Warren 58
Vinton County 36 a final
… Entering Wednesday’s sectional semi-final at Warren, Vinton County had been playing its best basketball of the season - an offense that was getting it done inside with Allman/Hire … a confident/lethal perimeter game with Cain/Davidson/Brown … all components put in motion by the savvy sophomore PG Cobra Sharp … Warren? COULD put up 70 points OR struggle to reach 45 - the hazards of having a team composed of 1 senior/1 junior/ 10 sophomores … BOTH teams KNOW how to play defense - not just defense but DEFENSE - physical/hardnosed/in-your-face DEFENSE … Which TEAM would be able to handle the defense of the opposing team? Which TEAM had enough offense to “survive and advance” ? … the opening quarter was ALL Warriors - Warren put up the most points and played the better defense … 4 of the 5 starters for Coach Maddox’s Warriors dented the scorebook - Connor Barry 4pts/6-6 jr Trent Taylor 4 pts/ including 2/2 from the line … sophomore’s Julian Stadelman 2pts/Chase Lupardus 2pts … the big take in the opening period was the WHS defense - the Warriors turned the Vikings over 9 times in the quarter while holding Vinton County to only 5 points on 2pts by sr. Jack Davidson and a trey from Cobra Sharp … nothing was easy for VC - the Warren on-ball defense was relentless - no good looks to pass the ball/ no open looks to shoot the ball inside or out on the perimeter … Warren 12 Vinton County 5 after 1 … Coach Kight’s Vikings settled down in the 2nd … reduced the turnovers to 5 while turning the pressure up at the defensive end forcing Warren to cough it up 7 times in the 2nd/8 times in the half … VC won the 2nd qtr 12-9 … out of the 9 points by the Warriors there were only 2fgs in the qtr. both on drives to the rim 2 pts for Stadelman and a drive down the left of the lane by Lupardus … the rest of the offense for WHS was from the FT line Stadelman 2/2 and Trent Taylor 3/4 from the line … Vinton County got scoring from Sharp 3pts/ Garrett Brown picked up his first points and only 3 pointer of the game 3pts/ Ashton Allman the 6-4 post player for VC took a pass from Sharp for an easy 2pter at the rim/ adding 2/2 from the free throw line … off the bench Owen Hire added 2pts in the paint … Warren 21 Vinton County 17 at the half … Warren never trailed in the half … Warren never trailed in the entire game … but the feeling I got was VC had shown the ability to get back in the game - the combination of VC D in the 2nd & the offensive potential they could put on the floor ANNNND probably a bigger factor - the Warren offense (at times) disappears for stretches/minutes of the game clock … it FELT like the Vikings were a 3 pointer away from being IN this one , a couple of fgs of ANY variety and VC would get momentum going in the Vikings’ direction… unfortunately for VC, Warren had other ideas - Warren had Julian Stadelman and Trent Taylor … Warren KNOWS how to play D … through the opening 2 qtrs the Blue of Warren kept the Vikings “in the house” - only 2/5 from 3 point land - a good percentage BUT the Warren D didn’t give VC many looks … inside/outside - nada … great rotation on the defense … great pressure on the ball … Warren needed to find offense themselves … something to go with the excellent defensive effort … Stadelman answered chipping in 7 pts/including a trey … the big man in the middle for the big bad blue - Trent Taylor got to the rim on 3 strong drives for 6 points and soph Connor Barry added a 3 pointer … Vinton County got more aggressive on the offensive end as the Vikings took advantage of some Warren over rotations that resulted in a couple of uncontested boards and putback shots at the rim for jr big man Ashton Allman (4pts) … Garrett Brown the solid VC shooting guard continued to look like he could get shots - 4pts … Cobra Sharp added a transition bucket as the VC defense forced 7 more Warren turnovers … throughout the 3rd it seemed VC got points but Warren had an answer - more times than not it was the duo of Stadelman and Taylor … Warren 37 Vinton County 28 after 3 … 9 point Warren lead … a Warren DEFENSE that looked like it could/would make the lead stand … the Warriors forced 10 VC turnovers in the final period …3 were turned into transition buckets by Julian Stadelman …WHS got 2 on the block 2 pointers on inbound plays … Stadelman forced separation getting to the rim in transition and in the offense for 10 points in the final quarter … 5 points by Trent Taylor … 6 points off of the bench (4 points from Nick Cressey - excellent game at both ends of the floor) 2 points from soph post player Hayden Wells .. when the dust settled both teams had emptied their benches … at 6:42 on the clock in the 4th Brayden Cain the sharpshooting 3 point scorer for VC hit his only 3 pointer of the game and his only points of the game … VC got 2 fgs in the 4th - Cain’s 3 ball and 2 points on a drive by reserve Kameron Griffin … the other points in the qtr were from the FT line - 1 point each for Allman/ Hire and Aiden Woodgeard … Warren had effectively taken away/held in check the Viking offensive weapons - no Viking made it to double figures in scoring … Warrens D turned VC over 28 times in the game … the shots that VC DID get - were for the most part the shots the Warriors wanted them to take - forced/ not from good looks in spots VC wanted to take them … imo the most important stat isn’t even a stat - it’s one of those “had to be there to see it” stats - the shots that the Warren D wouldn’t allow the VC offense to take/get off due to the on ball pressure/rotations in the defense … Warren 58 Vinton County 36 a final …
… Pfloyd’s official UN-official Napkin Stats - Vinton County …
Scoring … Ashton Allman 9, Cobra Sharp 8, Garrett Brown 7, Jack Davidson 3, Brayden Cain 3, Owen Hire 3, Kameron Griffin 2, Aden Woodgeard 1
3 Pointers … 3/12 … Cobra Sharp 1, Brayden Cain 1, Garrett Brown 1
FTs … 7/12
TO … 28
PnP … 9 fgs/ 18 points in the paint
PnT … 1 fg/ 2 points in transition
Pbk .. 2 fg/ 4 points on putback buckets
… great first season at the helm of the Vikings for Coach Nj Kight … never easy to come in behind the retirement of legend - but Coach Kight did it with class … the Vikings have 3 outstanding starters returning next season - Brown/Sharp/Allman … off the bench big man Owen Hire along with Parker Shonborn/Matt Hembree both playing significant minutes off the bench all season … VC will continue the fine tradition of the Vinton County PROGRAM under the leadership of Coach Kight next season …
… Pfloyd’s official UN-offical Napkin Stats - Warren …
Scoring …Julian Stadelman 23, Trent Taylor 18, Connor Barry 7, Chase Lupardus 4, Nick Cressey 4, Hayden Wells 2
3 Pointers … 2/10 … Julian Stadelman 1, Connor Barry 1
FTs … 8/11
TOs … 18
PnP … 16 fgs/ 32 points in the paint
PnT … 5 fgs/ 10 points in transition
Pbk … 1 fg/ 2 points on putback buckets
… always great going to Warren to watch a game whether it’s at the WarriorDome or now the Coliseum - great people who love their BBB, Warriors … I have to give a shout-out to the youngsters off the bench for Warren who played an outstanding game at both ends offensively keeping the WHS leads, defensively matching the intensity of the starters - Nick Cressey/Jacob Sealey/Hayden Wells - outstanding … AND senior Ayden Cornell!!! no points to show BUT the points HE kept off the board by locking down Cobra Sharp on the perimeter/KEEPING him from penetrating & dishing - priceless … a BIG reason VC was unable to string to together any offensive runs - well done AC!!! … by the way it was Asst.Coach Jerry Mitchem’s birthday - not a bad BD present played out by the BBB TEAM! … best of luck to the Warriors as they travel to Washington CH to take on the Lions Saturday night for the sectional crown …