I spent the afternoon and evening Friday at the Christian School of York to watch the second day of their holiday tournament. Here are my observations:
Game One: Boys Consolation- Fairfield vs CSY
Fairfield came out on top, but CSY gave them a much tougher game than I anticipated. The Green Knights were without Mason Bollinger but they never seemed to really get in the flow of their offense.
The Green Knights do not have a ton of size and are not overly deep in athleticism but they maximize what they do have. They shot 11-for-15 from the free throw line. That will win you a lot of basketball games.
I was impressed with Fairfield’s defense in the second half, holding CSY to a mere nine points.
I was also impressed with the guard play of Zach Ott. He finished with 11 points but ran the offense very well. You could tell the difference when he was not in the game. Fairfield is a young team and Ott is a senior so hopefully some of the younger guys will grow into the position.
Game Two: Girls’ Championship- Fairfield vs CSY
For me, this was the most interesting game. It was clear who CSY’s best player was, senior Jordan Miller. It was also clear that in the first half, the Green Knights had trouble stropping her with their 2-3 zone. Coming out of the half Fairfield went to a man-to-man defense and Miller had the misfortune of having Kelly (Lockdown) Quealy guard her. Sorry about the cheesy nickname, it’s late and that is what came to mind. Quealy held Miller scoreless the entire second half and Fairfield pulled away.
The Green Knights were missing one of their top leading scorers in Lexy Junker, but still had three players score in double-digits.
Fairfield plays fast which resulted in more turnovers than Coach Ken Brown would have liked but you gotta love this teams hustle and heart. They absolutely dominated on the boards.
Game Three: Boys’ Championship- Dayspring Christian vs Hanover
Give Dayspring Christian credit, they hustled and played hard for the entire 32 minutes, they were just severely outmatched.
Hanover is a very talented and deep team and it showed as they destroyed Dayspring.
There are a few things that really impressed me about the Nighthawks.
- They really can hit the three ball. They have three or four guys that you have to watch every time down the court or they will kill you with the three.
- I was very impressed with the hustle of Drew Vogel. There were numerous times where he was battling on the inside, got the rebound and laid it in for two. He plays hard and does things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet.
- Sophomore Dylan Krieger could be the most talented player in the area that no one is talking about. He has the size, the ball handling skills and the range to play any position on the court. The guy is a true athlete and at only a sophomore, he will be exciting to watch for the next few years.
All-in-all, it was a good day for Hanover-area teams, but to be honest, the level of competition was not very high. Congrats to Hanover boys and Fairfield girls for winning CSY tournament titles. It will be exciting to follow these teams throughout the season and see how they progress.
