Eric Kagan and Drew McPherson help lead Pass the Pumpkin into the Folsom semifinals

Kagan

A strange scenario set up what was eventually a play-in game between Pass the Pumpkin and Baby Yagas last night in the Folsom Draft League.

Since there are seven teams in the league, the two top teams got a bye into the semifinals, with the five remaining teams playing in play-in games last night. The two bottom teams in the league played in an initial play-in game, where the winner advanced to play Pass the Pumpkin right after a play-in game between Haunted Hoopers and Sons of Witches (which Sons of Witches won).

I was surprised when I saw that Baby Yagas lost 72-56 but advanced to a second playoff game, until I checked the box score and saw that Nightmare Before Christmas only had two people show up, so they had to forfeit.

That set up a matchup between Baby Yagas and Pass the Pumpkin, and the higher seed took care of business. Pass the Pumpkin put in a full team effort and moved on to the semifinals through an 85-59 victory.

The playoffs are a time for star players to play like star players, and a select few role players to step up and make the difference between a win and a loss. Pass the Pumpkin played without Cassidy Klinfelter, who leads the team with 22 points per game. That put more scoring responsibility onto Drew McPherson and Eric Kagan, who are the second and third-leading scorers on the team, as they combine to average 38.4 points per game.

McPherson and Kagan were up to the task, as they combined to score 56 points, three fewer than all of Baby Yagas. They both set season-highs in scoring, with McPherson scoring 29 on 13-22 shooting and Kagan scoring 27 on 13-20 shooting. They each had double-doubles as well, as McPherson had 10 rebounds and Kagan had 14 assists.

Michael Pruett, who’s second in the league with 15.5 rebounds per game, added 20 rebounds, as multiple players stepped up in the win. The one player that averages more rebounds than Pruettin Folsom is Tim Szatko, who averages 18.7 per game. He plays for Baby Yagas, but was unfortunately not at either play-in game last night, leaving five players to make up for that rebounding and 27.7 points per game. This significantly hindered Baby Yagas chances, as they already came in as a bottom seed, but Passing the Pumpkin deserves credit for taking advantage of that opportunity.

This now sets up two semifinal matchups between 5-3 and 4-4 teams in the regular season, as Folsom is showcasing an impressive amount of parity this season.