Marietta 75 Federal Hocking 54 a final

[pfloyd]

Marietta 75
Federal Hocking 54 a final

... went to McInturf Gymnasium in Stewart last night to see what I thought would be a competitive game - Coach Thompson's Lancers entered this one undersized (compared to the Tigers of Marietta) - especially at the post position ... Coach Gardner of MHS brought with him 6-8, Findlay bound , sr. Alex Kendall - the big question was, "How would FH handle Kendall ? or IF Federal Hocking had an answer for the big man in the middle?" ... a quick answer - they didn't have an answer ... the best defense on the night for "handling" the 6-8 Kendall was when he was straddled with 2 fouls and went to the bench for almost the entire 2nd quarter ... before THAT , Kendall had 8 points in the opening quarter to lead 4 scorers for Marietta in getting a 7 point lead in the 1st ... Elijah Liezas-Kelley chipped in 5 pts including a lefthanded 3 pointer ... Zaiden Wittekind 4pts and off the bench Braiden Jones added 2pts for the Tigers ... the Lancers needed scoring from everyone to offset the size advantage for Marietta ... Andrew Airhart led the way with 5pts (1 trey), Tariq Cottrill 4 pts, and a 2 pointer from Cam Joy to go with a Zane Buckley FT ... the story in the first was that Marietta was able to do what a team with a "size advantage" is supposed to do - they got into the paint, attacked the Federal Hocking zone defense - got to the rim - to the tune of 7 of 8 fgs were "at the rim" /"in the paint" including 2 put back buckets on offensive rebounds ... Marietta 19 Federal Hocking 12 end of 1 ... Marietta IS one of the elite teams in Southern/SouthEast Ohio THIS season - the big man - 6-8 size /scoring inside and outside, he puts the ball on the floor and can get to the rim off the dribble , runs the floor in transition ... Kendall- he's the complete "big man" package Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ... BUT the rest of the Marietta TEAM "ain't" bad to say the least ... as highlighted when Kendall went to the bench with foul trouble - the BIG size advantage went away, but the discipline of the Tiger TEAM kicked in - THAT GUY in the middle not being there opened up the floor for "other" players to "show what THEY bring to the table" - MHS can shoot the 3 ball ... with Kendall on the bench, Liezas-Kelley/Seth Britton/Brayden Jones all drained 3's - in fact ALL 5 players on the court added to the stat line points-wise in the 2nd ... Liezas-Kelley 5pts with his 2nd triple (10pts in the half)/Seth Britton 5pts with trey/Brayden Jones a 3 ball (5pts in the half)/Wittekind 4pts (8pts for the half)/ Izak Knighten 2pts ... in all, Marietta played 7 in the first 2 quarters , got scoring from 6 with all 5 starters denting the scorebook ... the Lancers had no answers - the zone defensively may have slowed the Tigers down, but MHS had the offensive answer both inside and outside all game ... Federal Hocking struggled to get "their" shots at the offensive end as Airhart was chased for 4 quarters, made to work for every shot and point ... in the 2nd with Kendall on the bench the Lancers still couldn't find shots as the team lost ground with a 10-19 "disadvantage" on the scoreboard ... Airhart was kept "in the park" with 4pts/Tariq Cottrill 4pts (only 2 fgs the first 2 qtrs), Cam Joy adding a 2 pt fg ... as the Tigers found scoring from everyone on the floor, the Lancers had only the FH Big 3 contributing in the scoring column - Airhart/T Cottrill/Joy ... Marietta 38 Federal Hocking 22 after 2 ... coming out after intermission Federal Hocking showed energy offensively dropping the first 6 points in the qtr to get the score to a "doable" 11 pt deficit ... as the trio of Cottrill/Joy/Airhart contributed ... the FH "slap in the face" seemed to wakeup the Tigers as the 6-8 Kendall took over the game at both ends of the floor - 10 pts in the quarter , Zaiden Wittekind for a 2 handed slam , off the bench Owen Riley added a 3 ball from the corner (5pts) - the Fed Hock "offensive awakening" was short lived as Marietta said "I'll see your 16 points and raise you 4 pts" - an MHS 20-16 quarter advantage on the scoreboard ... Marietta 58 Federal Hocking 38 after 3 ... the 4th quarter had the Lancers matching their 16 point output of the 3rd - Tariq Cottrill with a pair of triples (6pts/a quiet 18 for the game) , Drew Airhart a 3 ball and a 2 pointer (5pts/21 for the game) ... Cam Joy finished with 5 pts in the qtr/12 for the game ... Federal Hocking's only scoring (all but 1 fg) came from Airhart/Joy & Cottrill 51/54 points ... not nearly enough as the BIGS for Marietta scored 15 of the Tiger 17 4th period points - Kendall 9pts (with a 3 ball)/ 6-5 Izak Knighten 6 pts with Wittekind adding a 2pter ... in the end it was ALL about "the paint" /"size does matter" as the Tigers scored 50 points in the paint on the night/ had 8 offensive boards for put back buckets ... led by the 6-8 Kendall's napkin stat line of 27 points/17 rebs/ 5 assts/ 2 blocked shots ... Marietta 75 Federal Hocking 54 a final

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Federal Hocking ...

Scoring ... Andrew Airhart 21, Tariq Cottrill 18, Cam Joy 12, Mosiah Cottrill 2, Zane Buckley 1
3 Pointers ... 6/20 ... Andrew Airhart 3, Tariq Cottrill 2, Cam Joy 1
FTs ... 8/9
TOs .... 13
PnP ... 11 fgs/ 22 points in the paint
PnT ... 2 fgs/ 4 points in transition
Pbk ... 0 points on putback buckets

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Marietta ...

Scoring ... Alex Kendall 27, Zaiden Wittekind 12, Elyjah Liezas-Kelley 10, Izak Knighten 9, Seth Britton 7, Owen Riley 5, Brayden Jones 5
3 Pointers ... 6/16 ... Elyjah Liezas-Kelley 2, Seth Britton 1, Brayden Jones 1, Owen Riley 1, Alex Kendall 1
FTs ... 5/7
TOs ... 16
PnP ... 25 fgs/ 50 points in the paint
PnT ... 6 fgs/ 12 points in transition
Pbk ... 8 fgs/ 16 points on putback buckets

... Marietta is a scary good TEAM if you are the other D2 teams looking in ... size/length ( Kendall 6-8/Knighten 6-5/Flaugher off the bench 6-4/Wittekind 6-1 but plays 6-3 or 6-4 with length and hops - 2 straight up/off the floor/ 2 handed throw downs in the last 2 games)... perimeter scoring (5 players with at least one 3 ball last night) ... bench scoring (Jones with 5 last night (against Gallia he had 3 triples/9 points)/Riley 5 points last night) ... as a TEAM the Tigers get out in numbers in transition as Kendall starts it on the boards (16 points in transition last night vs FH) ... what isn't IN the scorebook as a "stat" is in fact something that I noticed (being a long time cheap seat guy) right away LAST season & even more so THIS season - the Tigers have discipline ... THAT comes from the courtside leadership of the coaching staff - Coach Gardner/Coach Warner ... the combination of what makes up the Tigers "on the court" and the courtside/practice discipline that is instilled by the coaching staff adds up to winning as a TEAM on the court ... Marietta moves to 6-0 on the season ...

[danicalifornia]

50 points in the paint is beautiful

[pfloyd]

50 points in the paint is beautiful

I'm thinking the Marietta @ Warren on Jan 12th and Warren @ Marietta (Jan 26th) games will be SRO ... pretty sure pfloyd will be in attendance for at least one of those matchups ...

[Whs95fan]

Marietta has definitely looked more impressive than I would have thought to begin the season.