Gonna be electric tonight at The Devils Den! Union comes into town on fire while GC has sputtered a bit as of lately and struggled to keep players healthy. Its gonna be a packed house. Anyone in and around the deep SWVA area needs to stop in and check this game out.....It's gonna be a classic!
Union @ Gate City
- Thread starter sharkfan83
- Start date
Aside from McClung, GC didn't have any offense tonight at all. Dean and Ervin didn't do much of anything. Ervin is still sick and didn't look like himself on the court at all. Dean still has a sprained wrist so I'm not sure if that is the reason for him not shooting the ball much or not. He seems to be handling the ball well....But not shooting it.
Union is a tough team. Slagle is a machine in the paint and can shoot the ball really well too. Mitchell when he gets hot is tough to deal with as well and is a rebounding technician.
And the crowd tonight was INSANE! so many people the fire marshal stopped letting people enter the gym so they put a TV up in the school cafeteria and let people watch the game in there. About as good of an atmosphere that you will see in a high school event.
Hats off to the Devils.....It wasn't pretty at all. But a win is a win.
Union is a tough team. Slagle is a machine in the paint and can shoot the ball really well too. Mitchell when he gets hot is tough to deal with as well and is a rebounding technician.
And the crowd tonight was INSANE! so many people the fire marshal stopped letting people enter the gym so they put a TV up in the school cafeteria and let people watch the game in there. About as good of an atmosphere that you will see in a high school event.
Hats off to the Devils.....It wasn't pretty at all. But a win is a win.
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I find it funny when Gate City fans say your boys didn't play well and y'all score 80+ points 
McClung is the man BTW! Kid's a walking bucket!
McClung is the man BTW! Kid's a walking bucket!McClung was guarded 1v1 by a kid that has offers from Clemson , VT AND UT to name a few schools in football and that kid had help behind him and McClung still dropped 47.
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I find it funny when Gate City fans say your boys didn't play well and y'all score 80+ points
Well Ervin has been averaging 28 ppg and Dean is usually good for 12-15 ppg himself. But those two guys arent healthy so I understand why they aren't lighting it up right now. Last night there was pretty much 4 guys on the court standing around watching Mac go off.....So if they aren't gonna look for the ball to score they gotta at least position themselves for a rebound. Union had several 2nd chance points off of offensive boards. The Devils just don't crash the boards and it hurts them.
But yes....Mac is a beast! I've never seen a kid as determined and focused as he was last night.
I'm impressed. They have the talent to beat Martinsville and anybody else in 2a. That freshman of Gate City is gonna be a problem for years to come.
With a couple of the solid players on the JV team that will be moving up plus the young guys they have right now that just need experience...I think GC will be better next year.
Slightly misleading bc James did not attempt to contest the long jumpers as to avoid fouls. Notnsure it would've mattered but that was the game plan, let Mac get his and limit everyone else. Union really impressed me, theynplayed right w GC until Slagle fouled out (two were very iffy) and if a couple of Unions threes fell, maybe Union steals one. Union shot under 20% from 3, worst shooting game all year.
McClung is an absolute monster, that kid is something special.
If Mitchell had tried to crawl on top of McClung he would have been swinging off the rim all night long. Mitchell is an unbelieveable athlete....But hes not quick enough to contain Mac. He did the best he could....Let him beat you shooting the ball but try to stop his drives to the bucket. Neither really worked. There's alot of "Ifs" and "buts" you can consider.... Dean has a sprained wrist and usually gets 12-15 ppg and Ervin who averages 28 ppg is still getting over the stomach bug and has lost 12-15 lbs in the past 4 days. It was evident he was just a body on the court last night. If those guys had been healthy and just had their normal game.... that game may have very well never been close. Union played a great game and hats off to them. Slagle fouled out and that hurt Union....But on the other hand if he hadn't played as physical as he did he wouldnt have been nearly as dominant and affected the game the way he did. He played the game the way he had to play it to give the Bears a chance to win.....And he did just that. GCs 3 headed monster was just a one man wrecking crew last night. The guys that normally make the 10-15 deep 3s hardly took a deep shot at all. I was pleasantly surprised to see GC still come away with a win without them having to rely on the 3 ball.....And not needing much at all from Ervin or Dean.
Gonna be some battles between Union and GC in the future....You can take that to the bank. Id pay $20 all day long to see another game with the same atmosphere as the one that was played last night.
The ifs and buts goes both ways, Union usually makes 8 or so threes, but were ice cold and shot under 20% from 3. Mitchell did a good job stopping then drives, it was Mac shooting that killed Union. Mitchell got a block early, so MM did a good job adjusting by being lights out from mid range and from deep. Slagle only had one offensive foul (whichnwas a total flop btw lol), it was the fouls called onndefense that hurt him. I thought they called it tighter under the GC basket as opposed to Unions, but that could be my Union bias (although Union didn't shoot one FT in 1st Q, and the foul called when Mm went to the line was bad all over, it should've been a jump ball and it def wasn't a shooting foul but the refs didn't decide then game, McClung did).
Neither team played greatnaside from the stars, but it was the best HS game I've ever seen in SWVA. If Union doesn't lose again, the finale at Union will be for the conference title. It's clear Union and GC are much better than rest of conference.
They sure do go both ways which is why I made the points I did. You started talking about "IF" Slagle hadnt fouled out... Otherwise I wouldnt have said anything. Which is true...Hes Unions leader and it made a difference. But if GC makes what they usually make from the 3 pt line and 2 of the 3 players that make up the 3 headed monster would've had their average game and wasn't sick/hurt then the game isn't even within 25 pts. So the "what ifs" are a wash. Neither of the things were discussing happened. And Mitchell didn't stop Mac going to the bucket at all....The kid had several hoop and harms and made some wild layups in the paint. It was the double and triple team help from the backside that caused Mac to pull up from about 4-10 ft on several shots. No disrespect to Mitchell because he's an exceptional athlete with extraordinary talent.....But he spent most of the night playing catch-up after Mac made his first dribble from the perimeter.
The next game will be a battle there's no doubt. But I expect the brunt of the scoring to come from 3 different players next time instead of just one for GC.
The next game will be a battle there's no doubt. But I expect the brunt of the scoring to come from 3 different players next time instead of just one for GC.
Didnt stop him at all? Did you miss Mitchell rejecting McClung on GCs first possession? So yeah he did stop him at least once. I'm not disputing MM is much quicker off the dribble, but the majority of his points came from the mid range game and from down town.
And this is the junk I'm talking about. GC wins by 200 points if blah blah blah. Guess what? Union didn't play great either, why is it okay for you to make excuses? Union missed a ton of wide open threes they usually make, and Slagle missing the last five minutes doomed Union. The arrogance is astounding.
Do you honestly believe McClung is gonna drop damn near 50 and Ervin is gonna score 30? If Ervin is more of a force on offense then Mm isn't dropping 47 so it evens out. How bout you actually give Union credit instead of making excuses?
Do you honestly believe McClung is gonna drop damn near 50 and Ervin is gonna score 30? If Ervin is more of a force on offense then Mm isn't dropping 47 so it evens out. How bout you actually give Union credit instead of making excuses?
I don't even remember the rejection. But even if he did....Congrats. He kept Mac from scoring 49 instead of 47 and stopped him on one possession. You started with the excuses about Slagle fouling out so I was happy to remind you that GC wasn't healthy and didn't shoot the ball well from deep as a team just like Union didn't either.
Will see you later in the season.
I stated a fact, that Union lost any shot at winning when their best player fouled out. That's just the truth. It was a one possession game late in the fourth when he picked up his fifth and had to sit down. That's not conjecture like someone not being 100% or w/e, it's a statement of fact.
I only mentioned the block because you said Mitchell did not stop him the entire game. It wasn't true, and I proved it. He scored 47, no one did a great job stopping him at all, but again it was his mid range and long distance game that really did Union in, they did a decent job keeping him out of the lane for the most part. GC shot much better from three than Union did, Union was under 20%, about 15% lower than their average. Can't beat a great team missing shots that you usually make. Not an excuse at all, GC converted when Union didn't and they won.
It's not an insult that GC didn't blow Union out. That's my entire damn point. Some of you act as if Union being able to play w GC at GC that night is somehow a negative for GC. It isn't. Union is a good team, one of the ten best in 2A IMO. Not crushing them isn't a negative. GC needs to be tested more to prepare for teams like Mahavi, DR, Lee, etc... in 2A West and having to play a good game to beat Union when Union plays well is only going to be a positive for GC. Sheesh.
Many questions in 2A will be answered within the next month and a 1/2. Martinsville really hasn't been blowing teams out but they seem to be improving late in the season. I'm pleased that they are playing better. Those tests are needed in preparation for the post season..
Any person would be a fool to bet against the Dogs at this point. Still a ton of talent and proven post season success. GC, Lee, and some of the East times are gonna be tough but I think any sane person knows Mahavi is still the team to beat.
