Marietta 53
Gallia Academy 45 a final
... made a two-fold trip to the French City last night 1) to walk through the "Gallipolis in Lights" along the Ohio River and 2) get a look at TWO D2 "players" in the SouthEast District - Gallia Academy entertaining the Marietta Tigers of Coach Gardner and Coach Warner ... my thinking going into this season was that Marietta WAS going to be a solid TEAM with this being year 2 for Coach Gardner/Coach Warner ... last season the Tigers showed outstanding play -, excellent defense, perimeter scoring, and inside play from returning big man Alex Kendall ... last year the on court discipline showed in both the TEAM play and the results on the scoreboard ... I wasn't wrong in my thinking as the Tigers ARE a solid, well rounded TEAM with size in Kendall (6-8) and 6-5 sr Izak Knighten along with (listed 6-1 BUT he's every bit of 6-4 imo with length) Zaiden Wittekind ... throw in perimeter quicks from Elyjah Lierus-Kelley who can /does create to the rim, Seth Britton/Braydon Jones (juniors both) with the perimeter threat ... I will stick with "solid" as my Marietta descriptor ... throw in - once again - solid man to man D ... the Tigers will get nothing but better and better as they get more off the bench ... Gallia Academy lost a bunch from last season notably 6-7 big man in the middle Mr. Isaac Clary, Brody Fallure, Jance Lambert ... as the offense the last few season ran through Clary on the blocks - I wasn't sure what to expect last night with Kenyon Franklin/Wesley Saunders as the starting returnees ... neither team is deep off the bench , playing 7 ... the Gallia bench had 3pts/Marietta with 9pts at the offensive end ... as it is and as it will be on most nights in a Marietta game the Tiger TEAM defense and the man in the middle , the 6-8, Findlay bound , Alex Kendall will be the deciding factors in MHS contests ... Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final ...
... Gallia showed me this years offensive scheme in the opening period - without a "Clary" down on the blocks GAHS was more of a perimeter oriented team with a lot of ISO of Blair and Franklin creating for themselves ... Alex Blair drained a 3 ball to open the scoring for the Blue Devils, a pair of FTs by sr PG Wesley Saunders and drive to the rim by Franklin got last years Devils all in the books ... for the Tigers the 6-8 Kendall established himself early, scoring on an inbounds pass and an offensive board & putback bucket (4pts) ... Brayden Jones off the bench drained a triple (3pts), 6-4 swing forward Zaiden Wittekind added a pointer in the paint, while Elyjah Lierus-Kelley was fouled on a drive to rim 2/2 (2pts) ... defense travels - the Tiger man-to-man D forced 7 GAHS first quarter turnovers ... the Devils took care of the ball the rest of the night but the Marietta D had set the tone for the next 3 qtrs ... Marietta 11 Gallia Academy 7 after 1 ... in the opening period both teams went 1/3 from behind the arc ... in the 2nd the Marietta D kept the GAHS offense on the perimeter as Gallia settled for the outside jumper - the Devils 4 fgs in the qtr were on the perimeter - 3/4 from behind the arc - Alex Blair with 2 treys, Kenyon Franklin 1 and a midrange jumper from reserve 6-5 jr Gabe Hammond /Beckett Camden added 1/2 from the line to finish off the bench contribution for GAHS on the game (3pts) ... Coach Gardner's squad has perimeter shooters, if you concentrate on the 6-8 Kendall you pay the price by setting up good looks on the perimeter - the first 3 fgs for MHS in the 2nd were of the "down town " variety - Brayden Jones 2 more treys (9 pts in the half/3 treys) , Seth Britton added a triple (3pts) ... once again the catch 22 for the MHS opposition - if the Tigers take/make the perimeter shots that the D gives them when Kendall drops into the paint ... they force you to guard on the perimeter - which NOW opens up the baseline/paint for Kendall down low .. in the 2nd with the opening 3 fgs being 3 point splashes, forcing GAHS to defend the perimeter - MHS went to Mr. Inside/Outside in the 6-8 Kendall ... 6-5 Knighten went for 2 on the blocks, 3 straight baseline drives - 2 by Kendall and 1 by Lierus-Kelley extended the Tiger lead to 9 going into intermission ... an almost give-away free 2nd period by both teams (MHS 0 turnovers, GAHS 1 on a block by Lierus-Kelley in the paint) ... Marietta 28 Gallia Academy 19 at the half ... in the opening half of action I kept waiting for Kenyon Franklin to "take over" "do something" as the now senior always showed the potential to be an offensive threat throughout his previous years on the hardwood ... in the opening 2 quarters he seemed content to "move the ball" "get it to others" ... finally in the 3rd quarter Franklin "made the Devils" a better team ... he did Kenyon Franklin "things" - he knocked down the 3 ball (2 treys) , took the defender to the rim off the dribble on back to back drives (4pts) ... Alex Blair added a perimeter triple and the NOW big man in the middle for GAHS 6-7 Cade Mock stepped out for a trey and finally got the ball down low in the paint getting to the FT line 4/4 (7pts) ... GAHS was back in the game hitting for 20 points while holding MHS to 14pts - led by Kendall's 8 pts in the paint, Lierus-Kelley with 2 drives (4pts) and a Knighten 2 pter ... it was Gallia with the clean slate in the qtr 0 turnovers to the Tigers 2 ... Marietta 42 Gallia Academy 39 after 3 ... the final period was all defense ... neither team forcing bunches of turnovers (2 TOs each in the qtr) but the on ball pressure D resulted in few fgs (Gallia 1 fg/Marietta 2 fgs in the period) and a FT contest that Marietta won ... GAHS 4/8 from the line to MHS's 7/10 from the line ... in the end size DOES matter as the Tigers bigs had 15 fgs in the paint (30 points in the paint) on the night ... the Tiger 6-8 Kendall with 21 points on the night along with the 32 minutes of on the ball pressure by the Tigers being the difference on the night ... Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final ...
Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Gallia Academy
Scoring ... Kenyon Franklin 18, Alex Blair 14, Cade Mock 7, Wesley Saunders 3, Gabe Hammond 2, Beckett Camden 1
3 Pointers ... 8/17 ... Alex Blair 4, Kenyon Franklin 3, Cade Mock 1
FTs ....... 11/16
TOs ... 10
PnP ... 4fgs/ 8 points in the paint
PnT ... 0 points in transition
Pbk ... 0 points in the paint
Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Marietta
Scoring ... Alex Kendall 21, Elyjah Lierus-Kelley 11, Braydon Jones 9, Seth Britton 6, Izak Knighten 4, Zaiden Wittekind 2
3 Pointers ... 4/13 ... Braydon Jones , Seth Britton 1
FTs ... 9/12
TOs ...... 5
PnP ... 15 fgs/ 30 points in the paint
PnT ... 0 points in transition
Pbck ... 2 fgs/4 points on putback buckets
Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final
Re: Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final
Sounds like GA is going to be interesting and better than I expected 
Re: Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final
Good read! This Marietta team has been a lot of fun to watch through the first three games. Curious to see how the Blue Devils fair up in Vincent tonight. They've still got a solid team this year, but beating the Warriors will be a very tall task.
Re: Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final
... getting ready to head over to the Warrior Coliseum from Logan right now ... should have a rundown later tonight on this one Warren vs Gallia Academy ...
Re: Marietta 53 Gallia Academy 45 a final
The biggest surprise of the night was Gallia's scoring on 3-pointers, which was far more impactful than expected. Marietta's defense was solid (opponents averaging under 29 ppg so far) but the 3-ball was clearly not expected. The Tigers just play with a lot of purpose and intensity. Long season though.