Typical Tomcats

By ADAM VANKIRK - The Independent

ASHLAND January 05, 2008 01:23 am

— Ashland was in typical form in beating visiting district foe Fairview, 72-57, in an anticipated matchup of two of the 16th Region’s best at Anderson Gym on Friday night.
The Tomcats pushed the pace, full-court trapping on defense and running out on offense, in the first half and then pulled away in the second half after switching to more conventional man-to-man looks.
Deadlocked at 36 at halftime, it was conditioning that led to a 11-2 Ashland run in the third quarter and another 10-3 run in the fourth quarter that ultimately put Fairview away, according to Eagles coach Rex Cooksey.
“The first half we shot a pretty good percentage and were in a tied game at halftime,” Cooksey said. “But our conditioning caught up to us and we hit a wall and started making bad decisions. That’s something we have to work on ... There’s no excuses. I told the kids I’ll take my part of it and they’ve got to accept they’re part of it. We’ve got to get in better shape to play 32 minutes. I felt like that was the deciding factor.”
Both Ashland and Fairview opened the game running up and down the floor, with very little half-court sets. The Eagles did handle the Tomcats’ full-court press and traps well, though, led by guards Cameron Hall and Shawn Williams.
In the first half, Hall had 12 points and Williams, coming off the bench, had six points to go along with four rebounds and two steals that led to easy baskets.
Fairview committed just five turnovers while being pressed most of the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field while scoring nine points off nine Ashland turnovers.
Despite the close game that saw six ties and six lead changes in the first half, Ashland coach Buddy Biggs felt good about the Tomcats’ chances in the second half.
“We were looking to speed the game up. We wanted to do that right off the bat,” Biggs said. “Fairview did do a nice job breaking the traps and getting some open looks. The tempo is what we wanted, though. Even though it was tied at the half we felt good about going into the second half because we’re used to playing like that all the time. We didn’t want a slow it down grind it out game tonight.”
Abandoning the trapping defense, Ashland eliminated any second-chance opportunities for Fairview in the second half. The Tomcats were also getting down the floor behind the Eagles’ defense, which boosted an 11-2 run to open the third quarter.
With just over two minutes remaining in the quarter, Ashland had opened up a 12-point lead at 54-42.
“We went man-full and man-half, half on the misses and full on the makes,” Biggs said. “We just felt like we didn’t want to give them any clear looks. We felt by picking up full-court the tempo would still stay as fast as we wanted it to. We needed to get stops, though. We were giving up too many open looks with the traps.”
Fairview closed out the third quarter on a 6-0 run to cut Ashland’s lead to six at 54-48, but Matt Rowe hit three shots close to the basket early in the fourth quarter and the Tomcats again opened their lead back up to 12.
Rowe scored 12 points and Danny Coleman 22 on 9-of-10 shooting, much of it coming on easy stuff under the basket in the second half.
“When we get stops we’re a much better offensive team because we can run the break,” Biggs said. “We had several easy layups in the second half just beating them down the floor.”
Down nine with about a minute and a half left in the game, Fairview was forced to resort to fouling to try to spark a late rally. It wouldn’t come, tough, as the Eagles are now 0-2 in district play.
Ashland improves to 2-0, moving into a tie for first in the 64th District with Rose Hill.
“It was big as far as seeding for the district,” Ashland senior Matt Thomas, who scored 18 points, said. “In our district everybody has a shot to win it.”
“It’s a great confidence builder for our kids,” Biggs said. “All everybody has talked about all year is Elliott County and Fairview, and rightfully so. They both have great ball clubs. But I think by the end of the year we’ll be in the mix too. We’ll be around when it counts.”
Ashland did take a blow when junior Cody Bowling went down with an injury in the third quarter. Preliminary reports showed damaged to Bowling’s Achilles tendon.
Ashland (9-3) plays against Newport Central Catholic today in the Coach Conner Classic at Thomas More College.
Fairview (9-3) plays another district game at home against Boyd County on Tuesday.
ADAM VANKIRK can be reached at avankirk@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.

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