Fairland 56 Adena 48 a District Final final ...

[pfloyd]

Fairland 56
Adena 48 a final

... my face hurts ! I was smiling the entire game ! outstanding basketball between 2 excellent D3 squads ... Adena champs of the SVC vs Fairland the 6 in a row winner of the OVC ... Adena the team of size and length vs Fairland THE team of role players - not big, not overly quick, not THE looker as far as teams go BUT they are THE BEST TEAM in SEO when they play as they have in this post season and as they proved tonight in taking down Adena on a neutral court 56-48 a final ...

... the Adena length showed early and often in the opening period as the Warrior BIG MAN in the middle - Logan Bennett did whatever he wanted in the paint ... the 6-5 inside/outside big man hit for 9 points while 6-2 Preston Sykes added a triple and a deuce for 5pts ... Jarrett Garrison chipping in 2 points ... 16 points in the quarter while the Dragons of Coach Speed went 0/3 from behind the arc ... the duo of Aiden Porter and Jacob Polcyn kept the Dragons within striking distance accounting for all 5 FHS field goals in the qtr. hitting for 4 pts and 7 points respectively ... Adena 16 Fairland 11 after 1 ... Fairland had difficulty defending the length of Adena in quarter number one ... Bennett is a handful as he scores inside with his 6-5 frame but can step out to drain the 3 ... Coach Speed opted to switch 5-10 Gavin Hunt to guard the big man with quicks and physical play - Bennett was held scoreless in the 2nd ... enter 6-2 sr swing man Preston Sykes who shredded the Dragons in the paint, getting to the rim at will as he put up 8 points in the 2nd (13 for the first half) ... Fairland had nothing to show from the perimeter as Adena gave the Dragons nothing in the way of looks from the outside FHS going 0/3 in the 2nd from three and 0/6 for the half ... the 6 attempts from downtown shows the defense AHS was playing on the perimeter - switching on every screen ... the only option was inside as Polcyn added 4 pts (11 in the half) ... Hunt 2 and Clayton Thomas added a bucket of the 2 point variety ... Adena 26 Fairland 19 at intermission ... Adena won the first half BUT in any game it isn't the team leading at half time that gets to hoist the trophy , it's the team that is ahead on the scoreboard when the final buzzer sounds ... Coach Speed & Co. made their halftime adjustments as FHS turned the screws up on the defensive end of the floor - turning the Warriors over 4 times in the period with 3 transition possessions resulting in points ... the defense had 2 blocks at the rim for the Dragons and held the SVC champs to 2 fgs/6 points in the period ... offensively Aiden Porter scored at will on drives - 8 points at the rim - Jacob Polcyn continued to burn AHS down low adding a putback and a baby half hook for 4 points and finally with all of the cutting/screening/movement offensively for Fairland Clayton Thomas finally got "a look" it might have been a split second look BUT it was a look as he splashed a triple from the corner ... Fairland opened with a 9-0 run to take the lead 28-26 at the 4:12 mark of the 3rd ... the flow of the Adena offense - gone, the length advantage gobbled up by the Dragon D ... Big Mo was solidly on the Fairland side of the court Fairland 34 Adena 32 after 3 ... the old cliche' that basketball is a game of runs - was on display in the 3rd and 4th periods as Fairland got back IN the game in the 3rd with the 9-0 run ...Fairland opened up the game and got separation in the 4th period with a 10-0 run that had the Dragons leading 44-32 at 5:16 behind back to back triples from Thomas ...4 points from Hunt ... 8 points from Porter and 4 from Polcyn ... the scoreboard showed 48-40 FHS at 2:09 ... Adena had to get points in the hurry AND did as Sykes poured in 8 points in the 4th with 2 triples from deep ... Bennett 5 with a triple and Dilon McDonald a 3 ball as well ... not enough time and not soon enough desperation scoring as the closest Adena would get was 46-52 with 15.2 ticks on the clock ... Fairland put the game away from the FT line going 6/7 down the stretch ... Dragons are District Champions and will get a chance to redeem a 53-54 setback to Fort Frye early in the season as FF beat Tusky Valley 61-41 to advance to the Regional semi's... Fairland 56 Adena 48 a final ...

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Adena

Scoring ... Preston Sykes 23, Logan Bennett 18, Dilon McDonald 5, Jarrett Garrison 2
3 Pointers ... 5/13 ... Preston Sykes 3, Logan Bennett 1, Dilon McDonald 1
FTs ... 5/7
TOs ... 10
PnP ... 14 fgs/28 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/ 6 points in transition
Pbck ... 0

... Great season for Adena, one of if not the best starting fives in SEO this season - Bennett, Sykes are outstanding ... one of the hardest things to do in sport is to be THE front runner - Adena was picked by most if not ALL to win the SVC this past regular season - the Warriors of Coach Bradley shouldered the challenge and took care of business with the outright SVC title ... well done Coach Bradley & his staff and the Warrior TEAM ...

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Fairland

Scoring ... Aiden Porter 20, Jacob Polcyn 19, Clayton Thomas 11, Gavin Hunt 6
3 Pointers ... 3/13 ... Clayton Thomas 3
FTs ... 7/8
TOs ... 7
PnP ... 20 fgs/ 40 points in the paint
PnT ... 6 fgs / 12 points in transition
Pbck ... 2 fgs/ 4points on putback buckets

... I said in the rundown that THIS Fairland TEAM is the Best in SEO right now ... they are getting the LOOK of the regional finalist of last year ... they have the swagger - goes with the territory , they now are walking the walk - TEAM ball, offensive movement like no other team in SEO, the "cuts" the dimes as payoff for the cuts are there, the threat from downtown has always been there - but it is now only a component of the offense not THE offense ... the offense goes inside then outside ... is outside and looks inside ... the interior passing is outstanding AGAIN ... the defense is sneaky OUTSTANDING again ... Congratulations to Coach Speed and his staff along with the Fairland Dragon TEAM - welcome back to regional action! #unfinishedbusiness #redemptionisathand #GoDragons #represent

[danicalifornia]

Great rundown, one note, Adena was outright champs in the SVC

Great careers for the 5 seniors over Adena. Bennett finished his career over 1,400 career points.

Congrats to the Dragons on another District title! And good luck moving forward

[peake71]

Great rundown as usual pfloyd. Fairland is a good team and have been the team to beat.
I have nothing against the boys on the team but I cannot root for them. I won't say why on here. I will be rooting for Wheelersburg but they will have their hands full next game.

[pfloyd]

Great rundown, one note, Adena was outright champs in the SVC

Great careers for the 5 seniors over Adena. Bennett finished his career over 1,400 career points.

Congrats to the Dragons on another District title! And good luck moving forward

I saw that when I was re-reading my post ... I corrected it - was giving the U a co-championship I was ! LOL ... it's fixed ... my apologies to Adena on my oversight - got it right now ...

[mlittle]

Great rundown, one note, Adena was outright champs in the SVC

Great careers for the 5 seniors over Adena. Bennett finished his career over 1,400 career points.

Congrats to the Dragons on another District title! And good luck moving forward

I saw that when I was re-reading my post ... I corrected it - was giving the U a co-championship I was ! LOL ... it's fixed ... my apologies to Adena on my oversight - got it right now ...

We’ll take it

[Dragonguy13]

GREAT RUNDOWN P! That was one of the best battles I’ve watched in the last few years. Both teams are equally good at what they do and your rundown said it best...it’s a game of runs! Props to Adena. That’s a great squad. Proud of my Dragons for taking shots and keep getting back up. The SEO teams are showing we play great basketball!

[Dragons16]

Love to read your rundown Pfloyd! What ANOTHER TEAM EFFORT! CT kept doing what he knows how to do, JP may have had his best offensive game of the year, AP well he IS AP played wonderfully, JW pulling down the boards, GH perhaps changed the whole game with his defensive effort. Also give credit for the coaches for adjusting and believing in their kids to keep it close then pull away. Sweet game by the Dragons!