Minford 57 South Webster 49 a final ...

[pfloyd]

Minford 57
South Webster 49 a final


... when I looked over the "numbers" in the pregame , looked at the personnel ... my gut feeling was based on the "stat sheet" the advantage sat on the Jeeps' side of the court ... BUUUUT analytics don't tell the whole story ... the numbers don't look at what players have inside "heart, determination, the willingness to sacrifice for team ... numbers don't tell "the story"" ... I've been around high school hoops for a long time, met wonderful people, great coaches & have had the opportunity to see, get to know "people" basketball people & basketball families ... over the past 4 years of Minford's special run with arguably the best threesome in high school hoops in Southern/Southeast Ohio in that span of time - the 3 Amigos Myles Montgomery/Bennett Kayser/Jackson Shoemaker - one thing I've learned is that you can never ignore "heart ... the "want to/determination" in a player" ... Friday Night Basketball Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line -there is nothing better ... when you have an atmosphere like last night - the amount of time to put up a gymnasium full of signs of support for TEAM & players, the time devoted to having fans of both teams lined up at the door at 4:45p for a JV game that started at 6p and varsity game that had you NOT been in line at 4:45 thru the beginning of the JV you were NOT getting a ticket - sold out, SRO ... great job by those who did all of the work in preparation of the doors opening ! the moms, dads, school personnel, coaches, coaches wives - TEAM effort - last night was one the best high school hoops atmosphere's I've had the pleasure of being in - great job Minford folks ...

... I was one of those 4:45p people having made the 1:40 drive from Logan ... was greeted by Coach Montgomery - we talked hoops while the Minford team was doing an informal shoot- around ... the fans filed in ... by 45 minutes until the JV tipoff the stands were full, "late comers" were in search of seats ... high school hoops , Friday Night, Big Game between the 13-1 Minford Falcons & the 13-0 South Webster Jeeps ... first place in the SOC III on the line ... talented rosters, even better napkin stats by individual players - Myles Montgomery entered chasing the 2000 point milestone ... Bennett Kayser a member of the 1000 Point Club ... Eli Roberts another 1000+ scorer ... Coaches Persin (South Webster) and Shoemaker (Minford) have over 1000 wins as high school coaches between them ... not sure a "game" could be staged any better ... Minford 57 South Webster 49 a final ...

In the BIG games you hope that both teams bring their "A" games ... as a cheap seat guy, I'm not a fan of the blowout by either side - I want to see both teams' "players" doing "player things" - doing what they do "as advertised" ... in the opening quarter, both teams opened with treys, 5-10 sr. Myles Montgomery for the Falcons did what it takes to be on the verge of a 2000+ pt. high school career, Montgomery for a deep triple ... for the Jeeps sr. Christian White answered from the top of the key with a trey of his own ... game on ... in the quarter both teams "players" added their names to the napkin stat sheet - 6-0 jr Hunter Barnard (SW) scored on a rebound & putback 2pts ... off the Jeep bench 6-2 jr. Beau Stephens drained a three pointer from behind the arc 3pts ... Dylan Shupert , the 6-1 jr., averaging 16.2 ppg , went 1/2 from the FT with what would be his only points of the game ... the only "ingredient" missing was the "deep sauce" from 6-8 sr. Eli Roberts which he checked off at the end of the 8 minute period ,draining a deep three to close out the SW scoring in the period .. for the Mighty Minford Falcons, Montgomery led the way with the opening 3 ball, a midrange jumper for 2pts and 2/2 from the line 7pts in the qtr... 5-10 soph Ashton Reeder took one of 3 Jeeps turnovers to the house for 2 pts ... 6-1 sr. Kade Glockner was left alone at the foul line extended, the senior swing forward took the ball to the rim for 2 pts ... missing on the stat line was points from 6-6 sr "do it all" big man Bennett Kayser ... the big man in the post added 2/2 from the charity stripe end the MHS scoring ... Minford 13 South Webster 12 after 1 ... usually in big games the opening quarter sets the tone, gets everyone involved, the lid is taken off the baskets ... the butterflies are set free - the door is opened for "the players" to begin asserting themselves ... for the Falcons, Beau Stephens stayed in the game, the 6-1 jr. didn't disappoint as he had a stickback bucket off of a Jeep miss for 2pts ... for Minford, Montgomery scored on a strip and score transition basket at the rim 2pts ... Bennett Kayser with a jumper from the FT line for 2pts ... Minford up 17-14 with 5:23 on the clock ... coming out of the timeout SW's 6-8 offensive machine , Eli Roberts, drained a deep 3 ball, added 2/2 from the line ... Christian White hit his 2nd 3 pointer in the game as he as left alone at the top of key 3 pts ... the Falcons continued to get points from their duo of Montgomery/Kayser as the 1, 2 punch accounted for all 17 points in the period for the Falcons ... Bennett with one of his patented floaters from 4 ft in the paint 2pts ... followed by a deep 3 pointer /7 pts in the quarter ... as the defense tightened on the Falcon big man ... Mr. Montgomery did what 2000 point scorers do - he scored the ball - after the transition bucket, MM dropped a midranged jumper for 2, went 1/2 from the line, getting his 2nd strip and score at the rim of the quarter- 2pts ... after 6-8 Roberts finished at the Jeeps end with a thunderous 2 handed dunk ... Montgomery showed that he is a threat at all 3 levels as the 5-10 sr. commit to West Liberty calmly drained a deep 3 from the volleyball line 3pts / 10 pts in the qtr/17 for the half ... Minford 30 South Webster 27 after 2 quarters ... over my years of watching high school hoops from the cheap seats I've found that the first 3-4 minutes out of the locker room after intermission is one of the more important time spans in any game ... halftime adjustments ... the proverbial "punch in the mouth" to set the tone for the final 16 minutes of play ... the Falcons landed all of the punches in the opening minutes of the 3rd ... sr. 6-4 big man, the 3rd amigo, without hesitation drained a 3 pter from beyond the arc 3pts, Montgomery a 3 from deep ... 6-6 Bennett Kayser had the Falcon faithful standing and screaming as the sr. big man scored on back to back transition buckets... the first a steal, dribble baseline, looked to be going up for the dunk with the Jeeps defender 6-8 Roberts in tow, Kayser went up and under for a reverse layup 2 pts (insert home crowd going crazy, decibel levels ratcheted up) ... within seconds ... Jeep turnover ... Kayser with the transition bucket ... 10-0 Falcon run coming out of the locker room at the half ...volume levels at the Nest were at Spinal Tap level 11 ... Minford outscored Webster 16-8 in the quarter ... holding the Jeeps to 2 fgs in the frame - Hunter Barnard with 3 ball, Beau Stephens a drive & score 2pts ... the rest of the SW scoring in the qtr was 3/4 from the FT line ... for Minford the scoring continued from the duo of Kayser (6 pts in the qtr) & Montgomery (5pts including his 3rd triple of the game) ... the big trey to kickstart the 3 minutes out of the locker-room by Shoemaker and a finishing drive in the period by Ashton Reeder 2pts ... Minford 46 South Webster 35 after 3 ... Good "teams" don't rollover and go away when they get punched in the mouth ... South Webster is the best D7 team in the SouthEast district - end of discussion , with the expectations for a deep run into the post season - Convo & beyond ... the Jeeps came out in the 4th and won the quarter ... 14-11 ... getting the deficit to 6 pts at one point ... 6:51 down 38-46 ... 4:55 on the clock trailing 39-46 ... 1:27 to play 44-50 ... led by Eli Roberts' 7pts in ther period (a basket in the paint & 1 (3pts), a putback bucket 2pts, 2/3 from the line with 8.8 left on the clock) ... Barnard added 1/2 from the line & a drive to the rim 2pts ... Beau Stephens finished off an excellent game off the bench with a floater in the paint (13 pts on the night) ... Christian White went 2/2 from the line shooting a pair of technical FTs ... Owen Mault got his only points in the contest going 1/2 from the free throw line ... Minford, as it has all year, when the going gets tough you put the ball in the hands of your dynamic duo of Montgomery & Kayser ... in the 4th, Kayser scored on a drive to the rim 2pts, Montgomery followed in up with a 3 trey from in front of the Minford bench with 2:23 on the clock ... as the clock ran down ... the only SW option was to put the Falcons on the line ... and by Falcons, I mean the players who have the ball in their hands in crunch time - Myles Montgomery (1/2 from the line in the 4th) and option #2 Bennett Kayser - 5/6 from the line in the closing seconds of the game ... great atmosphere, huge crowd , outstanding high school basketball ... the way Basketball Friday Night Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line is supposed to play out ... Round Deux @ South Webster , February 18th ... I bet the doors open at 4:45p for this one too ... Minford 57 South Webster 49 a final ...

Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - South Webster

Scoring ... Eli Roberts 17, Beau Stephens 13, Christian White 10, Hunter Barnard 7, Dylan Shupert 1, Owen Mault 1
3 Pointers ... 6/23 … Eli Roberts 2, Christian White 2, Hunter Barnard 1, Beau Stephens 1
FTs ... 14/20
TOs ... 12
PnP ... 8 fgs/ 16 points in the paint
PnT ... 0 fgs/ 0 points in transition
Pbk ... 3 fgs/ 6 points on putback buckets

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

Scoring ... Myles Montgomery 26, Bennett Kayser 22, Ashton Reeder 4, Jackson Shoemaker 3, Kade Glockner 2
3 Pointers ... 6/13 ... Myles Montgomery 4, Bennett Kayser 1, Jackson Shoemaker 1
FTs ... 11/14
TOs ... 9
PnP ... 11 fgs/ 22 points in the paint
PnT ... 5 fgs/10 points in transition
Pbk ... 0 points on putback buckets

[Ironman92]

Big game…great rundown

[val13]

Great write up Pfloyd! It was everything it was hyped up to be. Can’t wait for round 2.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

This was probably the most hyped gym I’ve ever been in. Asses to elbows. Good to see you Mr. Floyd.

Minfords a great team. A few buckets one way or the other and a free throw and the jeeps take this one. Let’s rebound tonight and blow out ND.

[art_vandelay]

Great recap as always pfloyd! Agreed that the first 3 minutes after halftime decided this game. And Roberts’ dunk was nasty, but then Kayser’s up and under layup was just as impressive.

Overall, just a fun game to watch in a great atmosphere. Will be rooting on both teams for hopefully deep tourney runs.*

[SOSNPod]

In our most recent episode on Southeast Ohio Sports News, we interview Bennett Kayser and Miles Montgomery on their win Friday night along with a recap of the game. We also talk about other scores from around the area for the week. The interviews start at 18:30 in episode and the recap of the game follows right after it. Thanks for the support!