Nelsonville @ Athens

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 11:46 pm

Ployd,
I am not the stat master that you are :), He scored some early, but not much, the Bulldog offense was terrible, and the defense was even worse, no execution at all, but I hope it will get better..

Gib25 · Post by **Gib25** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:03 am

Scoring for Athens: Witten 12, Eberts 11, Herpy 9, Cambridge 8, Pfaff 7, Strickmaker 7, Valentour 5, Yaman 2, & Tope 2. Scoring for N-Y: Bunting 16, Dickerson 10, Goodin 9, Warren 9, Mitchell 7, Barrick 6, Arnold 5 & Walker 4. Maybe not a thing of beauty for either squad, but both teams played hard.

Athens won the JV game 42-28 & the Freshmen game 68-31.

Post by **noreply66** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:22 am

Winning the JV came going away--sounds like they should have pulled some player to put on the varsity bench.

Utah_Jazzzz · Post by **Utah_Jazzzz** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:15 am

interception wrote:WHAT??? I thought I had heard and seen it all but this takes the cake!! Show him the door! Athens has absolutely no hope of surviving in the TVC or any other conference if this is all they have. Something like this from a school as big as Athens is unexcusable!

umm.. right.. yea if you knew anything about athens.. you would know that the school may be big.. BUT.. out of all those kids less than 60 play sports.. it doesnt matter that they are a so called "big" school .. when no one comes out to play.. but yeah your right its "unexcusable" when athens has less than 30 kids on all 3 levels (fresh,jv,var) of mens basketball.. YOUR RIGHT!!!.. its "unexcusable!!!" .. and "Athens has absolutely no hope of surviving in the TVC" ..they have already scrimmaged many teams in the tvc and BEAT them.. ask wellston how that last beat down felt.

stillballin · Post by **stillballin** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 11:20 am

You won one quarter impressively. Wellston actually won 2 out of 4 quarters with their top 7 or 8 players. No referees - Athens was allowed to foul at liberty which obviously did nothing to help train your team for regular season action. Athens plays hard, but needs to get under control.

GlennQuagmire · Post by **GlennQuagmire** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:13 pm

raider6109 wrote:Bring back Chuck.

I agree, I have never seen a sloppier game of varsity basketball, if the rest of the season is like this, expect more to think the same way.

Utah_Jazzzz · Post by **Utah_Jazzzz** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:02 pm

stillballin wrote:You won one quarter impressively. Wellston actually won 2 out of 4 quarters with their top 7 or 8 players. No referees - Athens was allowed to foul at liberty which obviously did nothing to help train your team for regular season action. Athens plays hard, but needs to get under control.

once again you know nothing.. they were winning each quarter ..then started working on "new things".. there new coach doesnt care about wins and loses.. he uses those scrimmages and works on new things.. they had not even LEARNED yet.. after they had established they were the dominate team in the firtst quarter.. it then turned into a practice

Utah_Jazzzz · Post by **Utah_Jazzzz** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:04 pm

stillballin wrote:You won one quarter impressively. Wellston actually won 2 out of 4 quarters with their top 7 or 8 players. No referees - Athens was allowed to foul at liberty which obviously did nothing to help train your team for regular season action. Athens plays hard, but needs to get under control.

"foul at liberty" thats interesting.. you really are a funny guy

buckfan84 · Post by **buckfan84** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:53 pm

Didn't Athens scrimmage Nelsonville and win that one too?

buckfan84 · Post by **buckfan84** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:00 pm

noreply66 wrote:Winning the JV came going away--sounds like they should have pulled some player to put on the varsity bench.

I thought the same but I am sure the coach never thought Athens would get into so much foul trouble.

NYBuckeye96 · Post by **NYBuckeye96** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:42 pm

Great job Buckeyes!!!!!!!!

NYBuckeye96 · Post by **NYBuckeye96** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:43 pm

Buckeyes edge Bulldogs in tight season opener

JASON ARKLEY
Sportswriter

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Bulldogs played the style they wanted to, but the Buckeyes played it just a little bit better.

Nelsonville-York stunned Athens 66-63 in a non-league boys basketball tilt Friday night inside McAfee Gymnasium in the 2007-08 season lid-lifter for both schools. The Buckeyes (1-0) welcomed back head coach Jay Kline - who last prowled the N-Y sideline as the head man in 2000 - with a much-desired win for a team expected to go through some growing pains this season.

"It's big," Kline said. "I think we grew tonight as a team. We got the monkey off our back on the first one."

The Bulldogs (0-1) will have to wait to get a win for new head coach Paul McNeal. Athens was successful in its bid to make the game a non-stop, up-and-down the court affair, but had just enough lapses to allow the Buckeyes to make the trip back up Route 33 with a win in tow.

"We lost our composure a little bit there at the end," said McNeal. "We did some good positive stuff. But we also know we let one slip away here."

The game was tight, and featured high intensity, throughout. The teams battled through 19 lead-changes and 10 ties before Nelsonville-York broke ahead late. Connor Bunting, who paced the Buckeyes with 16 points and seven rebounds, broke a 61-all tie with a strong move and score from the left block with 1:18 remaining.

"We played four sophomores tonight and all four of them contributed," Kline said. "(Bunting) played probably 30-plus minutes and had to battle inside the whole time."

Athens point guard Colin Pfaff was called for an offensive foul on the next trip down the floor. With the Bulldogs going for the late steal, forward Zach Strickmaker got tangled up with Bunting and was whistled for his fifth foul. When Strickmaker disengaged with more force than necessary, he was also assesed a technical.

But, the Buckeyes only made one of four ensuing free throws, and then lost possession when Derek Arnold's turnaround in the lane was off the mark. A putback from Athens forward Steven Eberts cut the deficit to 64-63 with 23.5 seconds remaining.

The Buckeyes threw away the ball trying to get it inbounds, and the Bulldogs had a chance to take the lead. But Cori Butcher missed a jumper from the wing. Eberts collared the rebound and was fouled, but missed the front end of the one-and-one.

After Randy Walker cleared the rebound, and called a timeout, the Buckeyes were able to get the ball in to steady point guard Josh Dickerson. Dickerson was immediately fouled, but calmly swished a pair of free throws to push the lead to 66-63 with seven seconds to go.

Athens' last chance gasp, a near half-court heave from Pfaff, was off the mark however and the Buckeyes had the win.

"They gave a great effort for 32 minutes," Kline said. "We did a great job of keeping our composure."

That included Dickerson. The sophomore had his share of miscues against Athens' variety of full- and half-court pressure defenses, but also tallied 12 points, five assists and three steals.

"He did a fantastic job," Kline said. "I know, considering all the pressure he was up against, he had some turnovers but he had just as many good plays too."

Craig Warren added nine points for N-Y, which was outrebounded 49-33. The Buckeyes made up the difference on the glass by shooting 49 percent from the field thanks to 13 assists on 25 field goals.

Matt Witten dropped in 12 points for the Bulldogs, and Eberts had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Jimmy Herpy came in off the bench to add nine points and 11 boards. Nigel Cambridge added eight points, but Pfaff and Strickmaker both chipped in seven.

Athens had its difficulties, however, despite turning the pace of the game up to 'real fast.' Athens hit on just 35 percent of its shots, and was a dismal 1-of-13 from 3-point range. The 'Dogs top three scoring threats - Pfaff, Witten and Eberts - were a combined 11-of-37 (30 percent) from the field.

Athens also had three players foul out, and was hamstrung by the five-quarters a night rule for the six JV-varsity in-betweeners on the roster. Because of those limitations, Butcher was on the court for the critical miss late and the Bulldogs played with just four players after Witten fouled out with just seven seconds remaining.

"We have to take a look at that," McNeal said. "We had our numbers down because of the JV team, where we had a guy injured. We'll have to take a look there and try to insure we have enough players on the floor at the end of the game."

Neither team led by more than six points the entire game. Nelsonville-York led 59-53 with 6:30 remaining, but Athens went on an 8-0 run to take its final lead at 61-59 with 2:23 to go.

"When they did make that little run our kids kept their composure and went back to making plays and we were able to pull it out at the end." Kline said.

Athens led 31-25 with 2:24 to go in the first half, but the Buckeyes went on a 12-5 run to the end the half with a 37-36 lead. Five different players scored in the surge.

Michael Barrick, acknowledged as the Buckeyes' biggest offensive threat, finished with just six points. He was scoreless at halftime after picking up three early fouls.

"We tried to make somebody else hurt us tonight, and they did," McNeal said. "They did a good job of rotating out of our trap and getting people the ball that needed it to score."

[email protected]

Nelsonville-York 18 19 18 11 - 66

Athens 18 18 15 12 - 63

NELSONVILLE-YORK 66 (1-0)

Tyler Goodin 2 2-2 7, Mychal Mitchell 2 3-3 7, Josh Dickerson 5 2-5 12, Craig Warren 4 0 9, Michael Barrick 2 2-6 6, Derek Arnold 1 3-6 5, Connor Bunting 7 2-4 16, Randy Walker 2 0 4; TOTALS 25 14-26 66; 3-point goals: Two (Warren and Goodin 1 apiece).

ATHENS 63 (0-1)

Anthony Sylvester 0 0 0, Nigel Cambridge 4 0-4 8, Colin Pfaff 3 1-2 7, Zach Strickmaker 2 3-5 7, Cam Yaman 1 0 2, Cameron Tope 1 0 2, Jimmy Herpy 3 3-3 9, Frank Valentour 2 1-3 5, Mark Witten 4 3-4 12, Steven Eberts 4 3-5 11, Vinnie Rider 0 0 0, Cory Butcher 0 0 0; TOTALS 24 14-26 63; 3-point goals: One (Witten).

TEAM STATISTICS/INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Field goals - Nelsonville-York 25-51 (.490), 3-point 2-8 (.250); Athens 24-69 (.348), 3-point 1-13 (.077); Free throws - Nelsonville-York 14-26 (.538), Athens 14-26 (.538); Rebounds - Nelsonville-York 33 (Bunting 7), Athens 49 (Eberts and Herpy 11 apiece); Assists - Nelsonville-York 13 (Dickerson 5), Athens 8 (Pfaff 4); Steals - Nelsonville-York 13 (Arnold 4, Dickerson 3), Athens 8 (Pfaff 2, Eberts 2); Turnovers - Nelsonville-York 24, Athens 25; Team fouls - Nelsonville-York 23, Athens 24; JV Score - Athens 42, Nelsonville-York 28.

http://athensmessenger.com/main.asp?Sec ... cleID=6724

NYBuckeye96 · Post by **NYBuckeye96** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:48 pm

Sounds like NY has a nice group of young sophomores stepping up to play varsity. It will be fun watching them develop over the next few seasons.

Ty Webb · Post by **Ty Webb** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:20 pm

stillballin wrote:Athens plays hard, but needs to get under control.

Especially given the apparent wider margin of victory in the JV game, it sounds like they might want to have more players dressed and available for their varsity games too. Haven't seen the Bulldogs play.....are they that physical or do they simply lack any discipline? What were the foul differences between the two teams?

By the way, congrats to Nelsonville. Regardless of the circumstances, this is a great way for the Buckeyes to kick off their season. Coach Kline will get the most out this young team.

Post by **noreply66** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:29 pm

With only four player on the floor,didn't Athens out score Nelson/York in the 4th quarter?

Gib25 · Post by **Gib25** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:24 pm

As it was stated in an earlier post, Athens played with 4 for only 7 seconds. Pfaffs shot to tie came from just beyond the 3 pont circle. What hurt was not having Witten on the floor to take the shot.

gocubsgo · Post by **gocubsgo** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:19 pm

You have to really look at athens' coach for the letdown. That is inexcusable to not balance the JV and Varsity players. Congrats though to the Buckeyes. A bright spot for Athens was the contribution by Matt Witten, and Sophmore Stud Jimi Herpy.

joliet jake · Post by **joliet jake** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:26 am

The Athens JV won big. Wasnt even close, They had a chance to set players out and save 3 quarters for them. They could have played 2 and had 3 left for the varsity. But hey, they got a big win at the JV level. Athens flat got out coached! Cant blame the players for this one. Even the fouls in this. The coach needed to pull his players back a little.