the letter - cut the lead to under 10 - check ... outscored FU in the 3rd 19-10 ... finished the 3rd trailing 34-41 ... the 4th had FU's big man in the middle Colin Woodside fouling out - advantage Dragons - Fairland behind the scoring of Luke Thomas 10 points in the 4th got all the way back catching the Falcons 54-54 at the end of regulation ... without Woodside down low, Van Horn got more touches, was able to kick out finding Isaiah Howell for 5, Keedrick Cunningham 5, and 2 for himself ... FHS survived and advances to Regional action Fairland 66 FU 60 OT a final ...
Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Fairfield Union
Scoring ... Evan Conley 17, Lucas Thompson 16, Colin Woodside 10, Houston Harrah 7, Jacob Baker 5, Spencer Conrad 4
3 Pointers ... 4/15 ... Evan Conley 2, Spencer Conrad 1, Jacob Baker 1
FTs .... 14/21
TOs .... 16/ 12 in the 2nd half
PnP ... 14 fgs/28 points in the paint
Transition buckets ... 0
...the District Finals are ALWAYS tough for me as I have made so many friendships/acquaintances on all sides of the court, & in the stands ... the Falcons came into this one as the decided underdogs ... Coach Eversole & his staff drew up a game plan that would work IF Fairland would cooperate - and they did in the first 2 quarters - couldn't score, the talent at all positions failed to show up - Isaiah Howell 2, points, Ty Staten 0,Luke Thomas 0, Kollin Van Horn 4 points ... on offense FU shined Conley 8 points/Woodside 10 points ... 3 triples, 6/7 from the FT line ... the 2nd half everything unraveled ... I thought FU actually had weathered the storm as Fairland got the deficit to 4 points in the 3rd FU got some needed points & stops taking the lead back to 7 points at the end of 3 ... FU was turned over 12 times in the 2nd half ... Fairland capitalized on 6 fgs off turnovers (12 points) ... too much talent/experience on the Dragon side of the court ... When the game was over , mixed emotions in the Cheap Seats as I have become a hoops friend with Colin Woodside's Dad, met Colin's mom, and spoken with Colin many times over his 4 years at FU ... the 2nd game of the night was underway ... Colin and his mother made their way to the Cheap Seats to thank ME for supporting Colin over the years , I was quick to correct them both - as it was I who have had the pleasure to watch Colin's outstanding career on the hardwood ... I told him what I have written on seops many times - Colin Woodside is THE example of what high school athletes should emulate on the basketball court - the young man gave everything he had on the court in sickness & health ... he nightly was pounded on by bigger & smaller players most of the time without getting a call from officials who live by "he's a big, he can take it " - Colin never flinched , never questioned a call or no call, he simply went about his business - 1000 point scorer, all time leading scorer in FU hoops history, 500 + rebounds ... leading his team along with the fine coaching staff at FU - leading FU's program into becoming one of the best in Southeastern Ohio ... great player even better young man - he comes by it honestly as he comes from an outstanding family ...
Pfloyd's Offiical "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Fairland ...
Scoring ... Keedrick Cunningham 27, Luke Thomas 13, Isaiah Howell 12 , Kollin Van Horn 11, Ty Staten 4
3 Pointers ... 2/12 ... Luke Thomas 1, Keedrick Cunningham 1
FTs ... 20/34
TOs .... 10
PnP ..... 18 fgs/36 points in the paint
Transition buckets ... 6 fgs/12 points off of turnovers
... Wow ... experience, no panic , players who CAN/DO step up at crunch time ... outscoring the Falcons 51 -29 in the final 2 qtrs + OT ... congratulations to Coach Speed & his staff which includes one Evan Salyers - who himself was an outstanding BIG man for Fairland not so long ago - I posted many times about Coach Salyers' career games as he was a 1000 points scorer & 500+ rebound undersized big man ... I've kept contact with Coach Salyers on FB and through him I have kept in touch with Coach Speed over the years as well ... he and his staff always have a shout out for pfloyd when I am in the house to see them on the court ... Ty Staten's dad, Kollin Van Horn's dad - my pleasure to have met them, talked hoops with both ... Congratulations to the Fairland basketball family on the District Championship in D2 this season !!! I wish you all the best as you advance to regional play this coming week ...
