Central Academy 66 – Falcons 16
The Falcons were bringing back Mitch Moore, Josh Black, Trey Barnes, Daniel Zangmeister, Caleb Farmer, and Caleb Robinson from last year’s team. New players included Forest Landa and Nathan Spitler. The 2008/2009 Falcons consists of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders so we will always be the youngest team on the court but that doesn’t mean we will not be competitive. This team will show considerable improvement from game to game as we develop the chemistry that defines all teams.
Cental Acadamy was playing their 5th game and had won the first 4 by wide margins. We knew this would be a tough game before we took the floor. What can you say when you lose by 50 points on the scoreboard. Central was good, they were very good. They have only 7 players and played a full court press from the opening tip. They played a defense we did not see last year and will probably not see again this year. They played a defense we cannot practice against. We were never in the game and on this particular night we were outmatched. However, Coach and I do not judge a game by the points on the scoreboard. The Falcon players maintained a positive attitude throughout the entire game. They never once got down on themselves and never gave up. They were playing as hard at the end of the game when they trailed by 50 points as they did when the game started. The helped opposing players off the floor when they were knocked down. They did not become frustrated and maintained their composure at all times. Anyone that plays sports knows it is difficult to lose by a wide margin without getting frustrated. I was proud of all our players because this was a tough loss and a tough game for them.
There were other positives that the fans may not realize. We played a box and one and Josh Black and Forest Landa shut down their leading scorer for the entire game. He made a couple of baskets on steals but that was it. We broke their press and moved the ball over half court almost every time. We shut down their half court offense. Most of Central’s points came from steals and bad passes. We took some good shots that would not drop on this particular night. We learned what it takes to become a good team and how important conditioning is. Central will visit the Southbrook Gym in the middle of January which will give us a chance to measure out team’s improvement. They will probably take us lightly which will be a mistake. The Central Team is where Arborbrook will be in three years if we keep our same group of players together.
For the record. Mitch Moore was the leading scorer with 5 points. Josh Black, Forest Landa, and Trey Barnes all added 3 while Daniel Zangmeister came up with 2 points. Josh, Mitch, and Trey all grabbed 4 rebounds. Mitch had 5 blocked shots even though he played most of the game in foul trouble. Josh added 4 blocked shots and Trey 3. Mitch had the only assist of the game while Josh had 2 steals and Forest 1.
As usual, the fan support for Arborbrook was tremendous. The entire gym was full with standing room only. My thanks to Paul and Christian for keeping the stats and Tracy and Jim for keeping the score book.
