Jackson 67
Minford 57 a final

… Monday night hoops ! #21 Minford (5-2) @ #5 Jackson (7-2) … Jackson with its’ 3rd game in 4 days (b2b with Unioto & Wheelersburg) … Minford having not had a game since 12/20 … the Ironmen looked sluggish out of the gates while the Falcons looked like they had been off for 10 days which equaled 2 pretty even teams in the 1st quarter … Coach Morrow’s Ironmen went 3/7 from behind the arc while Coach Shoemaker’s Falcon’s 2/4 from downtown … JHS with 1 TO/MHS 6 TOs … Jackson was led by Boston Kuhn’s 7 points (2 treys), Drew Bragg added a triple, Braxton Hammond with 4 pts for the Ironmen … Minford was led by Nathan McCormick’s 5 pts/ triples from Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis & Skylar Knore (3 pts each) and deuce from Trent Zimmerman …

Jackson 16 Minford 13 end of 1 … … the best player on the court – PG Caleb Wallis for JHS – spent the 1st quarter penetrating, dishing, finding teammates, working hard to get everyone involved … What do you do if you are the leader on the TEAM and your TEAM seems a step or two slow? CW took matters into his own hands by turning up the D, pushing the ball in transition … with Wallis “pulling” the JHS TEAM in the right direction JHS scored the first 8 points of the 2nd qtr not allowing an MHS point until the 5:23 mark …TO Minford … the 8-3 run to open the qtr. was followed by a Jackson 10-0 run … an 18 point Jackson lead at the 2:45 mark of the period … Caleb Wallis led the way with 15 points in the quarter – 2 triples /5 for 5 from the FT line/ 2 transition buckets … the rout was on , right ? – nope – as the Falcons showed their stuff from beyond the arc in the final 2:45 on the clock the Falcons went on their own 11-2 run to close out the quarter led by Trent Zimmerman’s back to back treys along with a triple from Vogelson-Lewis …

Jackson 36 Minford 27 at the half… the 3rd period had Minford holding their own … outscoring Jackson 12-10 in the quarter going 1/6 from behind the three point line but getting quality minutes & 5 points from Nathan McCormick along with 4 bench points (2 each from Zimmerman and Adam Crank) … Jackson had Boston Kuhn tallying 5 points (a trey & 2 FTs) and 2 two pointers from Wallis …

Jackson 46 Minford 39 end of 3 … the final quarter was played fairly even with Jackson doing it’s damage from behind the arc and as the quarter wound down – from the FT line … Minford didn’t fold and go away in the face of 21 points in the quarter from the Ironmen … the Falcons ARE an excellent 3 point shooting TEAM as MHS drained 5 triples in the final period – 3 by McCormick (11 points in the quarter on his ball alone) with support from Vogelsong-Lewis & Andy Crank with 1 trey each in the period … in the end it was Jackson’s Defense (forcing 19 MHS turnovers in the game) and a heavy dose of Caleb Wallis – 7/7 from the FT line in the 4th … 28 points for the game – that was the difference in this one …

Jackson 67 Minford 57 a final

… Pfloyd’s official UN-official Napkin Stats – Minford …

Scoring … Nathan McCormich 23, Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis 13, Trent Zimmerman 10, Adam Crank 5, Andy Crank 3, Skylar Knore 3
3 Pointers … 11/24 … Elijah Vogelsong-Lewis 4, Nathan McCormick 3, Trent Zimmerman 2, Adam Crank 1, Andy Crank 1
FTs … 3/6
TOs … 19
PnP … 7 fgs/ 14 points in the paint
PnT … 0
Pbck …… 3 fgs/ 6 points on putbacks

… Minford is an excellent shooting team – 5 different players had made three pointers … when Wallis for Jackson led the charge defensively it took the Falcons 5-6 minutes to get a feel for the JHS pressure on the perimeter … with their ability to trade 2 pointers for 3 pointers they have the ability to stay in most games while the fire power to knockoff front runners … Coach Shoemaker has put together a quality TEAM …

… Pfloyd’s official UN-official Napkin Stats – Jackson …

Scoring … Caleb Wallis 28, Boston Kuhn 15, Drew Bragg 8, Griffin Brown 8, Braxton Hammond 6, Caden Donaldson 2
3 pointers …. 9/19 … Boston Kuhn 3, Caleb Wallis 2, Drew Bragg 2, Griffin Brown 2
FTs ……. 14/17
TOs ….. 5
PnP …. 11 fgs/ 22 points in the paint
PnT ….. 7 fgs/ 14 points in transition
Pbck …. 0

… Coach Morrow’s Ironmen are fun to watch, they get after an opponent defensively especially on the perimeter, lots of help defense … good communication … the motor at both ends in Caleb Wallis – not a surprise … but lots excellent pieces to this Ironman squad – Caden Donaldson is outstanding on the defensive end helping down low , keeping the opposition bigs from getting shots in the paint … Donaldson & Co. in the paint match the perimeter pressure led by Wallis/Kuhn/Brown … off the bench – Bragg/Erwin/Spires get it done defensively with Bragg adding nice minutes and an outside 3 point threat as well that has to be respected by opponents … 8 deep … Caleb Wallis IS the best point guard Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line … Jackson solidifies itself as one of the best defensive TEAMs in SEO …

… got a chance to chat briefly with Dan Morrow of Jackson Radio fame and the Dad of Coach Morrow for Jackson – we both agreed that the Ironmen NEEDED a W tonight after coming off of a weekend b2b with 2 solid teams in beating Unioto Friday night and losing by 2 to Wheelersburg on Saturday … met Caden & Cooper Donaldson’s parents as my wife and I walked into the school tonight – thanks Mr. D for introducing yourself! you should be very proud of your boys! Caden being one of the best role players in SEO while tonight Cooper Donaldson was honored for scoring over 1000 points in his high school for the Ironmen – Cooper was recognized and will have his name added to the 1000 point plus banner in the gym … just as last season’s 17-8 District squad was honored as well with a banner to be displayed in the gym … great stuff ! always makes me smile no matter where I go to watch hoops in SEO to see the players honored for their contributions on the court for the schools they are playing for …