M.C.-O'Dowd

[hoopisthegame]

Modesto Christian up 18-13 after one....Townes looks good, but went to the bench in the quarter with his second foul.

 

[hoopisthegame]

O'Dowd wins the second quarter 15-5 and leads 28-23 at the half.

 

[hoopisthegame]

Dragons up 34-30 with 2:14 left in the third....Townes has 17....

This post was edited on 3/21 8:58 PM by hoopisthegame

This post was edited on 3/21 8:59 PM by hoopisthegame

 

[larry legend33]

Townes is tough. I thought out of everybody MC matched up well with ODOWD.

 

[hoopisthegame]

40-34 O'Dowd after three quarters.......

 

[hoopisthegame]

Dragons up 50-40 with 1:01 left, Townes at the line.

 

[hoopisthegame]

Dragons prevail 56-47 behind Rabb's 18. Townes led all scorers with 20.

 

[larry legend33]

Well they got it to single digits. I didn't think any team would come within double figures in Norcal. Congrats to MC on an excellent season and lets to Dragons. Either MD or Fairfax I would think BOD comes in favored.

 

[NateThe great]

Well, you nailed it LL. I am very surprised that BOD was held in check by MC. I thought O'Dowd would wear them down and blow them away.

IMO it doesn't bode well for the north next week. Everything is set up perfectly for O'Dowd with the game 12 miles from their campus. It will be the biggest home court advantage since St. Joes with JKidd was rolling. We shall see.

 

[TheNewPea]

Hey Nate and Larry,

I agree the outcome and the overall game seemed a little surprising given maybe the expectations of an O'Dowd walk to the state finals but I saw a few things worthy of note, in my opinion.

- I thought Midgely and Richie coached one of the better offensive (MC) vs defensive (O'Dowd) games I've seen in a long time at the high school level. Midgely essentially deployed an NBA offense very similar to Popovich and in a poorer version, what Burmon Scott does with the Lakers. He chose to do two things starting with the premise of completely taking the air out of the ball but ready to capitalize on anyone open moving toward the basket. As the hallmark of a really strong coach, his kids knew when to jump out to set the screen, how to rub off with the ball, how to roll the screener, and then how to move the other big man away from the ball. I don't believe most high school teams could remotely defend that repeatedly and it presents a brutal education to anyone daring play man. On the flip side going zone exposes very good shooters with big rebounders, possibly a worse proposition. O'Dowd countered with some of the best switching against a screen and recovery defense I've seen in a long time. Richie clearly had his team not only ready to move off the screens but recover quickly even when a switch left a physical mismatch. While certainly not the most sexiest version of basketball, the tactics and preparation were on full display.

- O'Dowd missed 16 shots around the rim and easily should have won by more but just couldn't get some tip ins to fall.

- Paris Austin returned to play like a pure point guard and while the stats wouldn't show him stuffing numbers he controlled the game for O'Dowd against a really physical and tough MC defense.

- Both big men for MC showed a lot of mobility and game inside with nice touch around the basket, frankly the only way they could compete against O'Dowd.

- Someone needs to do something about the officiating at this level. Between the dude who looks like the mini me of Ice T and his partner who looks like the evil twin of Ross from Friends, they called a positively terrible game. Both MC big men had four fouls with three min left in the third quarter and neither fouled out yet both played physical all day inside with Rabb? Stupid. The fact the best player in the state can't get any calls in a close game makes no sense and bodes poorly again for the state title game next week when we'll no doubt see a redux of the Mater Dei slap fest they call defense.

Anyway, while not a pretty game, I really thought Midgely put together a strong game plan and O'Dowd asserted themselves well to win.


Peace