Minford 71 Africentric 53 a final (Ironton Classic)

[pfloyd]

Minford 71
Africentric 53 a final

... in-season classics, great opportunity for teams in the SE District to play out of district competition, use the games as a barometer to see where you stand as a team ... Minford vs Africentric ... the Nubians are annual visitors to the SE District Regionals at the Convo in the post season ... you can usually count on a team loaded with athletes who have length, basketball/Central district size ... multiple players who have/will get D1 offers at the next level ... usually what you have is a team at this point in the season who has players getting "acquainted/used to the other players on the team" , coaches trying to "get acquainted with the players" as well ... this season? - no different ... one of the takes from watching an Africentric team is that what you see on the court now "ain't" the TEAM you will see come the end of February, beginning of March ... as per the usual, going into the game fans know/coaches know the style of play for the Nubians - 8,9 or 10 man rotation, a team that likes to get out in transition, players who have length/basketball quick hands & feet / pressure defense for 94 ft all 4 quarters/ a team who likes to score AT the rim , but a team who has select players who CAN knockdown the trey, usually 7-8 players on the score sheet ... for Minford - a great in-season look at post season, regional style, athlete & team makeup at tournament level ...

The Falcons of Coach Shoemaker "brought it" in the opening quarter of action as the Minford tournament tested returnees - Myles Montgomery/Bennett Kayser/Jackson Shoemaker and Jeffrey Pica all dented the scoresheet for the Falcons ... Montgomery opened with 7 pts including a 3 ball ... 6-6 Bennett Kayser matched Montgomery's point output of 7pts , he too with a 3 pointer for his first basket of the game / 6-4 post player Jackson Shoemaker showed his ability to step out , take and hit the 3 pointer as the 6-4 big man drained one in the 1st (3pts) ... Jeffry Pica did what you expect, used his thick frame to muscle his way to the rim for 2pts ... the Nubians of Coach Bates answered with a transition bucket from Rohawn Harris-Hardy (2pts) , Mekhi Johnson an in the paint 2pts and a pair of 3's from Chris Cooper-Patton ... Minford 19 Africentric 10 after 1 ... Africentric did as expected in the 2nd , used their quickness to take the Falcons off the dribble and get to the rim ... all 4 fgs for the Nubians in the 2nd were at the rim ... when you are quicker than your defender, many times you are able to get the FT line - the Nubians went 2/4 from the line in the 2nd ... the AHS quickness forced Minford off the 3 point line which "ain't" a bad thing when you have a Myles Montgomery handling the ball, as the junior was able to get to the rim for 2pts, the spot light then went to Kayser - the 6-6 jr too has quicks, as the swing forward got into the paint for 6 pts ... Shoemaker added a putback bucket (2pts) 11-10 Nubian advantage in the 2nd ... Minford 29 Africentric 21 after 2 ... 3rd periods usually show one or both teams turning up the pressure/changing up on D - the Nubians turned up the defensive, on ball pressure which resulted in forcing 3 Minford turnovers (2 of which went for Nubian buckets in transition) ... the pressure also resulted in AHS fouls, which in turn put Minford on the line for 10 FTs in the quarter, the Falcons sinking 7/10 ... for Africentric sr. Cortez Freeman knocked down 3fgs/6pts /Derron Gray Jr. added 2 fgs/4pts / Chris Cooper-Patton a deuce and 1/2 from the line (3pts) ... 6-5 Joshua Smith added 1/2 for the Nubians to closeout their scoring in the period ... for Minford the final 7pts in the quarter were all from the FT line ... scoring damage other than from the free throw line came from in the paint as Bennett Kayser added 6 more points to his total/19pts through 3 and a big lift from senior Troy Rhodes with a pair of buckets in the paint on putbacks off of offensive boards (4pts) ... Minford 46 Africentric 35 after 3 ... the 4th and final quarter saw the Nubians have their biggest scoring quarter (18 points) ... AHS went 3 for 3 from downtown getting 2 treys from Harris-Hardy (8pts), a trey by Freeman (3pts/11pts in the game) , 4 points from Derron Gray Jr and 3/7 FT shooting by Cooper-Patton & Kamaree Wilkinson ... not nearly enough to put a dent in the Minford lead as the Falcons put a 25 spot on the Nubians in the quarter led by Myles Montgomery's 12 pts (8/8 from the line) ... Jeffry Pica broke down the Nubian pressure by "seeing the hole in the A gap" and taking it to the rim for 3fgs/6 pts ... Shoemaker with an old fashion "and 1" (3pts) ... Troy Rhodes continued to be a factor getting 2pts in the paint ... the final Minford nail in the coffin was a posterizing/transition dunk by Bennett Kayser to round out the scoring for the Falcons ... Minford 71 Africentric 53 a final ...

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

Scoring ... Cortez Freeman 11, Chris Cooper-Patton 10, Rohawn Harris-Hardy 10, Derron Gray Jr 10, Jaylon Turner 4, Mekhi Johnson 3, Joshua Smith 3, Kamaree Wilkinson 2

3 Pointers ... 5/11 ... Chris Cooper-Patton 2, Rohawn Harris-Hardy 2, Cortez Freeman 1
FTs ... 8/17
TOs ... 14
PnP ... 13 fgs/ 26 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/ 6 pts in transition
Pbk ... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback buckets

Pfloyd's official "UN-officia" Napkin Stats - Minford

Scoring ... Myles Montgomery 26, Bennett Kayser 21, Jackson Shoemaker 10, Jeffry Pica 8, Troy Rhodes 6
3 Pointers ... 3/13 ... Myles Montgomery 1, Jackson Shoemaker 1, Bennett Kayser 1
FTs ... 16/19
TOs ... 9
PnP ... 22 fgs/ 44 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/ 6 points in transition
Pbk ... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback buckets

[The Ghost of Swanker]

Game. Falcons