Maumee Valley 41 - Fayette 40 - An Instant Classic
Setting the Table
The Road Trip
For generations of small-school players, parents, coaches and fans it’s a familiar feeling. You pile into the bus or car and start your road trip in the waning Fall daylight. As you ride out into the country, the pale brown of the harvested fields and the dark grey clouds spitting snow flurries merge into the early evening darkness of December. A late season college football game provides background noise in the car. On the bus, the younger travelers have donned earbuds and headphones, locked away into so many virtual music rooms. Isolated farmhouses, their holiday lights blazing, serve as land-locked lighthouses guiding the way.
Eventually, the 55 MPH speed limit signs give way to more restrictive travel - now 50, now 35, now 25 - and the two lane road becomes a welcome mat to a small town crossroads in Northwest Ohio. You pass the houses with their wooden front porches, the convenience store and the gas station and the row of storefronts built sometime in the late 1880’s. The school building is usually on the outskirts of town – sometimes just the High School building, sometimes an entire K-12 school complex.
On those Friday or Saturday nights, the school gym plays host to a raucous town hall meeting. The assembled citizenry holds a singular goal; to cheer THEIR Boys (or Girls) to victory, thus ensuring good night’s rest for the populace. You are the visitors, aliens in a strange town; the object of scorn and distain for the next two hours. It is your civic duty to lose to the hosts and go home quietly.
But you don’t like how that story ends. You are here to win…
For the Maumee Valley Hawks this night, the bus would pull into Fayette High School in Fulton County. In the first two years of the Robinson Era, Fayette High School proved to be a nemesis. Two games, two early losses. Saturday, December 4, 2010 would mark a new season and the first game for a core of young players who have been trained in complex basketball arts for two years now. The two years of training would pay off at game’s end.
Fayette was shorthanded for the evening, only dressing nine players. However, those on the court came to play. The Eagles featured one familiar face for several Hawks – forward Tyler Keefer (F -#34) played on the Perrysburg-based Great Lakes AAU club team with Rick, Jared, Jonathan and AJ last season.
Game Summary
Maumee Valley defeated the Fayette Eagles 41-40 on a buzzer beater by Jared Sturt capping a furious comeback from ten points down in the second half. MV featured balanced scoring led by Rick Deichert’s 11 points.
Starting five – Dave Brown (Class of ‘13), Rick Deichert (‘12), Jared Sturt (‘12), Dixon Stoddard (’12), Jonathan Krueger (’12)
First Quarter - MV 9 – Fayette 3
Both teams started the contest in man-to-man in the tentative get-to-know-you dance. Early on, the Hawks had success getting the ball underneath to Jared Sturt and the Eagles changed to a 3-2 zone to stop the inlet passing.
As the quarter progressed, the MV front line experienced some foul trouble – two early fouls on Jon Kruger sent him to the bench in exchange for Julius Turner. Julius’ physicality was evident near the end of the half where he grabbed a steal, flew down court and drew a foul on his drive to the basket.
The quarter ended with an exclamation point for the visitors on a beautiful pass from Dave to Rick for a two pointer at the buzzer.
I have no idea what the name of the particular play is that MV ran, but it’s my favorite set piece in the entire Hawk playbook. For future reference, I will refer to this play as the Waterfall. Why? Because it Works Every Time (i.e. it’s WET).
Second Quarter – Fayette 22 – MV 8
Starting five – Dave, Rick, Julius, Jonathan, Jared
Sometimes you find yourself locked out of your house. You have forgotten the key and don’t remember where you left the spare. That’s the way the second quarter went for the Hawks’ offense.
The frame also began with more foul trouble for the Blue and White. Jared and Julius each picked up their second fouls and Omar Hazimah saw action starting at the 6:00 mark. A flurry by the Eagles, led by guard Trevor Cox (#30) pulled the home team ahead of Maumee Valley about half way through the quarter.
Nothing worked for the Hawks, who missed several outside and inside chances. Dave Brown held the visitors in the game with some timely drives to the basket, scoring two and dishing the ball here and there.
But all the second quarter bounces went the Eagles’ way. With time expiring, a foul was called against the Hawks on a half-court Fayette three point try at the buzzer. Trevor Cox sank all three shots, and the home team went to the locker room up 25-17.
A young Maumee Valley team had been punched in the nose. Fayette’s scoring guard had lit up the gym for 12 points. How would MV respond?
Third Quarter MV 14 – Fayette 8
Starting five – Dave, Rick, Jared, Jon, Dixon
Fayette scored on the first possession to grab a ten point lead. That would be the visitors’ high water mark.
The Blue and White came out fighting. Jonathan opened up with a three-ball and Rick began to channel his inner Carter Bayer. The pre-season 6:00 AM practices began to pay off. The Hawks did business on both ends. On defense Dave Brown tied up the Eagles’ point guard for a key turnover on a five second call. Parker Bayer entered the game to apply vice-like man-to-man pressure. On offense, Maumee Valley ran and ran and ran; Jonathan cleaned up on a break to cut the lead to two, then Jared fired a high post bull’s-eye pass to Julius, who converted the layup. The game was tied 29-29.
The visitors weren’t done though, and scored with time expiring in the frame to grab the lead.
Two goals had been set in the locker room during half time – stop Number 30 and cut the lead to two points. Cox was held to two points, and the Fayette’s lead was cut to 33-31. Check and check.
Three quarters, three quarter-ending buzzer beaters. The best was yet to come.
Fourth Quarter – MV 10 – Fayette 7
Starting five – Well, to tell you the truth - in all this excitement, I'd kind of lost track myself…
The teams jousted back and forth for the first few minutes, but then Julius came free at the top of the key for a three pointer. The Hawks took the lead.
The coaches began to grind the tactical gears, calling time-outs to diagram plays. Coming out of a time-out at about the 3:30 mark and Fayette in man-to-man, Coach R called an old time NBA-style clearout play. With four Hawks shifting to the left hand side, Rick drove the lane for a big two pointer. With 3:05 left and the Eagles obsessed with stopping Jared inside, the inside/out pass worked to perfection; Jared from deep inside lasered a pass to Dave Brown outside the arc. Nobody was standing within 15 feet of Dave and he burned the cords for three. The Hawks went up by four with under three minutes remaining.
Fayette sensed the urgency and fought back. A drive to the basket by Tyler Keefer and a plus 1 foul on Jared (his fourth) pulled the Eagles to within one with 1:30 to play. A steal off the press and another two pointer put Fayette up by one with a minute to go.
The game set was as follows: MV with the ball in, Fayette with a few fouls to give and 60 seconds left.
The Hawks brought the ball in, but lost it on a steal. Dixon fouled the Fayette ball handler, who missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Jared got the pull, and its Hawks’ ball with 25.8 seconds to go.
In retrospect, Dixon committed a very strategic foul as it stopped the clock without allowing Fayette to call time and set up a run-out-the clock offense. Instead the ball went up for grabs with the missed free throw.
Fayette pulled back to half court defense. As MV ran its half court offense the 25.8 seconds remaining stretched into three hours before the crowd’s collective eyes. Rick drove into the lane from the left wing, twisted counterclockwise, floated a two up – and it was in (!!!) but…no, the ref’s called a foul on the floor with 5.6 seconds left. No basket.
MV called time to draw up one last play. Out of nowhere, Coach Greg Burmester called a play from way back in the first year Hawk playbook. After a second to revive the teams’ collective memory, the Blue and White broke the huddle. It was Hawks’ ball underneath, and from there the Play of the Game (and it will take some doing for this not to be the Play of the Season) ensued. I can’t do any better than the post from last night, so a copy and paste job is all that’s necessary:
On the road, down by one, 5.6 seconds to play and MV has the ball out under its own basket.
Jon Kruger passes the ball into Jared Sturt, he puts it up, it bounces on the rim for an eternity, and......its in!!
Hawks win!
Hawks win!
Hawks win!
Warm up the bus gentlemen, it’s time to go home.
Final Game Thoughts
Four Juniors and a Sophomore in the starting lineup needed to grow up fast in a sea of Fayette Purple and Gold Saturday night. A tough second quarter put the Hawks down eight at half time in a hostile environment. But conditioning, coaching and many tough games at camp, summer league and open gym forged a toughness that led to a confidence-building first win of the year.
There may be nights in the future where our youth shows to the Hawks' detriment, but not tonight.
Two coaching moves deserve a shout-out. Again, here’s to Coach Burmester for calling the inbounds play to win it for MV. Second, after halftime, Rick was assigned to guard Trevor Cox and the entire half was played man-to-man. Rick held Number 30 to four points the rest of the night. Without their number one scoring option, Fayette’s offense sputtered.
A small town, a tight game, a gym of screaming fans, a big win in a young season – this was American culture at its finest.
Scoring
Balanced scoring for the Hawks – Rick with 11, Jonathan, Julius and Jared with 7 each, Dave with 5 and Dixon with 4. Trevor Cox ended the evening with 16 and Tyler Keefer scored 13 for Fayette.
Next up
Tuesday’s forecast is for Thunder in the Valley, as Monclova Christian comes calling for the Boys’ home opener. Tell your friends and neighbors everybody, let’s pack the house for the Hawks this week.
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