Fab 48: The Sizzle Support Steps up for the W
Grassroots Sizzle defeated 1Family 63-49 last night without superstar guard Jalen Suggs. JaVonni Bickham and Tayler Johnson took the team forward for a big Fab 48 win.
The Fab 48 puts a lot of different teams on the floor from different shoe tours and the Grassroots Sizzle vs 1Family contest was an Under Armour vs Adidas game. Talent on the floor? Enough to bring coaches from high major programs across the country looking at Jalen Suggs and Nassir Little.
The irony of the star power was both Suggs, and Little left the game due to ankle injuries. Suggs left early the second half and Little later in the second half. Looking at the records of these teams it seemed that Grassroots was going to be in serious trouble, right? After all, Suggs did leave the game with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting including a three.
What was the plan of Coach Larry Suggs? After trying a few things Coach Suggs pulled JaVonni Bickham out of the post which brought the 1Family size away from the rim. Bickham is too big to be defended by a smaller player and 1Family’s bigs simply couldn’t move their feet with JaVonni who has some of the best ball handling skills for a big that you will see.
We’ve watched JaVonni the last two weekends and the majority of his offense is catching at the top of the key or the foul line and using his handle to get deep in the paint and then take contact. Bickham is has one of the strongest upper bodies in Minnesota’s senior class so he took that contact and completed possessions.
JaVonni totaled his 14 points on four of nine shooting but late in the game his ability to take thirty seconds off the clock and then get to the foul line is what really gave Grassroots the late momentum. Bickham was able to make four late foul shots to put the game away.
Of course JaVonni wasn’t the only reason that Grassroots withstood the loss of Suggs for the victory. Tayler Johnson has become Mr. Consistency when it comes to being a double figure scorer supporting the main playmaker.
Tayler seemed to be blowing by his initial defender on a dead run to the rim one out of every four possessions all night long. He scored his 13 points on ten shot attempts including a late game attack moving around the defense’s reach and sneaking in a shot at a tough angle.
The other final daggers came from Aaron Gill. Aaron hit a corner three early in the game and had another bucket but most of his noise came on a breakaway opportunity where Gill straight punished the rim and then let out a massive Mbakwe like scream. He then had another dunk moments later finishing with nine points.
Another key factor in the game was Damani Hayes. The Mankato East forward went against one of the top recruits in the nation right now in Nassir Little and Damani limited that player with his excellent lateral quicks, his defensive positioning, and his physical frame.
It was one of the better defensive efforts I’ve seen this month. Hayes also grabbed eight rebounds playing maybe the biggest role that nobody spoke of. The Hayes defense was also crucial to the wing.