The Dixie Greyhounds began the new year on the right foot
with a victory over the Madison Mohawks.
Dixie got off to a slow start,
allowing Madison 8 unanswered points to start the game – but were able to
finish strong. Dixie ended 2012 with a
54-35 victory over Newton and this extends their winning streak to 4 games.
Dixie seemed a bit lethargic in the early going. Madison was able to spot up some outside
shooters and connect from the perimeter for the lead. Dixie played man to man defense, Madison would
stay in a 2-3 zone for almost the entire night.
About midway thru the quarter, Dixie turned up the pressure to full
court and started to get turnovers which then became baskets. Holding Madison at 8, Dixie went on a run of
their own and scored 20 points. Griffen
Moore and Austin Fisher scored on back to back treys to give Dixie their first
lead.
With Dixie hitting from the outside, Madison called a time out
and got their players to close out on the shooters. This slowed down the pace of Dixie scoring
and Madison was able to close the gap before halftime to 7 points. Coming out of the break Dixie went into a zone
press against Madison. They did this for
the first part of the third quarter before going back into their half court man
to man defense for the remainder of the game.
Madison was unable to make up any ground and were still down by 7 when
they fouled Griffen Moore who was putting up a frantic last second three point
shot as the quarter ended. He calmly
sank his 3 shots from the foul line to put Dixie up 39-29 as the teams entered
the last quarter.
Madison went to full court pressure in the last quarter in a
last ditch effort to make a run at the Greyhounds. But Dixie handled the pressure well and even extended
their lead. Sixth man Greg Leonard gave the team some valuable minutes against
the Mohawks. He scored 8 points – 4 in
the 4th quarter and also seemed raise Dixie’s energy level on the
court with his hard play – one those intangibles you don’t always see reflected
in the scorebook. He, along with Logan Watts and Griffen Moore dashed
any hopes of comeback with their 4th quarter scoring. Dixie won handily 57-41 improving to a 6-3
record overall. Scoring for Dixie:
Fisher 7, Moore 16, Bowling 12, Benner 2, Watts 12, Leonard 8.
“I think we are good, now we are a little bit young, but we
have a different mix of kids that are still finding out how to play together,”
stated Coach Waggoner, “and that makes us streaky. It seems like we are not always on the same
page. We gave them an 8 point run, then turned around and had a run of our own. When we play together, we play well.” On Greg
Leonard, “Yes, he gave us great points and great energy. He makes things happen when he is on the
court – going to the basket, getting to the ball on defense.”
Next week Dixie plays against league leading Carlisle and also
Preble Shawnee. Both games will be key
games for the standings in the SWBL buckeye division.
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