The United Way 6th Grade Boys Basketball team won their second consecutive contest on the strength of a very strong 4th quarter, defeating previously undefeated Blue Cross / Blue Shield 32-26 at Riddle Elementary School on Saturdy, February 14, 2009. The victory improved their mark to 2-1 and forced a three-way tie for first place.
Daniel Ferguson scored the first basket of the game as he connected on his first outside shot he has taken all season, hitting nothing but net from 17 feet out on the right wing on his team's first possession. United employed a new 1-3-1 zone trapping defense designed specifically to shut down and stifle Blue Cross' outside shooters. The Blue Cross coach was forced to call an early timeout to make offensive adjustments as his team turned the ball over on their first three possessions. United did not do any better as they missed some golden scoring opportunities of their own, and the score held at 2-0 United through the first half of the opening period of play.
Blue Cross got on board as they found a seam in the zone, and when the period came to a close United was trailing 6-2. The second quarter saw the teams starting to get their offenses in gear as they traded baskets, each team getting 8 points, and the score was 14-10 Blue Cross at the halftime break.
Lucas Carpenter and Jackson Berg both got in the scoring action in the 3rd quarter as United outscored Blue Cross 10-9 in the period, leaving United trailing 23-20 for the second straight game after three periods of play. The coaches told the boys at the break that "We are going to win because we are the better club. We back down from nobody. We are better conditioned, and we are going to continue to take it to our opponent, we will continue to wear them down and we will keep up the pressure with our patented stink-on-skunk defense." The boys responded, and everything that was said came true. When the game ended the United boys were not the tired team, Blue Cross was, although they never gave up. Malik Joyner and Daniel Ferguson hit 5 consecutive free throws down the stretch to ice the game for United. Malik had a very good game as he finished with 15 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots and 6 steals. He did commit 8 turnovers. Daniel Ferguson had 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting from the field and 3 of 5 shooting from the charity stripe. He also had 2 steals, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots while committing only 3 turnovers. Lucas Carpenter and Jackson Berg rounded out the scoring for United with each of them scoring 4 points apiece.
United's game plan was to design a defense to stop the outside scoring threat of Blue Cross, which they did, and to play tough, intense defense through the game, which they did. United had no more than 3 fouls on any one individual, and Blue Cross had one player foul out. United also was able to go to the free throw line for the double bonus in the second half as they pressured Blue Cross by constantly going to the hoop down low, which also created several second chance scoring opportunities as they really crashed the boards very well. United ended up with 14 offensive rebounds and 8 second chance points.
United also felt that their opponent's coaching staff was going to key in on Daniel Ferguson with double coverage, which they did, so United countered by having Malik Joyner, the tallest boy on United, run point to start the game. Although he did have the 8 turnovers, these were from trying to make an extra pass, so he really did quite well, and the strategy opened up many scoring opportunities for Malik, Jackson and Lucas. It was amazing that Daniel Ferguson only committed 3 turnovers because he was double teamed throughout the entire contest as Blue Cross used a box and 1 defense on him, and he also ran the point for half the game as well. But since the coaching staff fully expected the double coverage on Daniel, we prepared the team for other scoring opportunities to open up, and the boys responded positively.
United faces Conlin Home Inspection on Saturday, February 21st in a battle for first place as the league's two best point guards square off and go head to head with Daniel Ferguson versus Craig Henness, Daniel's partner last season.
Daniel Ferguson scored the first basket of the game as he connected on his first outside shot he has taken all season, hitting nothing but net from 17 feet out on the right wing on his team's first possession. United employed a new 1-3-1 zone trapping defense designed specifically to shut down and stifle Blue Cross' outside shooters. The Blue Cross coach was forced to call an early timeout to make offensive adjustments as his team turned the ball over on their first three possessions. United did not do any better as they missed some golden scoring opportunities of their own, and the score held at 2-0 United through the first half of the opening period of play.
Blue Cross got on board as they found a seam in the zone, and when the period came to a close United was trailing 6-2. The second quarter saw the teams starting to get their offenses in gear as they traded baskets, each team getting 8 points, and the score was 14-10 Blue Cross at the halftime break.
Lucas Carpenter and Jackson Berg both got in the scoring action in the 3rd quarter as United outscored Blue Cross 10-9 in the period, leaving United trailing 23-20 for the second straight game after three periods of play. The coaches told the boys at the break that "We are going to win because we are the better club. We back down from nobody. We are better conditioned, and we are going to continue to take it to our opponent, we will continue to wear them down and we will keep up the pressure with our patented stink-on-skunk defense." The boys responded, and everything that was said came true. When the game ended the United boys were not the tired team, Blue Cross was, although they never gave up. Malik Joyner and Daniel Ferguson hit 5 consecutive free throws down the stretch to ice the game for United. Malik had a very good game as he finished with 15 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots and 6 steals. He did commit 8 turnovers. Daniel Ferguson had 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting from the field and 3 of 5 shooting from the charity stripe. He also had 2 steals, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots while committing only 3 turnovers. Lucas Carpenter and Jackson Berg rounded out the scoring for United with each of them scoring 4 points apiece.
United's game plan was to design a defense to stop the outside scoring threat of Blue Cross, which they did, and to play tough, intense defense through the game, which they did. United had no more than 3 fouls on any one individual, and Blue Cross had one player foul out. United also was able to go to the free throw line for the double bonus in the second half as they pressured Blue Cross by constantly going to the hoop down low, which also created several second chance scoring opportunities as they really crashed the boards very well. United ended up with 14 offensive rebounds and 8 second chance points.
United also felt that their opponent's coaching staff was going to key in on Daniel Ferguson with double coverage, which they did, so United countered by having Malik Joyner, the tallest boy on United, run point to start the game. Although he did have the 8 turnovers, these were from trying to make an extra pass, so he really did quite well, and the strategy opened up many scoring opportunities for Malik, Jackson and Lucas. It was amazing that Daniel Ferguson only committed 3 turnovers because he was double teamed throughout the entire contest as Blue Cross used a box and 1 defense on him, and he also ran the point for half the game as well. But since the coaching staff fully expected the double coverage on Daniel, we prepared the team for other scoring opportunities to open up, and the boys responded positively.
United faces Conlin Home Inspection on Saturday, February 21st in a battle for first place as the league's two best point guards square off and go head to head with Daniel Ferguson versus Craig Henness, Daniel's partner last season.
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