Athens vs. Alexander

[Ironman92]

If Athens loses at home I’m concerned for whatever reason they aren’t as good as last year

I'm not really sure but didn't Athens get off to a pretty slow start even last year?

Yep

[93Bulldog]

Athens is a better team than a year ago. No doubt about it. Not shooting as well as they'd like from three, Hines dealing with a back issue and the free throw shooting has been atrocious - have all contributed to a sluggish start. But they are (4-2) with 4 straight wins ,,, so ,,,

[pfloyd]

AHS vs AHS ... putting all of my $$$ on AHS tomorrow night ... I'm feeling good about my odds ... looking forward to seeing the Spartans again vs a seasoned Bulldog squad ... the key napkin stat for tomorrow night will be the Athens perimeter shooting ... the Bulldogs will need to be able to hit "some" perimeter shots to open up the inside - the Bulldog strength ... if Coach Cozart's Bulldogs can "show" the perimeter shot with Butcher they can kick back inside to their strength with Hynes and hopefully Chubb down low ... 93Bulldog who has been the perimeter presence for Athens of late ? when I saw them play vs Waverly the Bulldogs were but 2/9 from behind the arc and had no medium range buckets ... from some of the posts the Bulldogs have struggled at the line? the FT line has to be the 'dawgs friend if they play to their strength getting the ball in the paint ... vs Waverly AHS was 10/17 from the FT Line ...

Alexander ? the Spartans just need to play the first half of the Vinton County game - as close to a perfect 2 quarters of basketball that I've seen ANY team play in the short season so far - 9 players scored in the first 2 periods, only 2 TOs, 4/9 from 3 point land, 6/9 from the line, 42 points - 11 fgs in the paint, 4 perimeter fgs . defensively turned VC over 9 times picked up a transition bucket ...

... going to be a fun game to watch for the X's & O's ... a game recap tomorrow night ...

[Between the Lines]

Alexander 6-0 with a prime time win over Vinton Co. Athens 4-2 by losing their first two games to GAHS & Waverly. Their prime time win has been against VC also. Athens must (1) Shoot % of 3's (2) Keep big's out of foul trouble. (3) Beat Alex's D to the lanes. Alex must (1) Take over the O boards. (2) Play D pressure and force TO's. I will take Athens in this one 4~6 pts.

[bburner]

I would be a little concerned about team speed vs Alex if I were Athens....Butcher, Chubb & Hynes are all tough but not fas. I'm anxious to see how they adjust to that

[Crab's Brother]

... is there a freshmen game tomorrow night ?

I can’t fathom Alexander has a freshman team

Edit: well maybe they do. We play them and it starts at 5:00, which on the rest of our schedule means there is a freshman game

... just looked at the Alexander Athletic site - has Alexander's freshmen playing at 5pm ... game on ...

Alexander has a freshman team and they are solid. Had them last week against Meigs.

[Ironman92]

I can’t fathom Alexander has a freshman team

Edit: well maybe they do. We play them and it starts at 5:00, which on the rest of our schedule means there is a freshman game

... just looked at the Alexander Athletic site - has Alexander's freshmen playing at 5pm ... game on ...

Alexander has a freshman team and they are solid. Had them last week against Meigs.

Then I wonder why Meigs doesn’t have a freshman team tonight against Jackson?

[moorelukas]

AHS vs AHS ... putting all of my $$$ on AHS tomorrow night ... I'm feeling good about my odds ... looking forward to seeing the Spartans again vs a seasoned Bulldog squad ... the key napkin stat for tomorrow night will be the Athens perimeter shooting ... the Bulldogs will need to be able to hit "some" perimeter shots to open up the inside - the Bulldog strength ... if Coach Cozart's Bulldogs can "show" the perimeter shot with Butcher they can kick back inside to their strength with Hynes and hopefully Chubb down low ... 93Bulldog who has been the perimeter presence for Athens of late ? when I saw them play vs Waverly the Bulldogs were but 2/9 from behind the arc and had no medium range buckets ... from some of the posts the Bulldogs have struggled at the line? the FT line has to be the 'dawgs friend if they play to their strength getting the ball in the paint ... vs Waverly AHS was 10/17 from the FT Line ...

Alexander ? the Spartans just need to play the first half of the Vinton County game - as close to a perfect 2 quarters of basketball that I've seen ANY team play in the short season so far - 9 players scored in the first 2 periods, only 2 TOs, 4/9 from 3 point land, 6/9 from the line, 42 points - 11 fgs in the paint, 4 perimeter fgs . defensively turned VC over 9 times picked up a transition bucket ...

... going to be a fun game to watch for the X's & O's ... a game recap tomorrow night ...

Athens has taken 14.7 threes per game this season, fairly spread out among their rotation players. They trust quite a few to shoot the three, but no one has gotten "hot". Brayden Whiting leads the team with a 36% mark from beyond the arc (11 attempts), but Whiting has only taken one shot over the last two games. You're right about Athens needing to make free throws, only problem is they shoot 47% as a team from the line. Yes, 47%. plus they've only gotten to the line a little more than 10 times per game. They are missing 5.8 free throws per game. Very concerning. This game is all about defense, can the Alexander ball handlers handle the pressure that comes from Logan Maxfield and Elijah Williams, who are without a doubt the best perimeter defenders in the conference. Athens is averaging 12.2 steals per game. Keys to the game for me? Athens gets an early lead, gets home crowd into the game. Limit Kam Riley and JK Kearns from three, and shoot above 65% from the line. If they do those three things I think Athens will win. Jim Kearns has never won at Athens, he is 0-5. My line for the game? Athens -1.5. This is a show-me game for Alexander. If they walk into Athens and dominate/look really good, Pfloyd might need to look at this team as a real threat at the Convo later this year.

[mattash]

I'll take Alex +1.5. What's the o/u

[Ironman92]

I'll take Alex +1.5. What's the o/u

113.5

[mattash]

Under

[Ironman92]

Under

You don’t know. Lol

[VisionQuest]

49-39 Athens wins. All Kearns for Alex with 24. Athens with nice balanced scoring. There are no "stars" as they play as a team. Rolling now with 5 straight wins. At New Lex tomorrow night. Hopefully be 6-2 heading into winter break. 1st game back from break will be January 4th at Meigs.

[93Bulldog]

having seen both teams I will say alexander by 8 points. terry is the least of their worries. he lacks aggression and will get swallowed up by the aggressive play of the bulldogs. but alex can put five beasts out there who can match up with the dogs. Alex wins TVC this year and dogs, Vikings and Meigs battle it out for second place. Alex is just too deep this year in my opinion.

There are two kinds of depth. Depth on your bench and depth in your lineup - and Alexander didn't have an advantage over Athens in either department. Both teams played just 7 players all night (which I figured would happen). Alexander got just 2 points from its bench, a bucket by Matt brown in the 3rd. Athens wasn't too much better, but did receive solid minutes from Brayden Markins defensively - and he hit maybe the most important shot of the night (a big 3-pointer late in the 4th to seal the win).

But depth in the lineup is where Athens had the big advantage getting contributions from all five starters the entire game. Eli Chubb scored 11, Logan Maxfield notched 11, Isaiah Butcher with 9 and 9 rebounds, Elijah Williams with 7 and 7 boards, Justin Hines scored 8 (all in the 4th Q!) ... Alexander on the other hand relied heavily on PG J.K. Kearns, who scored a game high 24. Caleb Terry - shutout - 0 points. Markins scored just 2, Kam Riley just 4. Mecum had a decent game with 7 and did a good job defensively.

Alexander is a really good team and the rematch should be just as exciting. Not an open seat in the house tonight. But if Sparty is to win the 2nd game late in the year they will need (1) more balanced scoring and (2) do a better job rebounding. Athens dominated the glass on both ends of the floor.

Athens 11 7 16 15 - 49
Alexander - 9 13 7 10 - 39

[Ironman92]

Good win.

[pfloyd]

having seen both teams I will say alexander by 8 points. terry is the least of their worries. he lacks aggression and will get swallowed up by the aggressive play of the bulldogs. but alex can put five beasts out there who can match up with the dogs. Alex wins TVC this year and dogs, Vikings and Meigs battle it out for second place. Alex is just too deep this year in my opinion.

There are two kinds of depth. Depth on your bench and depth in your lineup - and Alexander didn't have an advantage over Athens in either department. Both teams played just 7 players all night (which I figured would happen). Alexander got just 2 points from its bench, a bucket by Matt brown in the 3rd. Athens wasn't too much better, but did receive solid minutes from Brayden Markins defensively - and he hit maybe the most important shot of the night (a big 3-pointer late in the 4th to seal the win).

But depth in the lineup is where Athens had the big advantage getting contributions from all five starters the entire game. Eli Chubb scored 11, Logan Maxfield notched 11, Isaiah Butcher with 9 and 9 rebounds, Elijah Williams with 7 and 7 boards, Justin Hines scored 8 (all in the 4th Q!) ... Alexander on the other hand relied heavily on PG J.K. Kearns, who scored a game high 24. Caleb Terry - shutout - 0 points. Markins scored just 2, Kam Riley just 4. Mecum had a decent game with 7 and did a good job defensively.

Alexander is a really good team and the rematch should be just as exciting. Not an open seat in the house tonight. But if Sparty is to win the 2nd game late in the year they will need (1) more balanced scoring and (2) do a better job rebounding. Athens dominated the glass on both ends of the floor.

Athens 11 7 16 15 - 49
Alexander - 9 13 7 10 - 39

... good game at McAfee tonight ... thanks for the seat on press row 93Bulldog ! got to sit with the Stewarts, talked some hoops both boys/girls with Mrs Stewart - good people ... not sure what to make of Alexander - as 93bulldog posted - the Spartans got out rebounded BIG in this one especially down the stretch after Alex had fought back from being down 34-22 with 2 minutes and change to play in the 3rd following the Bulldogs 16-0 run to open the 3rd period ... lots of nice pieces but both times I've watched the Spartans the script has been the same - good 1st half and disappeared in the 2nd half ... the Spartans vs Vinton County AHS scored 42 first half points but managed only 19 in the 2nd half holding on to win by 1 ... vs Athens the Spartans were up 22-18 but only scored 17 points in the 2nd half - this time losing by 10 points 39-49 ... JK Kearns is an excellent pg for the Spartans - had 13 of Alexanders 17 2nd half points ... Athens went 7 deep with 6 bulldogs getting in the scorebook ... Alexander played 8 only Kearns reaching double figures with his 24 pts ... Athens played solid defensively allowing Alexander only 5 fgs in the 2nd half while "showing" the ability to score from the perimeter (Athens) with 6 perimeter fgs (4/13 from downtown) ... reached the FT line for 18 attempts knocking down 11 ... Alexander on the other hand was only 5/6 from the FT line ... the Spartans were unable to get into the paint consistently vs the Athens zone with only 6 fgs in the paint - the 6-11 Terry getting shutout on the night while his counterpart for Athens Justin Hynes showed up big in the 4th getting 6 points for the Bulldogs after Alexander had fought back to tie the game 34-34 with 6:10 to play ... Athens gets the "W" at home with physical play/boards/FT's/balanced scoring ...Athens 49 Alexander 39 the final ...


... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Alexander

Scoring ... JK Kearns 24, Dylan Mecum 7, Kameron Riley 4, Stone Markin-Irwin 2, Matthew Brown 2
3 Pointers ... 6/16 ... JK Kearns 5, Dylan Mecum 1
FTs ... 5/6
TOs ... 11
PnP ... 6 fgs/12 points in the paint
PnT ... 2 fg/ 4 points in transition

... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Athens

Scoring ... Eli Chubb 11, Logan Maxfield 11,Isaiah Butcher 11, Elijah Williams 7, Justin Hynes 6, Brayden Markins 3
3 Pointers ... 4/13 ... Isaiah Butcher 2, Brayden Markins 1, Eli Chubb 1
FTs ........ 11/18
TO's ...... 15
PnP .... 11 fgs/22 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/6 points in transition

[SOC94]

So the Terry kid didn’t score a single point... how are you 6’10, play in southern Ohio, and not score a single point. I’m amazed by that stat.

[Allthewayup11]

having seen both teams I will say alexander by 8 points. terry is the least of their worries. he lacks aggression and will get swallowed up by the aggressive play of the bulldogs. but alex can put five beasts out there who can match up with the dogs. Alex wins TVC this year and dogs, Vikings and Meigs battle it out for second place. Alex is just too deep this year in my opinion.

There are two kinds of depth. Depth on your bench and depth in your lineup - and Alexander didn't have an advantage over Athens in either department. Both teams played just 7 players all night (which I figured would happen). Alexander got just 2 points from its bench, a bucket by Matt brown in the 3rd. Athens wasn't too much better, but did receive solid minutes from Brayden Markins defensively - and he hit maybe the most important shot of the night (a big 3-pointer late in the 4th to seal the win).

But depth in the lineup is where Athens had the big advantage getting contributions from all five starters the entire game. Eli Chubb scored 11, Logan Maxfield notched 11, Isaiah Butcher with 9 and 9 rebounds, Elijah Williams with 7 and 7 boards, Justin Hines scored 8 (all in the 4th Q!) ... Alexander on the other hand relied heavily on PG J.K. Kearns, who scored a game high 24. Caleb Terry - shutout - 0 points. Markins scored just 2, Kam Riley just 4. Mecum had a decent game with 7 and did a good job defensively.

Alexander is a really good team and the rematch should be just as exciting. Not an open seat in the house tonight. But if Sparty is to win the 2nd game late in the year they will need (1) more balanced scoring and (2) do a better job rebounding. Athens dominated the glass on both ends of the floor.

Athens 11 7 16 15 - 49
Alexander - 9 13 7 10 - 39

... good game at McAfee tonight ... thanks for the seat on press row 93Bulldog ! got to sit with the Stewarts, talked some hoops both boys/girls with Mrs Stewart - good people ... not sure what to make of Alexander - as 93bulldog posted - the Spartans got out rebounded BIG in this one especially down the stretch after Alex had fought back from being down 34-22 with 2 minutes and change to play in the 3rd following the Bulldogs 16-0 run to open the 3rd period ... lots of nice pieces but both times I've watched the Spartans the script has been the same - good 1st half and disappeared in the 2nd half ... the Spartans vs Vinton County AHS scored 42 first half points but managed only 19 in the 2nd half holding on to win by 1 ... vs Athens the Spartans were up 22-18 but only scored 17 points in the 2nd half - this time losing by 10 points 39-49 ... JK Kearns is an excellent pg for the Spartans - had 13 of Alexanders 17 2nd half points ... Athens went 7 deep with 6 bulldogs getting in the scorebook ... Alexander played 8 only Kearns reaching double figures with his 24 pts ... Athens played solid defensively allowing Alexander only 5 fgs in the 2nd half while "showing" the ability to score from the perimeter (Athens) with 6 perimeter fgs (4/13 from downtown) ... reached the FT line for 18 attempts knocking down 11 ... Alexander on the other hand was only 5/6 from the FT line ... the Spartans were unable to get into the paint consistently vs the Athens zone with only 6 fgs in the paint - the 6-11 Terry getting shutout on the night while his counterpart for Athens Justin Hynes showed up big in the 4th getting 6 points for the Bulldogs after Alexander had fought back to tie the game 34-34 with 6:10 to play ... Athens gets the "W" at home with physical play/boards/FT's/balanced scoring ...Athens 49 Alexander 39 the final ...


... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Alexander

Scoring ... JK Kearns 24, Dylan Mecum 7, Kameron Riley 4, Stone Markin-Irwin 2, Matthew Brown 2
3 Pointers ... 6/16 ... JK Kearns 5, Dylan Mecum 1
FTs ... 5/6
TOs ... 11
PnP ... 6 fgs/12 points in the paint
PnT ... 2 fg/ 4 points in transition

... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Athens

Scoring ... Eli Chubb 11, Logan Maxfield 11,Isaiah Butcher 11, Elijah Williams 7, Justin Hynes 6, Brayden Markins 3
3 Pointers ... 4/13 ... Isaiah Butcher 2, Brayden Markins 1, Eli Chubb 1
FTs ........ 11/18
TO's ...... 15
PnP .... 11 fgs/22 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/6 points in transition

Glad I got out to see this one tonight. Great HS basketball atmosphere. I got the following for Athens...
Chubb 11
Maxfield 11
Hynes 8
Butcher 9
Williams 7
Markins 3

Rebounds Athens with 29
Steals - 10
TO - 15
Asst - 11
FTA/FTM - 18/11

Ball was spread out well. Athens keeps on working to reduce the TOs and continue to keep teams between 35-45 points a game, they should be able to finish the season strong. There strength is that solid Defense. Also that transition offense but haven’t seen much of it past few games.
I used to like their run and gun offense. Big tests will be on the road at Alexander, Vinton and Logan as well as at home against Marietta and Warren. Anyone taken the reigns yet for scoring for them? This was pretty evenly distributed for the starting 5.

[basketball12349]

So the Terry kid didn’t score a single point... how are you 6’10, play in southern Ohio, and not score a single point. I’m amazed by that stat.

He’s just a kid. They can have bad nights just like anyone else. Athens also held tight defense around him all the time. Every time he would get the ball it was an immediate double team by butcher and Justin.

[SOC94]

Being that tall you should be use to getting doubled teamed night in and night out. I’m not saying he didn’t have a bad night but for Alexander to be really good he can’t have bad nights. He should know how to deal with doubles having played AAU and being a Junior. Wasn’t at the game that’s just my opinion. Wish both teams nothing but luck. I was just assuming the kid was wanting to play at the next level and found that a bit shocking.