Conifer @ Littleton: Recap & Takeaways
Conifer traveled to Littleton in a non-conference game on Tuesday evening. Conifer would be without their two star players in, Landon Wallace and Ocean Hageman, both of which missed the game due to illness. This made things difficult for Conifer…
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Continue ReadingConifer traveled to Littleton in a non-conference game on Tuesday evening. Conifer would be without their two star players in, Landon Wallace and Ocean Hageman, both of which missed the game due to illness. This made things difficult for Conifer but they would compete all game long, with a few players making a surprise impact seeing their minutes increased with two starters out. Littleton would go to win the game 60-52, below we will take a look at how the game played out and who stood out for each team.
Recap:
The game got off to a slow start with both teams getting a feel for one another, Littleton would take a 9-3 lead off of an alley-opp from Fornstrom to Smiley which got the crowd going. Tucker Lack was the answer for Conifer in the first, knocking down two three-pointers, at the end of one both teams were tied at 11 a piece. Smiley would have six points in the second quarter to help Littleton take a 24-17 lead going into half time. Both teams did not shoot the ball well from behind the three-point arc in the first half. Both teams would put up big third quarters, scoring 18 points each. It was Ben Lack for Conifer who would knock down three three-pointers in the third to keep Conifer within striking distance. For Littleton, it was Matthew Sapakoff who would score eight of his ten points in the third, doing a nice job finding the open area in the zone. Littleton could not pull away from Conifer though, it was a two point ball game 49-47 with four minutes left to play. Smiley would carry Littleton in the fourth, scoring back to back buckets and knocking down his foul-shots to help secure the victory in the end.
Top Performers for Littleton:
Tayvis Sagrillo-Smiley – This was the first time I got to see Tayvis play and he is a player to keep an eye on going forward. Listed at 6’5, he has good size and is able to impact the game in a number of different ways. He is currently averaging: 20.9 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 1.6 BPG, he posted a 40 point game earlier this season in a tough loss to a good Frederick team. He is playing strong of late, posting double-doubles in the last four games and has scored 25 or more points in the last six games. He has nice touch in the post and has a decent mid-range game. Tayvis had a monster fourth quarter in securing the victory for Littleton, he would finish the game with 27 points going 11 of 15 from two-point range. He knocked down several mid-range jumpers and did his damage in the paint. He also shot well from the foul line going five for six on the night.
Reid Fornstrom – Reid did a nice job controlling the game for Littleton all night, he leads the team in assists at 4.4 APG. He has great vision and connected with Smiley in the first quarter with a monster alley-opp to take a 9-3 lead early. He’s the calming factor out there for Littleton, and is able to knock down the open shot. He doesn’t score a lot but when watching you can tell all the little things he does to impact the game for Littleton.
Matthew Sapakoff – Matthew would finish with ten points in the game, eight of them coming in the third quarter. He did a nice job of finding the soft spot in the zone and finishing around the rim. That was a season high in points for Matthew, and Littleton needed them all.
Kai Bertram – Finished with eight points on the night, which is below his season average of 17.1 PPG. He is a volume shooter from distance, shooting 34% on the year going (47/138). He has scored double-figures in eleven games so far, with his season high of 34 in a win against Woodland Park. He has attempted five or more threes in every game of the season so far and has connected on at least two.
Top Performers for Conifer:
Tucker Lack –Tucker is averaging 6.4 PPG for Conifer and he played well for them in a losing effort Tuesday. He hit several threes in the game, including two in the first quarter and would finish the game leading Conifer in scoring with 16 points. He is crafty around the rim and did a nice job overall.
Ben Lack – Ben was a player for Conifer who got more minutes due to Landon missing, and he made the most of it. He hit several threes, including three in the third to keep them in the game. He would finish the game with 14 points, all of them coming in the second half. He has playing with confidence, attacking the rim, and finishing well, you could tell the moment wasn’t too big for him and he stepped up.
Elijah Cook –With Landon and Ocean not available the focus for Littleton was Elijah and they did a good job containing him for the most part. He would finish with 12 points on the night, and not connecting on a three. Six of his 12 points came in the fourth quarter as he tried to keep Conifer close. He is shooting 44% from distance on the year (35/79) but could not connect in this game.