Fairland wins the OVC 'ship Outright : Fairland 68 the Peake 62 OT2

[pfloyd]

Fairland 68
Chesapeake 62 OT2 final

... let's start out by saying these are 2 of the best TEAMS in the SouthEast district ... on this weeks' rankings Fairland was at #5 and Chesapeake at # 9 ... BOTH are too low ... Fairland has proven it all season - only losing to my #1 the Warren Warriors of Coach Maddox ... Chesapeake has been maligned somewhat with "not a challenging enough" schedule - they literally played the Dragons even in their 2 games BOTH games being decided in 40 minutes of basketball ... as they were tied after regulation ... tied after an extra 4 minutes in each game ... BOTH teams have "players" - Fairland with arguably "THE DUDE" in all of the SE District in Brody Buchanan while Chesapeake imo may have "the dude in waiting" in soph Maddox Kazee ... both teams with great coaches Coach Speed for the Dragons, Coach Ater for the Panthers ... Fairland with the W tonight takes sole possession of the OVC crown , 20-1 on the season overall, 14-0 in the conference - the first undefeated in the conference season for Fairland since the 2017-18 campaign ... Chesapeake finishes at 19-3/12-2 in OVC play ... Fairland 68 Chesapeake 62 a final ...

... my hat goes off to the SOSA (Southern Ohio Sports Authority) guys - John Bruce and Dewey Dailey - they are as professional as they come, they travel all over their coverage area to livestream both boys and girls teams in Southern/SouthEast Ohio ... yet another great broadcast tonight ... if you haven't watched their broadcasts - go to the SOSA archives on their website and watch many of the great matchups across the district from this regular season & previous seasons ... the SOSA team will also be covering games in the post season again ... give 'em a listen/watch - none better ... also a great job by the officiating crew tonight ! a true post season/big game feel to the game and the game call ... well done Marcus Thompson & crew ...

... by this time these 2 teams know each other better than they know themselves- there is no "feeling out" time ... matchups on D - figured out, how they were going to attack each other offensively - figured out ... means it's all about execution now ... Ethan Kerns broke the ice as the sr. guard scored in the paint with the first 2pts of his 3 fgs in the period , Kerns drained a 3 ball and finished on a drive to the rim for a 7pt quarter almost tying his output for the game and 2 OTs from last week (9pts) ... enter Maddox Kazee, 6-2 soph. do everything swing forward for Coach Ater's Panthers ... Kazee drove the lane for 2pts/ drove, fouled , 2/2 from the line before finishing the quarter with a hard drive to the rim for 2pts/6 pts in the opening frame ... for the Dragons of Fairland, Clff Franzen opened the scoring with an offensive board and putback 2pts, the 6-3 jr. followed up the putback scoring in the paint 2pts/4 in the qtr ... Brody Buchanan warmed up with a drive & finish 2pts, hit a 15 footer 2pts, stepped back for a deep 3 pter before knocking down his 2nd jump shot from inside the arc 2pts/ 9 pts in the qtr ... Fairland 15 Chesapeake 13 after 1 ... from the SOSA broadcast it looked like SRO with fans for both sides standing in the doorways for this one ... both teams took care of the ball in first period of play, 2 miscues each ... CHS was 1/2 from beyond the arc while FHS who normally puts up the 3 ball in the 15-20 range per game (hitting at 38% as a team on the season, with 3 players shooting over 40% from downtown - Fransen/Lochow/Smith ... Buchanan at 28% from behind the 3 point line on the season) the Dragons were 1/4 from behind the arc ... the Fairland defense continued to play well as the Dragons were able to hold Kazee to 2pts in the paint, Kerns who opened with 7pts was held without a fg in the 2nd (2/2 from the FT line) , jr. forward Phillip Thacker chipped in a bucket down in the paint 2pts (he was held scoreless in the first matchup in Proctorville) ... 6-5 jr. Karson Frecka established himself in the paint, getting 5 pts in the quarter 2 fgs in the paint with an & 1 on the 2nd bucket /5pts in the period ... if you have followed the Fairland team this season you know that they have a rotation by necessity, they play 5 for 32 minutes as much as possible ... everyone on the floor in the starting 5 can score the ball - Buchanan/Fransen/Lochow/Smith leading the way with Polcyn being the man in the high post, the guy who "finds" the scorers (tonight he had 6 assists for the game) ... in qtr 2 the Dragons had 4 of 5 starters get in the scoring column - Polcyn 2 pts in the paint/ Trevor Lochow 6-0 jr. drained a trey from the corner/ Buchanan took what the defense gave him - drained his 2nd triple of the game 3pts / Cliff Fransen scored in the paint for 2pts/ went 2 for 2 from the line and closed out the quarter with the Dragons 3rd shot from behind the arc as the clock ran out giving FHS a 6 pt lead going into the locker room ... Fairland 36 Chesapeake 30 at intermission ... in the first game between these 2 teams Chesapeake seemed to have a different player take over in different quarters ie in game 1, Kazee had 13 pt in qtr 2- no one else scored, in the 3rd qtr of game 1 Frecka scored 7 no one else had more than 4 in the qtr ... tonight quarter #3 was Ethan Kerns quarter as the 5-9 senior guard dropped 10 points ... a pair of treys bookended two hard drives to the hole ... Frecka was the only other Panther to score in the period 2pts in the paint ... the Peake on ball defense picked up in the half court ... forcing 3 Dragons turnovers ... no harm no foul as CHS didn't capitalize on them but they did cut down on Fairland's "shots on goal" in the period ... the only 3 fgs in the period for FHS were from downtown as Lochow hit his 2nd trey of the game from the corner / Buchanan finding it tough to get to the rim knocked down 3 balls numbers 3 & 4 on the game ... Fairland came away with 10pts to the Chesapeake 12 third quarter points ... Fairland 40 Chesapeake 36 after 3 ... in the first game, Fairland put the ball in Brody Buchanan's hands in the final qtr of regulation as the sr. knocked down 15 of 17 points to tie that one up and send it to OT ... tonight we saw the emergence of maybe "the next dude" in SEOhio once BB graduates as soph Maddox Kazee carried the Panthers in the 4th - after a Frecka bucket down low 2pts, Kazzee hit a deep 3 ball, following that up with back to back buckets at the rim 4pts, getting his final fg in the frame on a floater in the paint 2pts/9 pts in the qtr. ... Kazee was backed up by Phillip Thacker - who had played an outstanding defensive game on Keegan Smith- decided to get to the rim, the 6-3 jr. taking 1 of 3 FHS turnovers to the house for 2pts, finishing with another strong drive down the right lane for 2 more pts ... again the Panther D was effective, getting the ball out of Buchanan's hands, forcing others to score the ball ... Fransen was fouled down low 2/2 from the line, Lochow answered with a drive & finish 2pts , Buchanan drove the paint for 2pts then hit his 5th triple of the game ... at 4:37 to play in regulation FHS trailed 44-45 ... by 1:05 the game was tied 51-51 ... both teams with inopportune turnovers with less than a minute to play in the 4th ... Panther ball, a great play by Trevor Lochow as the ball crossed center court, Lochow on ball pressure forced a Panther over and back with 27.2 on the clock ... Fairland ran the clock down to 9.1 seconds, timeout ... the Peake had fouls to give ... each time the Dragons inbound the ball they were fouled the last foul with 3.1 on the clock ... the last inbound to Buchanan was a 3 pt shot from just inside the half court line ... 51-51 after regulation ... Fairland's Trevor Lochow opened the OT with his 3rd trey of the game Dragons 54 - 51 ... Kaden Perkins for the Peake went 1/2 from the FT line 54-52 FHS ... Kerns on a drive & finish 2 pts ... 54-54 ... Buchanan drive, fouled, make make 56-54 Fairland 47.5 to play in OT ... Maddox Kazee into the paint for 2 pts ... 56-56 ... Fairland ball , ball in Buchanan's hands drives from outside the 3 point line, left side at the rim - miss as the buzzer sounded ... all even after 36 minutes just like in game 1 ... 56-56 after OT #1 ... OT #2 ... as John Bruce described it on the SOSA livestream ... the 2nd OT you have "best vs best" ... you choose your warrior to represent team, put them in the ring ... 2 men enter 1 man leaves ... Kazee in the paint for 2pts ... Buchanan in the paint for 2pts ... Kazee a drive and finish 2pts ... Buchanan a deep 3 ball ... Kazee another drive and finish 2pts ... turnover by the Peake ... Buchanan drive, fouled, make with 35.9 on the clock Dragons up 64-62 timeout Panthers ... out of the timeout Buchanan with the make 65-62 ... missed 3 ball on the peake end of the floor ... great blockout by Fransen that allowed Smith the board for FHS ... fouled ... 1/2 from the line ... Fairland stop ... Fransen fouled... to the line 2/2 ... Fairland 68 Chesapeake 62 a final ...


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

Scoring ... Maddox Kazee 25, Ethan Kerns 21, Karson Frecka 9, Phillip Thacker 6, Kaden Perkins 1
3 Pointers ... 4/8 … Ethan Kerns 3, Maddox Kazee 1
FTs ... 6/7
TOs ... 7
PnP ... 22 fgs/ 44 points in the paint
PnT ... 1 fgs/ 2 points in transition
Pbk ... 1 fgs/ 2 points on putback buckets

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

Scoring ... Brody Buchanan 35, Cliff Fransen 15, Trevor Lochow 13, Keegan Smith 3, Gabe Polcyn 2
3 Pointers ... 10/17 ... Brody Buchanan 6, Trevor Lochow 3, Cliff Fransen 1
FTs ... 12/14
TOs ... 9
PnP ... 11 fgs/ 22 points in the paint
PnT ... 1 fgs/2 points in transition
Pbk ... 1 fg/ 2 points on putback buckets

[danicalifornia]

A fantastic high school basketball game! And really, just a fantastic basketball game!

Loved seeing Buchanan and Kazee each take the challenge of guarding one another as well. Ethan Kerns had a great night for Chesapeake, Fransen/Lochow have gotten better each time out for Fairland as well.

Hope we see a Round 3 and if we do, with either the same officials and ones who are on that same level. I thought the crew was outstanding tonight.

Appreciate the kind words, we take pride in our prep for the games. Our sponsors obviously help greatly, but so do all of the great ADs and schools as a whole that are so helpful for us as well. It is all about the kids and teams, so whatever we can do to highlight them for those around the area, we will gladly do.

[peake71]

Great write up Pfloyd as always. Hate lose to either Ironton or Fairland. Buchanan is a player and tough to stop. Maddox Kazee is special, a great young man too. He played every minute of both Fairland games and the Ironton overtime game.
The over and back call hurt, thought that Fairland touched the ball first. The long pass that was a turnover hurt us more I believe.
The loss of a big man off the bench, Jacob Skeens didn't hurt as much last night as it could in the tournament. My understanding is that it was his choice and he will be missed. Good young man wish him well.

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Fairland Dragons on winning the OVC championship. The conference will be well represented in the tournament with Fairland, Chesapeake, and Ironton all capable of making a good run.

[Jason Vorhees]

This was one of the best games I’ve watched on a livestream this year, if not the best. Both teams battled and played HARD.

[GoAt 10]

I’m already looking forward to this matchup again, for a third time, at the convo on 2/28 at 8:15pm!!!