Athens 74 Morgan 45

[Spartan]

Athens took a 5 point lead into halftime and outscored the Raiders 38-14 the second half for the final margin. Go Bulldogs! A great way to start.

[93Bulldog]

It was a solid performance ... It will be fun to see how they do as the competition gets tougher ... I mean, talk about getting thrown into the fire - Athens now has to travel TO WARREN, TO VINTON COUNTY, and then face GALLIA ACADEMY and WELLSTON at home.

I will be pleased if they can somehow get through that 4-game stretch with a 2-2 record. I know that sounds negative, but not really when you factor in Maxson's health and the fact your starting 2 freshmen.

[pfloyd]

... how did those 6-3 Freshmen do 93dog? Neither Burrow or Luehrman LOOK like being on varsity as freshmen is a problem - they look like they play the game with lots of confidence (coming from playing AAU ball? lots of games vs good competition under their belts already?) ... looking forward to catching up to the Bulldogs in a regular season games soon ...

[93Bulldog]

... how did those 6-3 Freshmen do 93dog? Neither Burrow or Luehrman LOOK like being on varsity as freshmen is a problem - they look like they play the game with lots of confidence (coming from playing AAU ball? lots of games vs good competition under their belts already?) ... looking forward to catching up to the Bulldogs in a regular season games soon ...

#40, Ryan Luehrman led all scorers with 17 Floyd ... Burrow scored 10, Skinner scored 10 and Sharp added 8.

They definitly looked a lot better than in the preview. Probably the most impressive thing was their depth and the rotation coach Skinner used ... 9 different players rotated in-and-out all game, and that wasn't because of the score - they did it right from the beginning untill the end ... I can't even remember who started actually ... They might have both freshmen, Skinner, Stanley and Sharp in at the beginning - but Josh Maxson got on the floor last night, which was great although he is still not 100%, 6'4 Jared Elmore played a lot of minutes and played well, Kramer Simmons playes a lot of minutes and sophomore Michael Germano is in the rotation.

[Raiderball]

Congrats

[ShoeHorn]

Starting 5 is correct except Elmore started and Sharp did not.

[93Bulldog]

Starting 5 is correct except Elmore started and Sharp did not.

Not sure if there was a reason why Sharp didn't start - but after seeing all the players play meaningful minutes - I'm not sure it really matters who starts. I know they are going to need that type of depth/hustle/energy when they travel to Warren next ... The Warriors, who scored 99 points versus Meigs Saturday, make you work on defense and they wear you down physically ... It will be a tough test for the 'Dogs ... Probably the most impressive aspect of Warrens' game is that they understand the ball moves quicker threw the air than via the dribble - by the time they're done passing it around the perimeter, the oppsing team is fatigued and they often get a great look at the basket. Its 'text book' basketball and they do it well.

[DukeBlueDevils]

Athens is going to have an ok year. The two freshmen who start are very solid but still very weak. The Burrows kid looks like he might have some trouble with pressure from of physical guard of similar size, but he has a good shooting touch and makes the right play. Athens should be solid defensively against smaller teams since they have guards to rotate that have quickness and long arms. The burrows kid also has good hands defensively and gets in the passing lane. However Athens weakness will be inside they don't have much of a post game offensively or defensively. Seems to me that they might get pushed around down in the paint. They did play much better in the second half but Morgan was a team that only looked to shoot the three and didn't even pay attention to several open cutters and post entries early in the game.