Logan 54 final
... a high school basketball atmosphere like no other - the Warrior Dome - seats 900 ... 200 visitors & 700 home fans ... a Big Bad Blue student section that went from the floor to the top of their section ... visitor fans complaining about the size of the gym, the seating space, lack of a student section seating , the officials , the 100 degree temps in the gym - yep a high school league championship game - perfect ! LOL ... the Game ? it didn't disappoint either ... 2 good high school teams battling for 32 minutes , 2 teams who took over periods of the game either to take the lead, get back into the game or take the lead again - yeah it was one of those games - IF you are a true hoops fan you had a smile on your face the entire game !!!
...In quarter 1, the same teams - Warren vs Logan which played in Logan 6 days prior were playing but the "same" teams would not be playing each other on the floor - as Warren would be without starting guard Kyler Dennis due to a reoccurring health issue ... Logan +1 Warren -1 pregame ! ... as Coach Maddox said prior to the game - no excuses, "we at least had one day to prepare to play without Kyler in the lineup" ... if you watched game #1 of this series - Logan was able to take away the Warren perimeter game - I was looking to see adjustments by both teams vs game 1 in Logan ... Warren was able to double the number of 3's it posted in game 1 in Logan IN the first quarter of action as Brice Gandee dropped 2 treys on the Purple Defense totaling 8 points in the quarter (which was 1 three and a point more than he scored in the opening game) - adjustment #1 made by WHS ... find outside scoring other than Hall/Dennis - check ... for Logan in quarter one - the aggressive , confidence of game one needed to continue for game #2 on the road - check as the Logan seniors Sam Evans (6 pts), Isaiah Smith (2) and Lane Little (3 with a triple) hit the boards,attacked the rim, and looked to continue to expose the lack of Warren perimeter D from game one - check ... Logan 11 Warren 12 end of one ...
... quarter 2 was a defensive battle with Logan being held to 2 fg's while Warren could muster but 3 fg's ... the difference in the 2nd was Warren attacking the rim ... when you attack the rim in high school hoops usually good things happen - in this case Warren took advantage of the LHS aggressiveness on D in the paint - Logan picked up fouls, Warren got to the line going 8/10 from the FT line in the 2nd period ...Logan settled for perimeter shots putting up 9 treys in the first half/6 in the 2nd quarter vs 4 by Warren 1 in the 2nd quarter ... Logan 18 Warren 27 at intermission ...
... Quarter 3 ... ended with Logan having outscored Warren 17-14 ... Warren had taken a 29-18 lead at the 6:30 mark of the 3rd ... in the next 2 minutes and 21 seconds Logan outscored the Warriors 13-2 to draw even with Warren 31-31 ... Logan's barrage came in the form of seniors Isaiah Smith & Lane Little ... in the 2:21 of game clock - the LHS senior duo combined for 13 points ... 3 triples (2 Little/1 Smith) ... forced 4 Warren turnovers (3 Smith interceptions) ... 31-31 4:09 to go in the 3rd ... good teams weather storms - in tight basketball games there are many storms or in hoops lingo "runs" ... Warren weathered the Logan 13-2 run ... in the last 4:09 of the 3rd Warren answered with it's own run - led by Luke Drayer - the man for WHS all night long - the Warriors attacked the rim again, with fast break points, with drives on the baseline by the time those of us in the Cheap Seats took our next breath Warren had gone on a 10-4 run to close out the quarter , regaining the lead ... Logan 35 Warren 41 end of 3 ...
... the final period was a battle of the two players who went at it all night on the floor - Luke Drayer for Warren & Lane Little for Logan ... Drayer's defensive assignment was L. Little ... full court, all night , face to face ... the 4th quarter was as good a battle as you will find in high school hoops - Lane Little took the Chiefs on his shoulders - draining 3 treys ... assisted in forcing 6 WHS turnovers ... Luke Drayer answered with 8 points for the Warriors getting his on drives to the rim & getting to the line ... with the ongoing battle on the floor ... the difference in the final score came down to a player who never clocked a second of game time - Austin Barta , freshman - was inserted in the lineup to shoot 2 FTs for injured PG Seth Hall ... the freshman knocked down both FTs/was quickly replaced for the remaining 2 minutes plus of the game ... Warren 56 Logan 54 final ...
... Pfloyd's Official "Unofficial" Napkin Stats - Logan ...
Scoring ... Lane Little 20, Sam Evans 14, Isaiah Smith 9, Bo Myers 6, Cole Baron 3, Kory Henthorne 2
3 Pointers ...10/23 ... Lane Little 6, Bo Myers 2, Coal Baron 1, Isaiah Smith 1
FT's ... 4/6
TOs ... 9
... not sure if you will find, can find a better all around PG than Lane Little ... the young man has grown as a player in just one season ... he has learned the nuances of the position, he defends as well as anyone, scores from anywhere - off the dribble, from behind the arc ... Lane Little is in my top 5 players in SEOhio hoops this season - outstanding player ...
... Pfloyd's Official "Unofficial" Napkin Stats - Warren ...
Scoring ... Luke Drayer 22, Brice Gandee 11, Josh Huffman 7, Seth Hall 6, Chase Weihl 6, Mason Pilkey 2, Austin Barta 2
3 pointers ... 4/7 ... Brice Gandee 3, Seth Hall 1
FT's ... 14/24
TOs ... 12
... great high school basketball game !!! the leagues champs split their series , both holding serve on their home court ... this played out exactly the way it should have - coming down to one or the two top teams having to beat the other top league team on their court to win the SEOAL ... didn't happen ... a tie at the top ... Congratulations to both teams, coaches, all the players on their shared league championship !
... it was an interesting evening at the Warrior Dome ... I walked into the gym , ran into Coach Maddox, Coach Mitchem for Warren shook hands/chatted/ "glad you could make it" kind of stuff before getting to one of the "valuable" seats for 3 games - before I could sit down I shook hands with 5 or 6 Warren faithful whom I call friends - all congratulating me on my good news of being "cancer free" ... just saying "hello" , "good to see ya" ... some had offered to get me tickets had I not been able to get tickets in Logan for the game ... great people in the Blue & White ... one of the Warren Warriors from last season Andrew Henthorn was there to shake my hand - said he knew I would be in the stands somewhere , just wanted to say hello to pfloyd ... I finally got to sit down, the first thing I heard from 2 Logan fans - one said "is't this the first road game you've gone to this year? " - another said " maybe they (the Warren fans) have a seat for you on the other side" ... always nice to see our friends from Warren though ...
