Sports
Meigs ends Alexander’s Winning Streak
By: Jordan Gallagher
Posted on:
The Meigs Marauders scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, a stat that may not seem like all that. However, throw in the fact that only three of those points were from the field and it becomes the Marauders key to victory tonight over Alexander 63-55.
According to Meigs head coach Ed Fry the Marauders had one of their best free throw shooting games of the season, and they needed every point in tonight’s victory. After opening the game on an 11-2 run and finishing the quarter ahead 20-8, it appeared that this game may finish as lopsided as Alexander’s victory over Meigs earlier in the season.
“I feel like tonight we played better on the defensive end than we did the first time we played against Alexander,” Meigs guard Kaileb Sheets said. “We gave up too many points to (Mason) Chapman, both of them, and I think we limited him (Chapman) a little bit tonight. I feel like on the offensive end we shot the ball well, knocked down shots when we needed to and made free throws.”
That all changed with fantastic second and third quarter play from the Alexander Spartans who used fantastic defensive play and massive offensive production from Jake Weaver and Mason Chapman to get back into the game.
Combined these factors set the stage for the last 10 seconds of the third quarter. With the ball in his hands and no intention of giving it up, Mason Chapman dribbled the ball before pulling up from the right wing. Even before the ball touched net cheers erupted from the Alexander crowd as the shot that had looked on point from the start, tied the game at 46 all going into the fourth quarter.
The Spartans continued their hot streak to start the fourth quarter when Weaver once again caused the fans from Alexander to go into a frenzy, draining a three to give Alexander its largest lead of the game 49-46.
That would remain the Alexander’s largest lead of the game, as the Marauders made their move on the free-throw line. On the ensuing possession Kaileb Sheets was fouled, putting the Marauders in the bonus for the rest of the game.
The Marauders caught fire from the line from that point as Sheets hit two straight free throws to give his team the lead. After the free throws the game turned completely to Meigs favor as they out fought Alexander time and time again and played stifling defense to shut their offense down to get the one.
“When you get fouled it does a lot of things, get their people in foul trouble, you can stand there and take a few good deep breaths and shoot the free throws,” Fry said of his team’s performance at the line. “And especially you have to hit them against a team like this. So I was real proud of our guys.
The only fourth quarter points that did not come from the line for Meigs was a three ball from sophomore Christian Mattox. Mattox had one of his best games of the season going three for three from deep and scoring 17 points. Mattox and the team as a whole also played extremely well on defense holding 1,000 point scorer Seth Richardson to eight points and forcing him to have six turnovers.
The Marauders’ win ended Alexander’s eight game winning streak, but the Spartans will have a chance to finish out the season strong against Athens while Meigs faces Wahama on Saturday.