4th QUARTER WAKE UP

Arborbrook 27 – Fletcher 17

The Falcons (3-2) middle school won their third game of the season by outscoring Fletcher 10-1 in the fourth quarter and escaping with a victory on the score board.  The Falcons were taller, stronger, faster, and much more talented but appeared to sleep walk their way through the first 3 quarters.  At one point in the middle of the 2nd quarter Coach called time out and asked the players if anyone wanted to play basketball today or did they all have other plans because even thought they were physically at the game, their minds were somewhere else.  Fletcher worked harder and out hustled the Falcons the entire game.  Out attitude was fine but even though we scored the most points, this was a losing effort. 

We started the game playing a zone defense because of  our huge height advantage.  Fletcher does not have any true shooters and could  not penetrate the zone and scored zero points in the first quarter.  The Falcons did not do much better as turnovers and bad passes haunted us throughout the game.  Kyle Boutross got us on the board with two baskets and the Falcons carried a 4-0 lead into the second quarter.  Coach switched defenses to  a half court man to man to see if it would wake us up and give Fletcher a chance to get to the hoop.  Kyle scored another 2 points while Ryan Brown added a basket but we continued to dribble the ball off our feet or kick it out of bounds.  Fletcher put together a 6 point quarter and now trailed the Falcons 8-6 at half time.

Coach decided to try a full court man to man to see if anything could get us going.  It didn’t work as one of the Fletcher guards beat us down the court 5 straight times and scored 8 points to give Fletcher a 14-12 lead.  Joel VanDusen and Caleb Robinson both scored baskets in this quarter and Matthew Pedemonte made the only free throw of the game for the Falcons who went 1 for 13 from the charity stripe.  Kyle scored the other 4 points of the quarter as the Falcons regained a one point lead, 17-16 heading into the fourth period.  Earlier in the game we left the zone and went to a man to man defense to wake up our players and to allow Fletcher a chance to score.  We now went back to the zone to try and win the game knowing Fletcher would have a difficult time scoring.  The strategy worked as Fletcher was not able to make a basket and scored their only point on a free throw.  Meanwhile, Matthew Pedemonte came alive and made two quick baskets while Kyle added another 4 points and Ryan Brown added the final basket.   The Falcons won 27-17 but Fletcher never quit and I’m not sure we ever started.  Sometimes you play to the level of your competition in sports.  This game was a testbook example.

For the Record:  The Falcons had no assists in the game.  Kyle Boutross scored 14 points with 3 rebounds and 3 steals.  Matthew Pedemonte was 1 for 2 from the free throw line and scored 5 total points.  Matthew also had 4 rebounds and 4 steals.  Ryan Brown scored 4 points with 8 rebounds and 1 steal.  Caleb Robinson scored 2 points with 13 rebounds and 1 steal.  Joel VanDusen scored 2 points with 9 rebounds and 1 steal.  Conor Murdock added 1 steal.

Tuesday Basketball Games Canceled

Tuesday’s basketball games against Central Academy have been canceled due to the weather conditions.

This Week’s Game Schedule

Tuesday, January 20th
@ SOUTHBROOK CHURCH
4:30pm — Middle School Boys vs. Central Academy at Lake Park
6:00pm — High School Boys vs. Central Academy at Lake Park

Friday, January 23rd
@SOUTHBROOK CHURCH
5:00pm — Middle School Boys vs. Fletcher School
6:30pm — High School Boys vs. Fletcher School

SECOND QUARTER DISASTER

First Assembly 63 – Arborbrook Falcons 37

This is a difficult game to recap.  We dug a hole and couldn’t get out.   This was our second game in two nights and I don’t know if we were tired or there was just a slight let down.  We were not sharp, we did not hustle, we made terrible passes, we missed shots , we were beat down the floor consistantly, we did not go after the ball, we played poorly.  On the other hand, we made great passes, we played some terriffic defense,  we hit some good shots, we made key steals, we grabbed important rebounds, we made free throws, we played an older, faster, more experienced team even for 3 quarters.  There were times we looked like an awesome team and there were times we would have had trouble with the middle school girls team. 

Mitch Moore made the first basket of the game and the Falcons were up 2-0.  The pace was fast as both teams used a man to man defense.  The score was tied at 7-7 before the roof caved in.  First Assembly would take a 9-7 lead into the second quarter and score 23  straight points before the Falcons averted a 2nd quarter shutout when Caleb Farmer knocked down 2 free throws with 28 seconds left in the half.  First Assembly would add two more points at the buzzer an carry a 32-9 halftime lead.  The Falcons were outscored 23-2 in the quarter.  And then the third quarter started and a different Falcon team took the floor.  Immediately Josh Black took over the offense as the Falcons matched First Assembly basket for basket.  Caleb Farmer hit from outside and the free throw line and the fourth quarter started with the Falcons trailing 46-22.  Josh and Caleb continued their scoring in the fourth quarter but the Falcons could only trade baskets and went on to lose by a 63-37 score.  It was a game filled with mixed emotions but one thing was completely clear.  The Falcons never quit.  They played as hard as they could on this particular day.  They did not hang their head or make excuses.  They played as a team.  I am just as proud of them now as I have ever been.  Coach Scott was recovering from an illness and was also lethargic and out of sync.  He believes the team can sometimes take on the attitude of the coach.  Both teams played the same way today.  We are going to blame everything that went wrong on Coach Scott.  Both teams get a Mulligan since we get to play First Assembly again.

Josh Black had another good offensive game scoring 22 points.  Josh drives hard to the basket and does not shy away from contact.  As long as he stays away from 3 pointers, he can shoot from anywhere else on the floor.  Josh also made 6 of 10 free throws, pulled down 12 rebounds, had 7 steals, and 1 asist.  Caleb Farmer scored 11 points, made 7 of 10 free throws, had 1 rebound, 6 steals, and 2 assists.   Caleb also wins the award for sliding from the free throw line to the wall on his stomach after being pushed to the ground on an intential foul by a player twice his size.  Caleb had picked his pocket on a nifty steal and the player was just a little upset.  Mitch Moore scored 2 points, came up with 8 steals, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Nathan Spitler scored the other two points for the Falcons when he took a rebound off the rim and put it back up for a clean basket.  Nathan is becoming a scoring machine.  It was also the best rebound of the season.  Forest Landa played excellent defense and ended up fouling out.  Forest had 7 steals and 3 rebounds.  Daniel Zangmeister came up with 5 steals while Kyle Boutross had 2 steals and a rebound in limited playing time.

FALCONS DEFENSE LEADS TO VICTORY

Arborbrook Falcons 27 – First Assembly 26

The Arborbrook Falcons middle school struggled throughout the game but picked up their defensive pressure at just the right time to wipe out a 6 point deficit late in the fourth quater and escaped with a thrilling 27-26 victory over First Assembly.  The Falcons appeared to be a little lethargic and were constantly a step behind the players from First Assembly.  They consistantly dropped the ball or kicked it out of bounds.  Their shooting was off and  it looked like this was going to be a game where nothing went right.  First Assembly jumped off to a quick 5-0 lead before the Falcons scored the next 6 points to take their only lead of the first half.  First assembly regained the lead on their next possession and ended the quarter on top of the Falcons by a 10-7 score.  The Falcons had more turnovers than points in the second quarter but some how managed to stay in the game and went into the half time break trailing 16-12.

The third quarter proved to be more of the same as the Falcons continued to miss easy shots and kicked the ball away.  They would score only 4 points.  The defense was good but not great and no one was playing offense.  When the fourth quarter started the Falcons were on the short end of a 22-16 score and looked out of sync.  Coach told the players to play a more aggressive defense  and stop First Assembly from scoring at all in the 4th quarter.  Kyle Boutross and Matthew Pedemonte started pressuring the First Assembly guards and creating turnovers.  Kyle made two straight steals for driving layups and you could feel a momentum shift.  The Falcons cut the lead to one but fell three behind with less than two minutes left in the game.   Another steal lead to a Ryan Brown jump shot from the right cornor and the Falcons trailed 26-25 with about a minute left in the game.  First Assembly slowly brought the ball down court on their next possession when Kyle stepped in front of a floating pass for his 4th steal of the quarter  and drove the length of the court scoring on a driving layup and giving the Falcons their first lead since early in the game.  The Falcons were up by one with 48 seconds left to play.  We have been here before and could not hang onto the lead.  This time the defense came through and held First Assembly to a rushed shot that did not come close.  The remaining seconds would tick off the clock and the Falcons had their second victory of the season.   First Assembly outplayed and outhustled us for three quarters but the Falcons came alive when the game was on the line.   

The Falcons scored 16 points through the first 3 quarters and then scored 11 in the fourth quarter.  Kyle Boutross scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, 8 in the fourth quarter.  Kyle also had 9 steals and 4 rebounds.  Caleb Robinson scored 6 early points and added 2 steals and 9 rebounds.  Matthew Pedemonte scored a field goal in each half for a total of 4 points with 6 steals and 5 rebounds.  Ryan Brown made a field goal and 2 free throws and picked up 2 rebounds.Conor Murdock came away with 2 steals.