Marietta 52 Fairfield Union 34 a Sectional Final (Warren)

[pfloyd]

Marietta 52
Fairfield Union 34 a final

... when I was pressed for my opinion prior to this game tipping off Saturday night, I had to go with Marietta ... 2 excellent staffs & Head Coaches in Shaeffer vs Gardner - a draw ... the 2 bigs, Schmelzer and Kendall match-up would be a draw in my mind ... that left comparing the remaining roster match-ups ... the Tigers had the advantage in all of the remaining positional match-ups ... at PG Marietta brought TWO PG's to the floor in Britton & Lieras-Kelley while Fairfield Union had no true PG as Schmelzer/Redding shared the responsibilities while both being THE scorers for FU - I couldn't see either getting enough touches in scoring positions to give FU the opportunity to get the W ... what I COULD see was an FU team that IS well coached, IS capable of getting a W IF the necessary "scenarios" played out on the court - IF foul trouble took some of those pieces that gave the Tigers the on-court advantage, if they were on the bench (Wittekind was in foul trouble early - sat for most of the 1st half ) ... IF both Schmelzer & Redding had big nights scoring AND a 3rd double digit scorer surfaced ( jr. Keegan Arnett was that guy! scored 11 points vs Kendall & Co.) ... IF the FU defense could hold everyone under their season averages ... THEN FU had a chance of surviving and advancing ... Marietta 52 Fairfield Union 34 a final ...

...as the final score indicates - the FULL scenario didn't play out ... the final score is not indicative of the game - FU played excellent defense early and for most of the game as Marietta helped in keeping the score close by committing 9 turnovers in the opening 2 periods of the game while shooting poorly from the field ... Marietta trailed at the end of the first quarter 11-13 as FU was able to be patient on the offensive end, looking to get into the paint and did as all of the Falcon fgs were from the blocks in - sr. Caleb Redding was 2/2 from the line as he was fouled going to the rim, All District Caleb Schmelzer scored down low off the backboard (2pts) ... Max Stansberry finished at the rim for 2pts... jr. post player Keegan Arnett a spin move 2pts & 1 ... Schmelzer fouled in the act of shooting, taking it to the rim 2/2 ... the final points giving FU the lead at the quarter break - a drive to the rim from reserve Hunter Clark 2pts ... patience, getting the ball down low, with some nice assists in the paint allowed FU to have the lead , made the task of beating one of the top teams in the SE district LOOK doable ... for the Tigers , they too stayed focused on getting the ball into the paint, passing up perimeter looks , making at times an extra "forced" pass into the paint (5 turnovers in the qtr) ... there was success down low as Elyjah Lieras-Kelley drove into the paint - no fgs for his efforts BUT he got to the line for 5/6 free throws 5pts & leading scorer honors without a fg... Seth Britton had a putback/transition bucket 2pts/ Izak Knighten 6-3 sr. swing forward 2pts in the paint/ after Lieras-Kelley's 5 made FTs , All district 6-8 post player Alex Kendall picked up 2 pts at the rim ... the big stat in the opening quarter for the Tigers was soph. Zaiden Wittekind 0 pts and most of the period was spent on the bench with 2 quick fouls ... Fairfield Union 13 Marietta 11 after 1 ... with Wittekind on the bench, Schmelzer, Arnett & Delong for FU defensively taking away Kendall's effectiveness in the post as the All District big man for the Tigers was at times triple teamed when he got touches on the block ... option 3 - let's open things up offensively as the paint was getting congested - Kendall opened with a midrange jumper for 2pts/ Brayden Jones dropped a 3 ball to draw the defense out ... the Tigers then put the ball in Lieras-Kelley's hands - let the quickest player on the floor do his thing - in the 2nd Lieras-Kelley drained a 3 ball from the top of the key 3pts/ Kendall after pulling the D out with the midrange jumper, didn't hesitate as the D slid out, the 6-8 big man drove to the rim for 2pts & 1 ... the FU defense now had to defend the paint and close out on shooters ... Lieras-Kelley after hitting the 3, forced the FU defense to close out ... Lieras-Kelley hit a midrange pull up jumper ... the Tiger offense looked more like "the Tiger offense" ... when good things happen at the offensive end it seems the defense has a way of being sharper as well - the Tigers took away all options for FU leaving only Keegan Arnett to carry the offensive load for the Falcons, the jr. post player hit a midrange jumper over Kendall, drove around the Tiger D for a bucket inside the paint and banged down low to get a stickback basket 6pts in the quarter for Arnett, 6 pts in the quarter for the FU offense ... Marietta 24 Fairfield Union 19 at the half ... Fairfield Union doesn't have a perimeter scoring team, FU attempted 2 three pointers in the first half, didn't even look for the perimeter shot ... without the perimeter threat the only option was to go back into the paint ... in the 3rd they did - Schmelzer hit a tough 2 pter in the paint, a drive to the rim & 1 (5pts) , Arnett with another fg in the paint (2pts/11pts through 3) , Isaiah Delong a drive & 1 (3pts) , Max Stansberry added a putback bucket 2pts ... a 12 point quarter vs the Tiger D in the 3rd period ... the Marietta offense had gained more and more of it's identity with each quarter, more flow-more options - in the 1st it was pound it inside, in the 2nd add the perimeter option to open up the floor - force the D to defend on the perimeter ... the 3rd qtr was a combo - the Tiger O which showed the inside/outside game but now added the transition game out of the defense ... in the 3rd Wittekind returned to the floor and quickly added speed/quickness to the Tiger defense and offense - MHS forced 3 FU turnovers taking all three to the house for points Wittekind/Lieras-Kelley/ Trey Hawkins each with transition buckets ... the Wittekind bucket after an takeaway was an "& 1" that got the crowd going , Knighten with his own 2pt bucket & 1 in the paint helped push the Tiger lead to 10 pts at 3:09 to play in the 3rd ... Kendall added a 2 pt drive to the rim to go with a 3 pointer (5pts/12 points thru 3) ... with it's entire playing hand shown the Tigers of Coach Gardner had pushed the lead to double digits thru 3 ... Marietta 42 Fairfield Union 31 after 3 ... FU had no options without the ability to score from the perimeter, Schmelzer had picked up his 3rd foul in the 3rd , was playing the PG position in bringing the ball up the court along with Redding who thru 3 quarters was not a factor at the offensive end of the floor (2/2 from the FT line , no fgs, I can't even recall a fg attempt through 3 periods outside being fouled on the shot attempt that got him to the line in the opening qtr.) ... not enough points on the floor to make up the double digit difference on the scoreboard ... FU got 3pts from Koen Eichhorn on a trey from the right wing - end of closing the gap ... Marietta rang up 10 pts in the quarter as they worked the clock offensively - survive and advance , no style points to be had, just get out of Dodge and move on to the Convo ... Seth Britton 5pts in the qtr/ Wittekind with a 2 hand dunk 2pts/ Logan Groskas came off the bench for a drive to the rim for 2pts and Trey Hawkins 1/2 from the line ... the Tigers for the 1st time in 15 years are going to the Convo ... Marietta 52 Fairfield Union 34 a final ...

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Fairfield Union

Scoring ... Keegan Arnett 11, Caleb Schmelzer 9, Max Stansberry 4, Isaiah Delong 3,Koen Eichhorn 3, Caleb Redding 2, Hunter Clark 2
3 Pointers ... 1/9 ... Koen Eichhorn 1
FTs ... 7/7
TOs ... 18
PnP ... 11 fgs/ 22 points in the paint
PnT ... 0
Pbk ... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback buckets


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

Scoring ... Alex Kendall 12, Elyjah Lieras-Kelley 12, Seth Britton 7, Izak Knighten 7, Zaiden Wittekind 6, Brayden Jones 3, Trey Hawkins 3, Logan Groskas 2
3 Pointers ... 3/13 ... Elyjah Lieras-Kelley 1, Alex Kendall 1, Brayden Jones 1
FTs ... 13/16
TOs ... 15
PnP ... 13 fgs/ 26 points in the paint
PnT ... 4 fgs/ 8 points in transition
Pbk ... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback buckets