FU 45 final
... One of those BIG early match-ups in the MSL as Coach Stiverson took his Braves down Rte 22 to take on upstart Fairfield Union Friday night ... interesting game as Coach Eversole's Falcons were literally " a head" and " a few shoulders" bigger inside than Coach Stiverson's Braves as the "BIGS" matchup had FU's sophomore post player Colin Woodside (6-5, easily 270+) vs LE's Dylan Smith (sr. 6-3 ... 20something maybe) ... it ended up Woodside vs a host of Braves - Smith, Reid, Clydesdale throughout the evening as the Red & White from LE seemed to be battling not only the FU BIGS (Woodside & sophomore 6-4 Lucas Thompson he of sturdy build as well) but foul trouble raised its ugly head early and often as FU found themselves in the 1 & 1 by the end of the 1st quarter and in the double bonus at the half way point of the 2nd quarter ... EVEN with ALL of the whistles vs the Braves , Coach Stiverson's boys led at all of the quarter breaks ... 14-7 end of 1 ... 29-21 intermission ... 44-38 end of 3 ... and 58-45 as the bus was being warmed up for the trip back to the Reservation ...
... LE played solid the entire game on the defensive end of the floor holding Woodside in the post to a team high 20 points for the game (14 of those points in the 2nd half) ... the rest of the Falcons were held in check with no one reaching double digits in scoring ... LE was able to keep Woodside off the blocks in the first half, as the big man was forced to start out near the foul line to try and get penetration into the paint ... Thomas Green was held to 3 points in the first half for FU before connecting for 2 more treys in the 3rd period ... Logan Elm appeared in control the entire contest - the only question seemed to be "how many starters would still be standing by games end?" ... Smith DID foul out with 2 minutes or so to go in the game but by that time LE's Ridge Young had taken control, showing that he was the best player on the court as he scored a steady 25 points keeping FU at arms length (6 points or more) the whole game ... Young seemed able to take whoever was guarding him off the dribble all night/at will ... scoring 6 ... 6... 6... 7 in respective qtrs ... the Braves put all 7 Braves who saw the floor in the scoring column on the night ... BIG 3 balls came when most needed to ward off any Falcon attempt to get into the game - Jeff Clydesdale with 2 treys, and a BIG triple by Marcus Paul to get separation to ice the win in the 4th period ...
... overall impressions Fairfield Union ... Woodside is a beast ... if used properly (ie. down in the paint working from block to block) he is a handful ... if he is forced outside in - he struggles handling the rock to get into the paint ... BUT he can definitely get where HE wants on the floor WHEN he wants to get there ... strong young man who will keep getting better and better ... FU needs consistent 2nd and 3rd scorers - LE took away Green for the most part ... Green can light you up from downtown but FU needs that 3rd scorer to effectively give Woodside/Green the opportunities to get near the 20 point mark each per game ...
...Pfloyd Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Fairfield Union ...
Scoring ... Colin Woodside 20, Thomas Green 9, Lucas Thompson 6, Hayden Price 4, Brad Miller 4, Matthew Smith 2
3 Pointers ... 4/17 ... Green 3, Woodside 1
FT's ... 11/20
TO's ... 8
...Pfloyd Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Logan Elm ...
Scoring ... Ridge Young 25, Marcus Paul 8, Jeff Clydesdale 8, Stephen Saxton 6, Connor Reid 4, Dylan Smith 4, Preston Schultz 3
3 Pointers ... 4/10 ... Clydesdale 2, Young 1, Paul 1
FT's ... 10/17
TO's ... 14
... looking forward to seeing BOTH of these teams down the road this season as the MSL competition is outstanding with Logan Elm, Circleville (who might just be the 2nd best team out there this season - very impressive ) along with Fairfield Union, Bloom Carroll ... should be fun! wishing all of the teams good luck this season ...
