Fairland 62 Gallia Academy 55 a final

[pfloyd]

Fairland 62
Gallia Academy 55 a final

... made the long trip in the rain to the French City - Gallipolis tonight to see Coach Speed's Dragons take on the Gallia Academy Blue Devils in important OVC league action ... GAHS has the twin towers (at least for SEO hoops) in 6-6 Zane Loveday and 6-8 Isaac Clary while Fairland is led by sr. shooting guard/Rio Grande University bound Aiden Porter ... this one was a battle for 4 quarters between Jd Thacker for FHS & the post players of GAHS, Thacker at 6-3 gives up not only the 5 inches to Clary but at least 100 pounds - the young man did an outstanding job of making the Blue Devil big man work for every one of his 19 points for the night ... while the battle waged inside, the real battle was on the perimeter with the Devils trying to guard one of the best in the "bidness" scoring the ball - Aiden Porter ... for the game AP had 3 different guards "tag team" guarding him, the 3 guards for Gallia accumulated 14 fouls on the night, 2 players fouled out trying to take away the penetration of the FHS playmaker - 22 points on the evening for AP ... this one was won by the Dragon Defense - Clary inside was unstoppable IF he got the ball on the blocks - contested shots but just too big when he only has to catch, drop step, go up at the rim ... throw in the 2nd 6-5 or better big in sr Zane Loveday and you have a pretty formidable pair down low - Loveday has something Clary does not - range ... with Clary on the blocks Loveday works the perimeter and midrange jumper area (11 points on the night) ... I wanted to see if GAHS role players had developed what they were missing last season - perimeter scoring ... the answer I took away was a definite - maybe ... soph Kenyon Franklin had 2 first quarter 3's (9 points in the first half) - nada the last 2 quarters ... as I said Loveday has a nice midrange jumper ... junior Brody Fullure added a triple , in all the perimeter game "has potential" is what I took away tonight - 3/15 from the 3 point line ...

... the game was a great game to watch from the Cheap Seats - couldn't get much closer throughout as the first quarter ended at 17-17 ... Fairland getting scoring from 4 of it's 5 starters (soph Will Davis 4pts/AP 5 pts with a triple/ Ethan Taylor 5 pts/ and Jd Thacker adding a 3 ball for his 3 points) for the Blue Devils Clary 4 pts/Kenyon Franklin with his 2 triples had 7 pts/ Brody Fellure 4 pts/ and Loveday with 2 pts to round out the scoring ... Fairland 17 Gallia Academy 17 after 1 ... in the 2nd period Gallia Academy opened up a 7 point spread on FHS at the 4:24 in the period ... Fairland could not get a bucket to fall as their first points in the 2nd didn't come until Porter knocked down a pair FTS at 4:41 remaining the qtr. ... GAHS was led in the paint again by Clary's 4 more points in the period, Loveday chipped in 4 pts, Connor Roe off the bench added 5 points to the scoreboard and 2 more on a transition bucket from Franklin ... the Dragons closed the gap with a couple of transition baskets using some excellent full court pressure led by Will Davis getting a pair of strips in the backcourt for easy buckets on the scoreboard , Davis with 6 pts in the period 10 for the half, AP put up a fg and 4/4 from the FT line (11 points in the half) Jd Thacker with a drive to the rim for his 2 points in the qtr. ... Fairland 31 Gallia Academy 32 at intermission ... after intermission Fairland continued to attack the rim offensively getting 4 fgs at the rim, and a three ball from Ethan Taylor ( Porter with 5 pts/ and deuces from Davis/Thacker/ Chase Allan off the bench ... taking it at Loveday/Clary seemed to be the ticket to a W ... BUT to punch this ticket the ball needs to go thru the bucket - on 3 straight trips with the ball the Dragons were able to get a shoulder by the GAHS defender, got to the rim BUT 0 points on 3 straight misses at the rim ... for GAHS the twin towers continued to be how the Blue Devils were banking on getting the lead and keeping it - in the 3rd Loveday hit a pair of midrange jumpers while Clary had 4 points down low but failed to convert on 4 FTs going 0/4 in the 3rd ... Fellure knocked down a three ball for GAHS in the 3rd ... Gallia Academy 43 Fairland 45 after 3 ... the key to this game was the Fairland full court pressure ... Davis spearheaded the Dragons D ... 6-1 , length , quicks, great leaping ability - just what you want pressuring the ball ... the Gallia offense had no answer , and never found an answer to the Fairland pressure ... you could see it - pressure on the perimeter - the entire team looked to be "stressed" by the pressure - no answers ... 5 GAHS TO's, FHS opened up a 50-45 lead with 4:34 to play ... behind the strength of Isaac Clary (7 points in the period) the Blue Devils reeled in the Dragons ... this one was 50-50 with 2:38 to play ... in the next 1:32 Fairland did what Fairland does - pressure, the quickness is unreal when they go full court pressure trapping, the rotations and break to the ball is outstanding, reminds me of piranha in the water LOL ... on the other side GAHS had a difficult time vs the FHS attack in the backcourt - 5 turnovers in the final quarter ... in the 1:32 of playing time the Dragons opened up a 59-51 lead with 1:06 on the clock ... the Dragons closed out the game at the FT line going 5/7 down the stretch ... Fairland 62 Gallia Academy 55 a final

... Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Gallia Academy

Scoring ... Isaac Clary 19, Zane Loveday 11, Kenyon Franklin 9, Brody Fellure 9, Conner Roe 5, Carson Call 2
3 Pointers ... 3/15 ... Kenyon Franklin 2, Brody Fellure 1
FTs ... 4/12
TOs ... 16
PnP ... 18 fgs/ 36 points in the paint
PnT ... 3 fgs/ 6 points in transition
Pbk ... 4 fgs/ 8 points off of offensive boards

... I like the Gallia TEAM! the potential is there to score on the perimeter - Franklin is and going to be a good one, Fellure can score the ball beyond the arc just does look to take the shot ... Loveday can go inside/shoot the midrange jumper at 6-6 he is a handful ... Clary the big man is money on the block ... so where is the issue or are the issues ? taking care of ball on the perimeter is suspect as Fairland forced 16 turnovers, Fairland completely changed the demeanor of the game when they turned up the pressure, sped up the tempo of the game ... the bigs in Loveday and Clary "got theirs" 11/19 points ... Franklin was a factor for 1 half but disappeared in the 2nd half, Fellure has all of the tools to be a 15 ppg player - doesn't get it when looking to always go inside ... it seems that the MORE effective GAHS can be on the perimeter, it would open up even more on the blocks for the Clary/Loveday duo ...

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

Scoring ... Aiden Porter 22, Will Davis 14, Ethan Taylor 13, Jd Thacker 9, Steeler Leep 2, Chase Allan 2
3 Pointers ... 5/17 ... Aiden Porter 2, Ethan Taylor 2, Jd Thacker 1
FTs ... 13/17
TOs ... 5
PnP ... 15 fgs / 30 points in the paint
PnT ... 5 fgs/ 10 points in transition
Pbk ... 0

... wasn't sure what to expect out of the 2021-22 edition of the Dragons , I was so used to rattling off the Polcyn, Thomas, Williams, Hunt, Schmidt, Porter ... Aiden Porter is the real deal - has been all along, now it's HIS team ... he is not alone! the cupboard is not empty Will Davis (soph) is just finding out how good he can be at both ends of the floor, Ethan Taylor carries on the tradition of Dragon perimeter scoring AND gets inside on the boards, last night Jd Thacker took on 6-8 Clary in the paint - he did an outstanding job making the big man work for everything he got on the blocks ... I'm a defensive guy- I love the full court pressure the Dragons bring with Davis on point - he is so quick with his hands/length he is a nightmare for opposing teams ... scorers, defense, can't create size but the hustle/technique down low by the size that FHS has will keep them in games ... I get to see Fairland again today vs Federal Hocking ( another big man.quick guard set up) back to back games on Fairlands legs/Fed Hock's game last night was ppd - we'll see how this plays out ...

[Pointersr4real]

Great game. Pointers handled then both time to come watch a pointers game. Pointers are top 5

[Geronimo]

Gallia will turn it around !!! Consistent guard play would make Gallia a force this season, its there the talent is there.

[Hornetfan84]

I’ve heard a few mention the sophomore playing for Fairland has caused some chaos for a few offenses. Gallia has some room to get better also.