Friday, December 22, 2006

Davidson 75 ASU 70

The Wildcats are shooting over 50% here in the first part of the first half. That is really good news when thinking about fatigue and opportunities and so forth. Unfortunately, ASU has also hit a few shots of late. Like to see Coach going to the bench so early, although we need to do better with rebounding. It's also good to see Max scoring a little bit early.
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Arizona State is dominating Davidson on the boards (18-6), and foul trouble has Curry, Sander and Boris in a little bit of a pickle. Once again, it's good to see Barr and Gosselin getting some points on the offensive end.
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Jason Richards just made a big-time drive and teardrop to help build the Cats' nine-point lead. After a Gosselin block in the interior, Archambault found himself open for another three-pointer. I have a feeling that Arizona State is not going to be able to score very quickly, although they are getting a lot of second-chance points. This lead has been built, by the way, with Curry on the bench with two fouls.
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Arizona State hit two free throws to end the half as Archambault picked up a foul with the buzzer expiring. Quick half-time stats show Sander leading all Davidson scorers with 12 points, followed by Richards with 9. Meno and Curry have as many combined fouls as they do points (4). Although our assist/turnover ratio is a cool 3.00 (9:3), the Wildcats are getting outrebounded by a margin of 23-7. ASU has 10 offensive rebounds so far. Davidson is shooting 52% from the field while ASU is only shooting 37%. ASU has been to the line five more times than Davidson, hitting 10-11.

The Wildcats certainly need to find Boris and Andrew for a few points inside, and have to make up the rebounding margin by not letting the Sun Devils get second chances. It will also be interesting to see how aggressively Stephen Curry plays after fouling out last night and having two quick fouls in the first half.
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Boris Meno starts the second half out strong with a turn-around jumper and a dunk. Curry gets the sixth point and Herb Sendek has had enough.
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16:44 to play, and Curry gets his fourth foul. We need to get back to the east coast when they let Stephen play his style of defense. Sander picked up his third foul. This is going to be a long hard 16 minutes.
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We have outscored them by 10 in the second half and have outrebounded the Sun Devils. Jason Richards has really stepped up with Curry on the bench. He now has 14 points.
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Sander now has 4 fouls and Lovedale finally gets his first points of the game. Both teams are now in the bonus with 10:47 to play. With an 18 point lead, I feel pretty confident right now. The Sun Devils don't seem to be able to score quickly at all. We can't slow down the game by fouling.
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I like our defensive strategy right now. Our 1-3-1 zone with the bigs really has ASU worried about every pass they make. Richards now has 19 points. And Archambault gets a steal and a basket. This is looking good.
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Arizona State making a little bit of a run. One interesting stat right now is points off turnovers: 19 for Davidson, and 7 for ASU.
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Check that. Make it a terrifying run. 10-0 run after a 3-pointer, turnover and an offensive rebound. Thankfully they can't shoot free throws.
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Richards is having a big game with 21 points, but after an ASU 3-pointer, they have some confidence. It's about time to see some Sander and Curry. And here they come. This one is going to come down to it.
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Jason Richards hits a big-time three pointer. I propose a marketing plan to call us "Dagga Nation!"
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Sun Devils refuse to give in. Meno fouls out after a turnover and Sendek's full court press is reaking havoc. I should not have said anything about having this thing in hand. What a game so far. Davidson has really choked at the free throw line at the end of this one. That's not usual for us.
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What a huge win for Davidson. That 16-0 team from two years ago won most of their games after giving up a lead and holding on at the end. If we would have shot a little better from the FT line (14-23), things wouldn't have been so dicey.

Incredible game for Richards who finished with 25 points, 3 assists. Stephen Curry and Thomas Sander both got double figures with 10 and 14 respectively. Otherwise, there weren't too many good statlines as far as rebounding, FT shooting and fouls. But you have to win the ugly games. This was a big win for the program and it's time for Christmas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The officials...the officials are...confused."

A perplexed John Kilgo tries to explain the perplexity of the game officials

Anonymous said...

"Old Herb is a different guy out here, I'll tell you."

Kilgo on Sendek's new demeanor in the desert.

Anonymous said...

"It danced around like a raindrop on a tin roof."

Kilgo on a roundabout Lovedale free throw.

Anonymous said...

"I will be shocked, stunned, absolutely flabbergasted, if Jason Richards does not get the MVP award for this tournament. It will be a miscarriage of justice."

Anonymous said...

Poor Herb! What a great game for JRich and the whole squad. Kilgo did a great job as well, esp. the raindrop comment. Martin even got in some complete sentences...including how Davidson doesn't give $300 to people who make half-court shots...which I learned first hand. :)
MF