Say What vs. XXIV Legends .. 77-65 / Say What

In the preview for this game it was stated ... “For XXIV Legends, the scorers (Ryan Baker, Justin Meadows and Avery Daniel) are going to have to show up. At the same time, the team must take advantage of their superior size under the basket. That means using “the Bigs” as scorers and “the Bigs” must dominate on the boards.”

However, just as in their last match-up, the Legends came away with just one more rebound than their opponents (39-38). The scoring, outside and inside, was insufficient. The team shot just 32% from the floor and only 22% from the 3-Pt.Line. “The Bigs” were not involved in the scoring, netting just 7-Points on eight shots.

Justin Meadows scored 15-Pts; Xavier Fogle scored 26-Pts and Avery Daniel had 10-Pts. But that would not be enough to balance the scales.

One positive note was that the defense did manage to keep Brad George considerably below his 34-Points-per-Game average. He scored 23-Pts.

On the other side of the coin, it was stated that … “Say What” will need to get more scoring around Brad George as well as shoot better from the floor as a team, and still George is going to have to score big if they want to win.”

They got that. Say What was able to compensate for George’s missing points. Cornell Brown stepped up and knocked down one big “3” after another, finishing with 18-Pts. Omar Smith helped the cause with 21-Pts (often on “And-1’s) as well as grabbing 7-Rebounds. Thomas Sowell had a breakout-game, scoring 15-Pts and pulling down 12-Rebounds. Although he scored below his average, George made the big shots when his team needed it and made his contribution in other areas. He had 11-Rebounds and gave out 5-Assists.

Although Say What led most of the game, it was close throughout. At Halftime, the score was (36-33) in favor of Say What. With 5:00 remaining they led (62-58).

In the critical, tactical last minutes of the game, Say What was able to hold off any comeback plans the Legends may have had and they were able to keep their lead as Omar Smith and Brad George made their Free-Throws (Smith 6-for-6 and George 8-for-10). The final score was 77-65.

Baseline vs. HotShotz .. 66-55 / Baseline

It was the game that everyone expected, at least in the 1st Half. Baseline held a 10-Point advantage after 9-Minutes (19-9).The HotShotz fought back and even took a (30-29) lead into the locker-room at halftime.

Baseline came out of the break and began the second half with an 8-0 run. At that point, the wheels began to come off of the HotShotz’ cart.

The 40 combined points from Ben Daniels (12), Marcus Davis (14) and Casey Davis (14) came from “Shot-Clock Buzzer-Beaters” and Herculean Scoring Efforts. There was no cohesive offensive plan. When you add to that, the amount of bickering amongst teammates and complaining about calls and non-calls that was going on, it was easy to see why the team could not mount a comeback effort. With 11-Minutes to play, the score was (35-48) from their perspective and their will was broken.

Ledon Green had held down the fort for Baseline in the 1st Half. On the block, he was too much for the HotShotz to handle, leading the scoring at the half with 12-Points and finishing the game with 20-Pts, to go along with 5-Blocks.

In the 2nd Half, it was Aaron Miller, who went from “Non-Factor” in the first matchup to “X-Factor” in this game. Playing without his backcourt companions (Donald Sloan and Aamir Kidwai), he took over the offense … and pretty much the game. He broke down the defense and scored inside. He scored from mid-range and long-range. He added 7-Rebounds to his stat-sheet as well as 3-Assists. He also made his Free-Throws when needed (7-for-7).

The same holds true for McKenna Hunt, who although he did not score big, he made clutch free-throws during that phase of the game when it was needed.

Baseline came away with a (66-55) victory, but it wasn’t pretty. They will need to step it up next week if they want the Banner.