Athens 45 a final
… how long did it take for this "regular" season game to get played ??? 1 year ? I know that it was scheduled then rescheduled and rescheduled 2 , 3 , 4 times ??? with Mother Nature getting the "W" each time … last night Mother Nature must have nodded off because Athens vs Warren finally DID get into the record books !!! I agree with a comment 93dog made before this one tipped off - that it just didn't matter about the outcome THIS IS WHAT HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS is ALL about !!! 2 quality TEAMS playing each other - Athens ranked #3 in D2 in the state … 15-0 Athens … vs Warren - one of the most consistently good basketball programs in SEOhio … coached by one of the deans of coaching in SEO Blane Maddox … it IS what high school hoops is all about ! in the Warrior Dome, where the doors opened at 5 pm and the stands for the home folks were packed by 5:08 ! the game? it was going to be the bonus - as the atmosphere created by these 2 teams keeps me coming back every Tuesday, Friday , Saturday to watch high school hoops somewhere …
… the papers have already put up their rundowns of the quarter by quarter description as to what happened on the court - I'm not even going to try to top those recaps … I'm a strange bird really - I don't just go to games and watch them I go into the games almost like the coaches - I have this game plan in mind for both teams - what does each team need to do to get the W both offensively and defensively … I watch the game, do my napkin stats then breakdown the game as to how each team did executing their game plan … last night Warren was the better TEAM on the court … last night Warren was able to execute their game plan … to near perfection … the MO for beating Athens is not a secret : take the ball out of Griffin Lutz's hands … make ALL of the other players handle the ball, make ALL of the other players have to make decisions WITH the ball … finally you have to get to the Athens bench - take Griffin Lutz, Adam Luehrman, Ryan Luehrman, Joe Burrow (one of or more than one of) out of the game via foul trouble … if you are able to execute any ONE of these you have the best chance to be in the game and have a chance to get a W … NOW Athens had played 15 games ALL wins up to last night game and NOT one of their opponents had been successful in getting a W … What did Warren do differently ??? Execution … Warren goes 9 deep without any drop off in performance … 9 equally quick players … 9 ball handlers … scorers inside and outside … defensively able to pressure an opponent for 32 minutes - no let up … last night Warren with a game plan as described played Athens who ran into the Perfect Storm so to speak as not only did Warren take the ball out of Griffin Lutz's hands and force others to handle the ball , the Warriors were able to also get one of the outstanding 4 for Athens in foul trouble - Griffin Lutz boom ! 2 keys to a Warren W wrapped into one … with GL on the bench it forced everyone else to handle the ball, make decisions with the ball resulting in 29 Athens TOs … 20 of the TOs were converted into points for the Warriors … game over - Warren didn't have to hit the 3 ball to win, didn't have to attack the Athens zone offensively . Warren did what they are comfortable in doing playing transition basketball … Warren 77 Athens 45 a final …
… the turning point of the game : PG Griffin Lutz being a non-factor due to foul trouble … the key to the Warriors success ALL started with Lutz's opposite number on the Warren side PG Aaron Mazurkiewcz … all Maz did was do what a PG is supposed to do - handled the ball, distributed the ball to players in the places on the court where they could be effective with the ball - perfect … how about this Pfloyd Official/Unofficial Maz Napkin Stat Line for last night : 8 points ( 6 points above his average) 6 assists … 6 rebounds … 6 steals … 4/4 from the FT line … defensively he harassed , got his hands on basketball, he was the catalyst for the WHS Defense … great game by Maz & Co at both ends of the floor …
… Pfloyd Napkin Stats - Athens …
Scoring … Joe Burrow 12, Ryan Luehrman 9, Adam Luehrman 9, Griffin Lutz 6, Sam Vander Ven 6, Nick McDaniel 2
3-Pointers … 5/21 … Burrow 2, Vander Ven 2, A. Luehrman 1
FT's … 11/13
TOs … 29 … 12(1st qtr)… 4 (2nd)… 7 (3rd) … 6 (4th)
Where do the Athens Bulldogs go from here? Burrow, Adam & Ryan Luehrman, Griffin Lutz, Sam Vander Ven are winners - winners know that winning/succeeding requires work, requires looking at past losses and even wins and seeing where TEAM needs to improve … how do WE handle the fact that WE have to have Griffin Lutz on the floor for 32 minutes? I see GL trying to throttle back a little KNOWING how valuable he is to the success of the Bulldogs … Bulldog success in the post season lies squarely on GLs shoulders …
Pfloyd's Napkin Stats - Warren
Scoring … Blake Kidder 24 , Michael Hall 16, Kyler Dennis 11, Drew Henthorn 10, Aaron Mazurkiewzc 8, Seth Hall 3, Luke Drayer 2, Bishop Ford 2, Trevor Welch 1
3 Pointers … 3/11 … Michael Hall 1, Drew Henthorn 1, Blake Kidder 1
FTs … 24/31 … at one point the Warriors were 17/19 - outstanding … just what the doctor ordered for a BIG Game …
TOs … 18
… I have to believe that TEAM execution was the BIG winner last night … at both ends of the floor the game plan was executed to perfection - Coach Maddox had to have gone into the locker room after the game read through the key points in the game plan - checked them all off and wrote in great big letters PERFECT ...
