Miami Trace 40 a final
... after having to change dates for this game to be played due to the Miami Trace girls playing in their regional final Friday night - the 2nd game of the SE District was finally played ! ... you never know how such a "delay" will play out on the court ... does it favor one team over the other, does it allow more time to prepare for the opposition or is it just what it is - a delay that means nothing in the big picture ... no matter how it played out in the minds of some 16-18 year olds it sure as heck played into the minds of the Cheap Seat guys LOL ... the game ? turned out to be a dandy that went right down to the wire ... in fact it went right down to the last shot that WAS in before it was out ... Fairfield Union 42 Miami Trace 40 a final ...
... I would have NEVER thought that at the 3:18 mark of the opening quarter FU would have had a 4 point lead on MT - not a big surprise there BUT the scratch my head moment was that the Panthers of MT hadn't scored yet ! and the Falcons had only put up 4 points ! ... also surprising to this old cheap seat guy was the number of 3 pointers heaved up at both ends of the floor ! FU went 0/6 from downtown while Trace chucked 8 and found the mark for 1 trey in the period ... not surprising was the Falcon leading scorer in the quarter being sharpshooting Lucas Thompson (6 pts) / what WAS surprising was that Thompson's 6 points were his only points for the game ! ... on the defensive side Miami Trace was very effective in denying FU's 6-5 post player Colin Woodside the ball in the offensive flow ... CW had 2 points on a putback bucket ... Fairfield Union 8 Miami Trace 7 end of 1 ... Quarter number 2 had MT winning the battle of the points outdistancing FU 13-12 in the scoring column ... each team turned the other over 3 times in the period ... each team put up 3 triples with FU's Evan Conley being the only player to ring up a three pointer ... Deandre and Tyrae Pettiford dented the scorebook for the first time - Deandre (5) /Tyrae (2) in the quarter ... probably the big surprise in the period was the needed points from the MT bench - as Cameron Carter came off the bench to pick up his points 3,4,5 & 6 in the first half for MT ... for FU, Hayden Price was able to drop in a runner from the left baseline and a couple of FTs ... while Colin Woodside saw very few touches other than helping get the ball across mid court in the FU press breaker ... Miami Trace did an excellent job of pressuring the ball at 3/4 court for the entire 32 minutes ... forced FU to have to move Colin Woodside up to the midcourt area to help break the pressure ... the defensive move slowed down the game, kept the Falcons from getting into their halfcourt game without having to start the offense deep in the backcourt on every possession ... as the 2nd quarter was a wash - both teams put forth a lot of effort only to find themselves no further in deciding the district champion than when both teams tipped it off 16 minutes of game clock prior ... Fairfield Union 20 Miami Trace 20 intermission ... Miami Trace hit the floor running to open the 3rd - PG Blake Pitser led the way with a 3 pointer get things started for Trace ... followed by a quick putback basket to give the Panthers the lead ... the Falcons countered with 2 points each by senior Jack Wolshire/Woodside from off the block and a floater in the paint by Hayden Price ... Miami Trace got separation in the 3rd as the Panthers spread the ball around allowing Deandre Pettiford (4), Darby Tyree (3) and off the bench Cameron Carter adding 2 points to round out the scoring for MT ... Miami Trace 34 Fairfield Union 28 end of three ... prior to the 4th period of action Fairfield Union had gone 1 for 14 from behind the three point line ... in the 4th quarter the decision was made to finally "get the ball inside to the FU bread and butter" 6-5 Colin Woodside - patience is a virtue BUT when the 3 ball "ain't" part of the arsenal AND you have the best big man in the Southeast District holding his ground in the paint "FIND HIM !!!" ... FU was able to get some good matchups on CW as the FU big man found the basket for 7 points including an offensive board & putback basket at the 1:18 mark of the 4th that put FU in the lead 39-38 ... sandwiched between Woodside bookend buckets was 2 BIG TIME baskets by transfer PG Evan Conley (4 points in the period) ... once FU got the lead MT lost their composure coughing up 2 straight turnovers ... with the ball AND the lead FU forced MT to put them at the line as Woodside/Woolshire both hit big FTs in the 4th with FU nursing a 41-40 lead and :35 seconds to play Woolshire hit 1 of 2 from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 42-40 ... Miami Trace ball ... under :20 to play ... FU fouled on 3 consecutive possessions/with fouls to give to keep MT from getting off a potential tying or winning shot ... the next to last Trace inbounds was an at the rim pass to a breaking Deandre Pettiford - a great tip out of bounds by FU put the ball under the MT basket with :08 seconds on the clock ... MT taking the ball out under their own basket setting up a potential tying shot with again a possible ally-oop pass on the inbounds ... not to be - FU had everything covered the ball was knocked back away from the basket ...Darby Tyree was able to get to the loose ball, going away from the basket he put up a 35 ft desperation , off balance toss that went down into the bucket before rattling out !!! Fairfield Union hangs on 42 Miami Trace 40 a final ...
...Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Miami Trace ...
Scoring ... Deandre Pettiford 13, Blake Pitser 12, Cameron Carter 8, Darby Tyree 3, Seth Leach 2, Tyrae Pettiford 2
3 Pointers ... 2/16 ... Blake Pitser 2
FTs .......... 2/2
TOs ....... 10
PntP ....... 22
Points in Transition ..... 2
...Excellent season for Miami Trace ... even with the loss the Panthers are one of if not THE most athletic teams in the SE District ... stretches of undisciplined play resulting in turnovers at inopportune times (the 4th period ) was the MT undoing in this one ... add to the mix 2/16 from downtown ... ultimately Miami Trace was beaten in the post tonight - not the whole night - only when it counted most in the 4th period ... the napkins stats show that the Trace bigs Seth Leach/Darby Tyree were held to 5 points in the post for MT while the FU post duo of Colin Woodside & Lucas Thompson dropped in 19 points from inside the paint on the night a 19-5 thrashing down low ... throw in an attempted dunk that was't for MT - the night ended ...
... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Fairfield Union ...
Scoring ... Colin Woodside 13, Hayden Price 10, Evan Conley 10, Lucas Thompson 6, Jack Woolshire 3
3 Pointers .... 1/14 ... Evan Conley 1
FTs ..... 9/14
TOs .... 13
PntP ......... 26
Points in Transition ..... 2
... obviously the outside shots weren't finding there mark for FU ... luckily there IS a "fix" for the "perimeter 3 ball that does not fall" it's called "find #4 - let him make everything right on the court and on the scoreboard" ... great patience for CW ... when the Falcons turned to him to carry the day - he was there ... he found the basket off the blocks and got to the line ... 13 turnovers seems high BUT when you are under pressure for 32 minutes straight 13 "ain't" bad ... tonight's "W" for FU was the first District Championship in school history ... congratulations to the Falcons of Coach Eversole - best of luck vs Eastmore
