3/10 3PM Zane Trace (20-4) v Fairfield Union (16-8)

[Prime Time]

Howie has Trimble primed and now Trimble up 6-0. Master sideline Coach

[Ironman92]

Howie has Trimble primed and now Trimble up 6-0. Master sideline Coach

Awesome

[LucasDavenport]

Prime Time was a little lost there.

I’m still waiting for his first post about Trimble’s players.


Sunday’s District Finals should both be great games

[CavalierAlum05]

Just remembered Millers is closed on Sundays. fml!

[Smeltzy]

pfloyd........you going to give a preview of this game like you did for the Sheridan v Jackson game?? People want to hear your rundown of the teams!!

[pfloyd]

... let's face it pfloyd is looking forward to ALL of the district final games LOL ... this matchup is interesting in that it in some ways is a "yin vs yang" type of game ... Fairfield Union is over all a "finesse" ball club - outstanding basketball players/TEAM who fit the "visual" of a "basketball team" - length, height, perimeter scorers - Ryan Magill (6-2)- long ... Chase Poston (6-4)- long ... Andrew Moll (6-5)- long - youngsters ALL Magill/Moll both sophomores ! Poston (junior) ... the big man in the middle is a finesse type big man in Houston Harrah a 6-5 junior -long ... that IS length all around the horn ! throw in PG senior Evan Conley who can do it ALL - perimeter scorer/mid range jumpers/ drives into the paint - the catalyst for FU ... on the yang side you have Zane Trace who also sports one senior in the starting line up ... 6-2 G/F Chad Ison sr ... PG Colby Swain (6-0) junior - handles the ball on the perimeter/along with taking care of the perimeter pressure ... Ison joins the physicality of G/F/PG Cam Evans (6-0) Evans can GET you a shot whenever and wherever - avgs 20+ ppg - as strong with the ball as anyone Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ... add to the Physicality Club - (6-6) jr Nick Nesser / (6-5) jr Triton Davidson both can put up double figures in the scoring column with Nesser putting up a trey now and then AND hitting the 3 ball - both Nesser/Davidson are strong/physical/athletic bangers in the paint who live off of offensive rebounds/putback buckets ... when I look at both TEAMS I see the yin (finesse) of FU vs yang (physical) play on both ends of ZT ... other than the Physicality BOTH are very similar - when you look at the stat sheets - most of the scoring will come from the group who starts for both teams ... ZT counts on Evans for the scoring numbers / FU looks to Conley both working from the outside (perimeter) to the paint with Conley the better perimeter scorer (I KNOW Evans led the SVC with 44 treys! - based on what I've seen Evans would much rather put the defender on his hip and take him to the rim ) interestingly BOTH Conley & Evans shoot the midrange pull up jumper AND shoot it well ! ... overall FU has the better perimeter game - Magill/Moll/Conley/Poston even Harrah can shoot the 3 ball ... ZT as I've pointed out before shoots maybe 7-9 3's per game tops - in their semi final game vs Athens it looked like ZT wanted to go against the scouting report as they threw up 7 treys in the opening period/9 in the first half - the Pioneers didn't put up another 3 ball until the subs shot 2 more in the closing seconds of play ... ZT is a half court/physical/crash the boards with Nesser/Davidson type of team with Evans attacking the paint from the perimeter ... while FU without a true physical BIG inside looks to score from the perimeter/spread the defense with the outside threat ... keep the good spacing - look for Houston Harrah around the rim area - Harrah has one of the sweetest 10 ft and in kisses off the backboard games I have seen ... Harrah sees the floor well - will kick it back out to the open scorers on the perimeter - both Ryan Magill/Chase Poston are outstanding perimeter scorers ... Conley WILL take the kick out pass and take it to the rim/ go baseline - a multi-threat scorer ... Defensively one would THINK that ZT has the edge as Coach Kellough IS so defensive minded ZT defensively gives up 50 ppg while the Falcons of Coach Eversole/Coach Goodyear are holding opponents to 45 ppg on the defensive end ...

What the heck does any of this mean ???? LOL ... I looked to see who FU has played , who might be a good comparison for ZT ... don't have to look to far - Sheridan is a good likeness (at least with it's starting group) to ZT ... how did FU fair ? hmmmmmmm FU BEAT Sheridan 69-61 ... saw that game at FU ... I'm taking FU's Magill/Poston to be the difference in this one ... along with the overall "length" of the Falcons ... FU will have to match the physicality with their length across the board ... it will be a close game!!! both teams control tempo so well I don't see it getting out of hand either way ... so far ALL of the D2 district games have been played allowing the bigs to play like bigs in the paint, anyone coming into the paint needs check their blood type at the door ... will be interesting to see how the officials call the game ... in the Sheridan game FU went 20/23 from the FT line - IF FU can challenge the ZT bigs in the paint/get to the line , it will mean that ZT had to go to their bench / if you remove a ZT starter BIG ADVANTAGE for FU ... I like the FU chances to get to the sweet 16 if they get into the ZT bench... IF ZT controls the boards/and can play physical without getting into foul trouble - ZT moves on to the regional's imo ...

[VetteMan]

Very good rundown Pfloyd!

[Ed Ott]

Gotta pull for my ross co friends

[pfloyd]

Gotta pull for my ross co friends

... absolutely Ed Ott !!! ... I have a hard time this time of year - I have gotten to know the coaches/players family members for usually both sides when it gets to the sectional/district games - I HATE to post anything one way or the other as to who I feel might win - one reason is I'M USUALLY WRONG ! LOL - but in the one and done I hate to see anyone lose and BE DONE ! ... I wish all teams the best in this game and across the board ... Coach Kellough is an outstanding coach - has put together an equally outstanding TEAM in his Pioneers ...

[Smeltzy]

That's what I like to see pfloyd !!! Another great breakdown from the master. I look forward to the game and to seeing you once again my friend.

[bman]

Fairfield Union 48-42

[Raider6309]

If Zane Trace is firing on all cylinders, they should win by 10

[VetteMan]

I think this could be one of the better games. Two outstanding coaches for each team. Someone mentioned 10 days between games, it might have a bearing early on. Good luck to each team, and lets hope for an injury free game for both teams.

[LucasDavenport]

Updated at top of page on D2 updates thread

[CavalierAlum05]

Congrats to Zane Trace!!!

This makes two Ross County teams in the regional D2 and D3.

[VetteMan]

Congrats to Zane Trace on your win over Fairfield Union.

[VetteMan]

Congrats to Zane Trace on your win over Fairfield Union.

[VetteMan]

Congrats Fairfield Union on an outstanding season.

[Hoopie74]

Congrats Zane Trace. Great season continues. One at a time. .

[Spartan12]

This was a fun game to watch. Congratulations to Fairfield Union on a nice season. They have a lot of very good players!!!

I’ve read a lot of the comments on here about the game with a lot of predictions. I think it may have been 50/50 on the predictions.

Now let’s talk about Zane Trace! These kids show so much heart and passion when they play the game. How can you not enjoy watching them play this great game?

I’ve read some comments about the coaching staffs. Someone told me that Fairfield Union has 3 Varsity coaches on their staff!! Wow. Impressive. I’ve been told all of them have been very good coaches!!

That leads me to my final point. I really haven’t read much of anything about Coach Gary Kellough on these posts. Yea, some but I seen more posts about how the other teams assistant coaches were going to be the difference.

Well, I beg to differ. The Zane Trace Coach is like fine wine. He gets better with age. When he came back to ZT he told many that his teams were going to win league, sectional and districts , etc. The man has a vision and it doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s one of not many that has won a state championship!

Credit goes to the kids that work so hard for Coach Kellough but wow does his kids play hard. He just knows how to win. Congrats Zane Trace Pioneers! Very proud of all of you.