Predictions for Day Four of the 2016 New Franklin Tournament

This is my 500th blog post for “On the Sidelines”, but since a few folks have been asking me about my predictions for tonight’s games, we’ll skip the cake and ice cream and go straight to it. But first, here are the scores from last night’s games at the New Franklin Tournament.

• Pilot Grove (G) 72, Bunceton 40
• Tipton (B) 60, Bunceton 35
• Sweet Springs (G) 56, Fayette 50
• Pilot Grove (B) 67, Sweet Springs 51

Okay, it’s going to be a busy night, covering all four semifinal games. Do the seeds hold true, or are we going to see some upsets?

No. 4 New Franklin (G) vs. No. 1 Tipton (4:30 p.m. tip-off): Unless New Franklin is able to make adjustments from Monday night’s win, I can see this game getting out of hand rather quickly. The Lady Bulldogs can’t afford to get into foul trouble tonight, and they’ll need to dominate inside with Madison Matney and Kacie White to have a chance to win. Prediction: Tipton 57, New Franklin 44.

No. 4 Sturgeon (B) vs. No. 1 Westran (6 p.m. tip-off): Westran hasn’t been as crisp to start the new year as it had been in December, but this game is a good chance for the Hornets to make that adjustment. I can’t remember the last time Sturgeon didn’t play for a title in this tournament, but I think that string of championship appearances will run out tonight. Prediction: Westran 71, Sturgeon 60.

No. 3 Sturgeon (G) vs. No. 2 Westran (7:30 p.m. tip-off): I can definitely see this being a close game, but Sturgeon has to play much better than it did the other night against Sweet Springs. I just think Westran is the better team right now. The way the Lady Hornets played against Fayette the other night, they may want to get the ball to Cory Burton and have her live at the free-throw line all night. She was 13-of-13 from the charity stripe on Tuesday. Prediction: Westran 58, Sturgeon 43.

No. 3 New Franklin (B) vs. No. 2 Fayette (9 p.m. tip-off): This is probably touted as the Game of the Night. These two teams met on the same floor back on Nov. 24, and Fayette overcame a 20-point first-half deficit to win 56-51. That hasn’t been the only comeback Fayette has had this season, rallying from 17 points down in the second half to beat Smithton. New Franklin has been shooting remarkably better the last two times I’ve seen the Bulldogs play, including a stomping of Slater and a shooting spree from long range on Tuesday against Pilot Grove. It’s clear to anyone that if New Franklin continues to shoot that well, the Bulldogs win tonight. Fayette always finds a way to compete in big games this season, however. I predict Fayette will be trailing New Franklin to start the fourth quarter tonight. Do the Falcons have another comeback in them? If not, I’ll have to look up the last time New Franklin appeared in the championship game of its own tournament. It’s been a while. Prediction: New Franklin 66, Fayette 61.

Predictions for Day Three of the 2016 New Franklin Tournament

Before we get to picking tonight’s consolation semifinal games, let’s take a quick look at last night’s scores.

• Westran (G) 65, Fayette 39
• Fayette (B) 60, Sweet Springs 42
• Sturgeon (G) 41, Sweet Springs 26
• New Franklin (B) 77, Pilot Grove 39

All right, time to start making picks. Who ya got tonight?

No. 8 Bunceton (G) vs. No. 5 Pilot Grove (4:30 p.m. tip-off): Hard to believe these two teams aren’t in the same conference anymore. Bunceton has fallen hard since being a district champion a few years ago. Prediction: Pilot Grove 61, Bunceton 28.

No. 8 Bunceton (B) vs. No. 5 Tipton (6 p.m. tip-off): Both Bunceton teams are each looking for their first win of the season. It won’t come tonight, and most likely, it won’t come on Friday either. Prediction: Tipton 63, Bunceton 28.

No. 7 Fayette (G) vs. No. 6 Sweet Springs (7:30 p.m. tip-off): I feel really good about Fayette’s chances of winning a game this week. After watching the Lady Falcons last night, I feel better about their chances getting that win tonight rather than Friday. A win tonight guarantees either team at least the No. 6 seed in districts. Prediction: Fayette 41, Sweet Springs 38.

No. 7 Sweet Springs (B) vs. No. 6 Pilot Grove (9 p.m. tip-off): Don’t be fooled by last night’s 38-point loss to New Franklin. Pilot Grove was the victim of a team that shot 12-of-17 from 3-point range. I was impressed with Sweet Springs’ first-half performance against Fayette, but the Greyhounds didn’t come close to duplicating that in the second half. These two teams met on a neutral court last month and Pilot Grove won 54-48. I’ll give the Tigers a bit more cushion tonight in my picks. Prediction: Pilot Grove 63, Sweet Springs 47.

Predictions for Day Two of the 2016 New Franklin Tournament

I went 3-for-4 last night on picks, and as they always are, the 4-5 games were wire-to-wire finishes. Since I didn’t post a recap, here is a quick rundown of last night’s scores.

• New Franklin (G) 43, Pilot Grove 42
• Westran (B) 62, Bunceton 32
• Tipton (G) 69, Bunceton 18
• Sturgeon (B) 57, Tipton 54

Madison Matney made the winning shot on a putback with seven seconds left to give the New Franklin girls the win in their game.

It wouldn’t surprise me if we see four blowouts tonight, but I think some of them will be closer than expected.

No. 7 Fayette (G) vs. No. 2 Westran (4:30 p.m. tip-off): When these two teams played last month, Fayette led 7-0 right off the bat. Unfortunately for the Lady Falcons, the hot start didn’t last long, and instead it turned into a 34-point defeat. I think Fayette will give Westran a tougher game this time, but Westran will still win this one easily. Prediction: Westran 51, Fayette 31.

No. 7 Sweet Springs (B) vs. No. 2 Fayette (6 p.m. tip-off): Last time I saw Fayette play — which is also the last time Fayette played, back on Dec. 18 — the Falcons were gassed after playing 32 grueling minutes against Smithton and suffered a 24-point loss to Harrisburg. I think we’ll see a better effort from the Falcons tonight. Keep an eye on Blake Dawson, who suffered a finger injury in his non-shooting hand vs. Smithton. It bothered him a lot against Harrisburg, but I expect now that he’s had more than 24 hours to cope with the injury, he’ll be back to old form. Prediction: Fayette 66, Sweet Springs 35.

No. 6 Sweet Springs (G) vs. No. 3 Sturgeon (7:30 p.m. tip-off): Sweet Springs lost quite a bit from their district championship team from March. Granted, Sturgeon, also lost quite a bit from last year, but I like the Lady Bulldogs’ chances of advancing. Prediction: Sturgeon 46, Sweet Springs 37.

No. 6 Pilot Grove (B) vs. No. 3 New Franklin (9 p.m. tip-off): No Mason Schlotzhauer or Tanner White this year. Still, it’s Pilot Grove and New Franklin, and how can this game not be close? Well, New Franklin is probably hoping my prediction is on the money, or close to it, anyway. Prediction: New Franklin 65, Pilot Grove 46.

Predictions for Day One of the 2016 New Franklin Tournament

I’ll be posted up on the south side of Howard County for most of the week, especially on Tuesday and Thursday, if the seeds play out as they should. I’m sure I posted brackets on Twitter when they first came out, but that was about three weeks ago. In case you don’t have the New Franklin Tournament brackets memorized, let me help you out.

Now on to tonight’s predictions, which will be a daily thing this week. I will try to post recaps each night as well, but no promises. Tonight, I will only be covering the first game, so I don’t plan on staying in New Franklin late tonight. Let’s get to it, shall we?

No. 5 Pilot Grove (G) vs. No. 4 New Franklin (4:30 p.m. tip-off): Most years, this is generally a very good matchup, and it very well could be again this year. Pilot Grove is missing most of its production from last year, while New Franklin is picking up right where it left off, still holding first place in the CAC. Since this is New Franklin’s first game in two-and-a-half weeks, I’m expecting to see a bit of rust tonight. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lady Bulldogs shake off that rust by the second half. Prediction: New Franklin 45, Pilot Grove 35.

No. 8 Bunceton (B) vs. No. 1 Westran (6 p.m. tip-off): It wasn’t a very good start to 2016 for Westran, losing to Brookfield on Saturday in what I would consider an upset. That’s OK. The Hornets will more than likely take out their frustrations on the Dragons tonight and get their first win of 2016. Prediction: Westran 82, Bunceton 36.

No. 8 Bunceton (G) vs. No. 1 Tipton (7:30 p.m. tip-off): This game could get just as lopsided. Tipton won this thing last year, and based on the Lady Cardinals’ seed, it appears they are the favorite to win again this year. Tonight shouldn’t be much of a struggle for them, if at all. Prediction: Tipton 75, Bunceton 29.

No. 5 Tipton (B) vs. No. 4 Sturgeon (9 p.m. tip-off): This is a very odd first-round matchup, and I only say this because these two teams played in the championship game a year ago. Now one of them will be forced to settle and try to win consolation after tonight. Both teams lost quite a bit from last year and have had disappointing moments in December. Tipton had to settle for seventh place in its own tournament, while Sturgeon lost to Madison for the first time since, well, I would guess at least 10-plus years. Whichever team loses this game has a better chance of winning two games this week. I think Tipton will avenge last year’s championship defeat. Prediction: Tipton 62, Sturgeon 56.

Recap of Day Six at the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

Here is a quick recap of tonight’s games. I only watched the championship games, so the first recap will be a little short. I’ll go into some length on the title games.

Westran (G) 40, Marceline 32: I predicted a score of 46-41, so this outcome seemed pretty straight-forward to me. This game just goes to show that the Lewis & Clark Conference title could be a legitimate 4-team race this year.

Glasgow (G) 48, Cairo 45: I’m pretty sure the Glasgow girls told me to go ahead and pick against them in every game next month at the Slater Wildcat Classic. Glasgow showed that if it’s capable of beating Cairo’s press, then all the Lady Jackets have to do is get the ball inside to Jaden Monnig and everything is golden. If Cairo shuts down that option, then just go with the “old reliable” 3-point shot, which they did three times in the fourth quarter. What impressed me the most was how Glasgow beat Cairo’s press so often, even though it wasn’t pretty for the most part. The Lady Jackets made good use of the 10 seconds they could hold possession of the ball in the backcourt, taking 7-9 seconds to get the ball past half-court several times. By my count, Cairo shot 32 percent from the field, while Glasgow made 55 percent of its shots. Granted, Glasgow got a lot of points at the free-throw line and still committed 20 turnovers, but they were efficient on offense when they managed to get off a shot. It was also rather helpful that Cairo struggling behind the 3-point line, making just four 3-pointers in the game, and two of those came in the final 30 seconds. Glasgow trailed 32-27 after three quarters, then probably played its best quarter of basketball I’ve seen since the fourth quarter of the championship game against Harrisburg in 2012. Devyn Yung hit two clutch 3-pointers in the fourth and finished with a career-high 12 points. Monnig owned the lane in the first half, posting a game-high 15 points. Anne Reynolds, who was the person responsible for breaking the full-court press vs. Cairo for a full 32 minutes, had 11 points. This was an extremely impressive win for Glasgow, which now has to turn around and play at Cairo on Tuesday. And it was a battle between two state-ranked teams (Glasgow is No. 4 in Class 1, Cairo is No. 7 in Class 2). Marley Winkler led Cairo with 11 points.

Glasgow (B) 45, Marceline 34: This game wasn’t nearly as exciting as the girls championship game, and Glasgow is to blame for that. No, don’t worry, that’s a good thing. Glasgow came out and dominated the first quarter, making sure this game didn’t come down to the wire. The Yellowjackets held a 12-4 lead after one quarter and Kabyl McMillan hit a three before the buzzer to make the score 26-14 at halftime. This game was only as close as it was because Glasgow’s offense got rather sloppy in the fourth quarter and committed eight turnovers. This was the 85th annual Glasgow Tournament and the 36th time the Yellowjackets have won the championship. Talk about home-court advantage, indeed. McMillan finished with 15 points and Bryant Hubbard, who played in his final Glasgow Tournament tonight, also scored 12 points. Daniel Corbin finished with 13 points for Marceline.

Last year, I picked an unofficial All-Tournament team just to point out the players who stood out the most to me this week. That seemed to go over OK with everyone, so I’ll do it again this year. Here’s my pick for the top players of the week.

Boys

• Bryant Hubbard, sr., Glasgow (Co-MVP)
• Kabyl McMillan, soph., Glasgow (Co-MVP)
• Daniel Corbin, sr., Marceline
• Jacob Denslow, sr., Westran
• Blake Dawson, soph., Fayette
• Clabe Reed, sr., Cairo

Girls

• Jaden Monnig, soph., Glasgow (MVP)
• Anne Reynolds, sr., Glasgow
• Marley Winkler, sr., Cairo
• Jill Nelson, sr., Cairo
• Maddy Denslow, soph., Westran
• Molly Shoop, sr., Marceline

Hope everyone had a fun week. We’ll do this all over again next year.

Predictions for Day Six of the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

Title night is here. Two teams are going to walk away champions tonight and maintain an undefeated record. Who’s is gonna be?

No. 4 Westran (G) vs. No. 3 Marceline (4:30 p.m. tip-off): I was very impressed Wednesday night with Westran’s performance. Also, I picked the Lady Hornets as the favorite to with the Lewis & Clark Conference this season, so it would make sense to pick them over a conference foe, right? Prediction: Westran 46, Marceline 41.

No. 2 Glasgow (G) vs. No. 1 Cairo (6 p.m. tip-off): Glasgow played a much better all-around game vs. Marceline than it did in its two previous meetings against Slater. The Lady Jackets obviously have the advantage in the post. But is Cairo’s advantage at the guard position much greater? Yes. I imagine Cairo will press like crazy to start this game. It will be interesting to see how Glasgow handles it. I predict Bob Roberts leaves with a first-place trophy tonight and career win No. 992. Prediction: Cairo 55, Glasgow 40.

No. 3 Marceline (B) vs. No. 1 Glasgow (7:30 p.m. tip-off): Marceline creates an interesting mismatch with Glasgow. The Tigers are just more physical — you know, because of football, probably — and Glasgow can’t afford to submit to foul trouble. But in all my years, I’ve never picked against Glasgow in the title game. It just feels borderline sacrilegious. How many Glasgow Tournament championships would this make for Glasgow? Prediction: Glasgow 53, Marceline 47.

Recap of Day Five at the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

Another fun night of basketball in the books at the Glasgow Tournament. Here’s a quick look at tonight’s results.

New Franklin (G) 37, Madison 28: It appeared as if this was going to be a neck-and-neck game. Madison overcame a strong start by New Franklin, tying the score at 14-14 midway through the second quarter. Head coach Ryan Lyons called a timeout for New Franklin. It was one of those times where taking a moment to regroup makes all the difference in the world. New Franklin, after that timeout at the 2:38 mark, ended the half on an 8-0 run to led 22-14 at the break. Not much scoring in the third quarter, but New Franklin found the post often in the fourth quarter. Kacie White and Madison Matney combined to account for almost all of New Franklin’s scoring in the second half. White came off the bench to lead New Franklin with 11 points and Molly Lyons finished with 10 points, making a pair of 3-pointers right off the bat. It hasn’t been a pretty start to New Franklin’s season, but hey, a 3-1 start to the season isn’t too shabby.

Fayette (B) 59, Cairo 50: The Bearcats were handicapped a bit tonight, playing without starting center Aaron Davidson. Fayette led 14-4 right off the bat, but Cairo bounced back to cut that lead to 18-15 by the end of the first quarter. Fayette didn’t really stretch its lead until the third quarter, finally pushing the advantage to double digits. The Bearcats were at a huge disadvantage at the 2:32 mark of the third quarter, when Clabe Reed picked up a technical foul and sat on the bench the rest of the game. Reed had 23 points at that time, so I imagine he would have scored more than 30 had he been able to stay in the game. Even without its two best players, Cairo never let Fayette pull away for good, and free-throw shooting was rather poor for Fayette in the fourth quarter. Fayette was led in scoring by Blake Dawson with 19 points and Lane Ball had one of his best games ever, finishing with 11 points. The Falcons are now 4-1 and will have all of next week off at the varsity level.

Westran (B) 48, New Franklin 44: This has been just a brutal start for New Franklin to the season, playing in four games decided by five points or less. Every game has come down to the wire, but the Bulldogs have only been able to hold off and win one of those games. Both teams’ leading scorers had off nights (Kaleb Anderton had just two points for New Franklin and Matt Edwards finished with nine points for Westran), so it was up to the seconds-in-command to take charge. Jerrod Riley had a big game for New Franklin, making four threes and finishing with 16 points. His fourth 3-pointer tied the game at 38-38 with just over five minutes to play in the game. However, Jacob Denslow was a little better, finishing with 24 points. He hit some clutch shots in the fourth quarter, including a three with 2:26 to play and stretch the lead to five points. Once New Franklin tied the game, the Bulldogs never had a chance to take the lead. Credit the Bulldogs for coming back from a 22-7 deficit in the second quarter to make a game of this. Tough loss for New Franklin, but I imagine they will pick up a couple of wins at home next week to improve on that 1-3 start to the season.

Predictions for Day Five of the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

We’re finally to the trophy games and I imagine they’ll all be good ones. I’m 13-3 in picks this week, but I imagine I could miss a few more this weekend. Who ya got tonight?

No. 6 Madison (G) vs. No. 5 New Franklin (4:30 p.m. tip-off): The last time they played, New Franklin won at home to clinch the Central Activities Conference championship in February. One of these teams needs to end the week on a high note, and then they’ll play each other again next Friday. So who gets to hold the bragging rights for the next week? Prediction: New Franklin 44, Madison 37.

No. 6 Fayette (B) vs. No. 5 Cairo (6 p.m. tip-off): I would argue that Fayette has the better guards all around, but man, I’m trying to figure out how the Falcons stop Clabe Reed and Aaron Davidson. I predict Fayette shoots a lot of outside shots tonight. How many of them will fall though? Prediction: Fayette 63, Cairo 59.

No. 4 New Franklin (B) vs. No. 2 Westran (7:30 p.m. tip-off): New Franklin has proven it can play with just about any team this year. This matchup in particular may play a big role in how next month’s New Franklin Tournament is seeded. A Westran loss mean’s the top seed is up for grabs, in my opinion. Can the Bulldogs bounce back and close this week with a win to get to the .500 mark? Matt Edwards will get his points tonight, but if Jacob Denslow gets hot, then it’s game over. Prediction: Westran 59, New Franklin 57.

Recap of Day Four at the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

I’m a little late with this, so it’ll be short and sweet. I’ll try to add more in the morning if I have some time.

Madison (G) 43, Slater 37: I didn’t get a chance to watch it, but it you look at my prediction of 45-39, you’ll see I was pretty close to putting “X” on the spot with this final score.

Marceline (B) 59, Westran 51: Well, I picked the wrong 2-3 upset, and this has been the only “upset” of the tournament thus far. It was a neck-and-neck game until the final two minutes. Marceline hit a few shots and Westran didn’t, then Westran was forced to foul and that’s how we have an 8-point game instead of a 2- or 3-point game. I didn’t write down the leading scorers, but I can tell you Matt Edwards led Westran in scoring. Can’t remember exactly who led Marceline in scoring. I wasn’t exactly the best reporter during the game, but in my defense, I was in Glasgow tonight just to cover these next two games.

Glasgow (G) 35, Marceline 27: Jaden Monnig had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead Glasgow to the championship game. The lob pass inside to Monnig didn’t work very often in either game against Slater, but it did tonight, that’s for us. Of Monnig’s seven field goals, I noted that six were assisted via the lob pass. When you have a 6-foot post player who shoots 60 percent from the field for her career, this seems like what you would do to win big games. Abby Littrell scored four points at crucial times in the fourth quarter and Tara Fuemmeler also had nine points for Glasgow, which will play Cairo for the championship on Saturday. Abbie Peiffer and Molly Shoop each had seven points for Marceline.

Fayette (B) 73, Madison 46: This game was decided by halftime, when Fayette led 46-15. Fayette’s third-quarter struggles were the only reason the Falcons didn’t win by 40 points. Fayette made its first 10 field goals of the second quarter and stretched a 17-6 lead to 42-10. Blake Dawson scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the first half and Tommy Phillips and Robby Robinson also reached double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Tomorrow’s consolation final vs. Cairo ought to be another early-season test for the Falcons.

Predictions for Day Four of the 2015 Glasgow Tournament

Only one more day until we’re to the trophy games. So far, the 12 better seeds have won this week, but we nearly had two upsets in the championship semifinals in the 1-4 games last night. Any “upsets” up for grabs tonight?

No. 7 Slater (G) vs. No. 6 Madison (4:30 p.m. tip-off): This should be a pretty interesting matchup. Slater looked better against Glasgow than Madison looked against Marceline on Tuesday. However, I think Madison will have the edge when it comes to the guard play in this game. Prediction: Madison 45, Slater 39.

No. 3 Marceline (B) vs. No. 2 Westran (6 p.m. tip-off): Westran looked really good against Madison the other night, considering it was the Hornets’ first game of the season. The trio tandem of Jacob Denslow, Matt Edwards and Kellen Schermerhorn is going to become a well-known one by the end of the season, and maybe even get Westran to a 20-win campaign. Marceline is going to have to play a lot better than it did against Fayette if the Tigers want to play on Saturday instead of Friday. Say, anyone know the last time Westran played for a Glasgow Tournament championship? All I know is they haven’t won first place since the 2002-03 season. Prediction: Westran 65, Marceline 51.

No. 3 Marceline (G) vs. No. 2 Glasgow (7:30 p.m. tip-off): It was announced yesterday that Glasgow is ranked No. 4 in the Class 1 girls state rankings. That’s really not a target the Lady Jackets will want on their backs, especially when they meet a Marceline team that beat them last season in the Marceline Hoops Tournament championship game. Glasgow hasn’t played consistently in its first-two games, even though both resulted in wins. The Lady Jackets will need a solid all-around effort to beat Marceline, but even that may not be enough. Before the seedings came out, I had Marceline at the No. 2 seed and Glasgow at the No. 3 seed. I think I’m going to stick with my gut for this pick. Prediction: Marceline 47, Glasgow 42.

No. 7 Madison (B) vs. No. 6 Fayette (9 p.m. tip-off): After watching Slater play last night, I’m convinced the Wildcats were probably the No. 7 seed instead of No. 8, and vice versa for Madison. This should be the most-lopsided contest of the night. Get your popcorn ready for a Cairo-Fayette consolation final. All three trophy games in the boys brackets should be great games. Predictions: Fayette 74, Madison 35.