The United Way 6th Grade Boys Basketball team bounced back from last week's heartbreaking loss with an exciting come-from-behind victory of their own over a very fine Gardner Whitworth club, winning 33-24. The win leaves United with a 1-1 record.
United came out on fire as Malik Joyner won the opening tip. Lucas Carpenter grabbed the ball and fired down to a streaking Daniel Ferguson who scored the basket on the first of the team's 13 assists for the game. United scored the first 6 points of the contest and the 1st period came to a close with United up 10-6.
In the second period United increased its lead to 6 points as the tenacious Gardner Whitworth boys scapped with every possession, and halftime saw United holding a 16-10 lead.
The third quarter proved to be very rough and tough again for United as Gardner chipped away, finally pulling ahead as United could only manage 3 points in the period. Defensive confusion by the United players led to easy baskets for Gardner, who took a 3 point lead into the 4th as they outscored United 12 to 3 in the third quarter of play.
During the break the United boys appeared very distraught and discouraged but their coaches reminded them the game was not over yet, and it would not be over until we played the 4th quarter in which we were going to shut down our opponents and score 10 points ourselves.
The boys broke from their huddle and things looked good at the start as it appeared Daniel Ferguson was heading to the hoop for 2 but he missed the shot (he was probably fouled, but it was not called). This would be the last shot he would miss in the game as both he and teammate Malik Joyner shot the ball very well from the field, with Malik going 7 for 10 and Daniel hitting on 5 of 8 shots from the floor. Gardner came down with the rebound off of Daniel's missed shot, and United scrambled back on defense. Daniel was playing low post on the 3-2 defense and he gambled on the pass, just missing it, and the Gardner player was able to spin to his right to avoid Daniel and go uncontested to the basket for 2 points, putting Gardner up 24-19. As it turned out, these would be the last points they would score in the game.
Daniel, running point, drove the length of the floor and put in a jumper for 2. Ben Sheff had back-to-back steals as United employed their half-court trap to perfection, and Sheff converted the steals into two assists, one to Malik Joyner and the other to Landon Crary. Defensive stop after defensive stop combined with productive offensive possessions by United turned a 5 point deficit into a 9 point victory as United went on a 14-0 run to finish the game.
Along with Daniel Ferguson's 11 points, he finished with 5 assists, 5 steals, 10 rebounds including 5 offensive boards, and 2 blocked shots while only committing 2 turnovers. Malik Joyner also had a double-double, scoring 15 points and garnering 10 rebounds.
United had 13 steals while committing only 13 turnovers in the contest, the bulk of these coming in the third quarter. Their defense did not allow any baseline layups, and they were able to force their opponents into many additional turnovers, which proved to be the difference in the ballgame. United hit the boards well, hauling down 39 rebounds (15 offensive, 24 defensive).
United came out on fire as Malik Joyner won the opening tip. Lucas Carpenter grabbed the ball and fired down to a streaking Daniel Ferguson who scored the basket on the first of the team's 13 assists for the game. United scored the first 6 points of the contest and the 1st period came to a close with United up 10-6.
In the second period United increased its lead to 6 points as the tenacious Gardner Whitworth boys scapped with every possession, and halftime saw United holding a 16-10 lead.
The third quarter proved to be very rough and tough again for United as Gardner chipped away, finally pulling ahead as United could only manage 3 points in the period. Defensive confusion by the United players led to easy baskets for Gardner, who took a 3 point lead into the 4th as they outscored United 12 to 3 in the third quarter of play.
During the break the United boys appeared very distraught and discouraged but their coaches reminded them the game was not over yet, and it would not be over until we played the 4th quarter in which we were going to shut down our opponents and score 10 points ourselves.
The boys broke from their huddle and things looked good at the start as it appeared Daniel Ferguson was heading to the hoop for 2 but he missed the shot (he was probably fouled, but it was not called). This would be the last shot he would miss in the game as both he and teammate Malik Joyner shot the ball very well from the field, with Malik going 7 for 10 and Daniel hitting on 5 of 8 shots from the floor. Gardner came down with the rebound off of Daniel's missed shot, and United scrambled back on defense. Daniel was playing low post on the 3-2 defense and he gambled on the pass, just missing it, and the Gardner player was able to spin to his right to avoid Daniel and go uncontested to the basket for 2 points, putting Gardner up 24-19. As it turned out, these would be the last points they would score in the game.
Daniel, running point, drove the length of the floor and put in a jumper for 2. Ben Sheff had back-to-back steals as United employed their half-court trap to perfection, and Sheff converted the steals into two assists, one to Malik Joyner and the other to Landon Crary. Defensive stop after defensive stop combined with productive offensive possessions by United turned a 5 point deficit into a 9 point victory as United went on a 14-0 run to finish the game.
Along with Daniel Ferguson's 11 points, he finished with 5 assists, 5 steals, 10 rebounds including 5 offensive boards, and 2 blocked shots while only committing 2 turnovers. Malik Joyner also had a double-double, scoring 15 points and garnering 10 rebounds.
United had 13 steals while committing only 13 turnovers in the contest, the bulk of these coming in the third quarter. Their defense did not allow any baseline layups, and they were able to force their opponents into many additional turnovers, which proved to be the difference in the ballgame. United hit the boards well, hauling down 39 rebounds (15 offensive, 24 defensive).
Things do not get any easier for United as they face an undefeated Blue Cross / Blue Shield team this Saturday, February 14, 2009 beginning at 5:00 PM.
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