Fresh Princes Outlast French Lick Legends, 43-37

Greenville, N.C. - After a battle with laziness the creator and dominator of this blog found time in his schedule to post the game story from last week. I've been almost as busy as A-Rod making naive decisions on GNC products - oh wait they don't have syringes at GNC - yep gotta drop the A-fraud bomb in a post, lets be serious. I find it hilarious that more and more Yankees are getting caught in the issue of steroids - you can't even cheat and buy a championship!

Anyway to the game story -

In an emotional effort, the French Lick Legends suffered their first loss of the season to the hands of the Princes of Freshness, 43-37, on Thursday evening at the ECU Rec Center in M13 division action.

The defense of French Lick (1-1) continued to play with tenacity only allowing 43 points and forcing 17 Fresh Prince (1-1) turnovers, but the offense struggled...mightily. The shooting of French Lick was disappointing at best, making just 24.2 percent (15-of-62) of its shots and only connecting on 4-of-24 3-point attempts.

The bright spots for the Legends came from freshman Ian McLeod and sophomore Joseph Jordan. McLeod tallied his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan scored nine points and totaled 10 rebounds for French Lick.

Steven Bateese and Garrison Cherry each chipped in with five points apiece, while Matt Warnick dished out a team-high four assists in the loss.

The Legends trailed at halftime, 23-20, but where unable to close the gap in the second stanza. McLeod led the offense with eight points at intermission.

In the second half, the French Lick defense caused 10 turnovers, but that could not mask the 1-for-16 shooting from downtown by the Legends. French Lick was not downtown LeRoy Brown by any means.

Trailing 40-34 in the final minute, Cherry fired a deep 3-pointer from the right wing, which was blocked. The freshman guard grabbed the rebound and passed the McLeod who sank a trey from the right corner with 23 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, the Fresh Princes were able to make 3-of-4 free throws in the closing seconds to earn the victory.

The Legends will look to avenge the loss on Thursday evening at 9 p.m.

Game Notes

Team shot 15-of-62 from the field...Fresh Princes shot 16-for-48 on field goal attempts...FLL's made just 3-of-8 foul shot attempts...Fresh Princes made 6-of-12 from the charity stripe...two players grabbed double digit rebounds (McLeod & Jordan)...FLLs committed just eight turnovers to 17 by FPs...Coach Holliday is now 8-8 in his career as an intramural head coach.

No. 21 Legends Host Fresh Princes Thursday Night

Game Two Preview

Fresh Princes (0-1) vs. No. 21 French Lick Legends (1-0)

Greenville, N.C. - The No. 21-ranked French Lick Legends host the Fresh Princes in a Division M13 match up on Thursday evening at 10 p.m. on the SRC Court #2 inside the East Carolina Rec Center.

The Legends are coming off a 43-30 season opening victory over Team G2 last Thursday. The win tied the Legends with as many regular season Dub-Yas as the team accumulated during the 2008 campaign. The possibility of a let down lurks as the Fresh Princes dropped their first game, 65-44 to Hey What Court Are We On?. Head Coach Kyle Holliday and on the court leader Brett Hickman will need the squad to be firing on all cylinders to keep the undefeated season in tact.

"I don't think champions are ever satisfied," said senior Brett Hickman. "Champions always search for a little bit more. Every year is a new season and you have to play game by game and not look at the big picture."

French Lick started off shooting fromt the field as Matt Millen did selecting first round draft picks for the Detroit Lions - horrible besides Calvin Johnson...from...obviously he was a G-Tech Yellow Jacket.

"We need to start off better and score early on," said Holliday. "We started off slow, but luckily we were able to make a run towards the end of the first half."

The Legends utilized an impressive 16-4 run to close out the first half and put the game out of reach for Team G2 to earn the win.

The Legends will start a three guard offense, hoping to attack the Fresh Princes' defense off the dribble. All five starters have the ability to make shots from behind the arc, which should open up the middle for a Princeton-like-offense including screens and back cuts.

Holliday has inserted Matt Warnick into the starting lineup to handle most of point guard duties. The sophomore played with great poise off the bench scoring five points and distributing four assists.

Both wing spots will be held by senior Brett Hickman and freshman Garrison Cherry. Hickman had a stand out season opener, pouring in a team-high 12 points along with dishing four assists. Look for Cherry to break out in game two and be more involved in the offense in his second career intramural game.

Robert Tant and Ian McLeod will man the post positions. Both players have excellent inside-out games and should contribute even more on the offensive and defensive sides of the basketball against the Fresh Princes. Sophomore Joseph Jordan will be in the mix to spell time for McLeod and Tant. The forward-center came off the bench to score eight points and grab five rebounds in the season opener.

If the Legends can play with defensive tenacidy, like similar to the effort put forth against Team G2, then French Lick will pick up its second win of the season.


Prediction
French Lick 48 - Fresh Princes 43

French Lick Legends Projected Starters

G Matt Warnick - makes first start of the season
G Garrison Cherry - local product of J.H. Rose HS
G Brett Hickman - leading scorer averages 12ppg
F Robert Tant - team leader in afro look-a-like
C Ian McLeod - tallied a half double-double 5 pts/5 rebounds
-------------------------------------
G Stephen Battese - scored five points off the bench
G Ben Anderson - Ben Wallace type player - floor burn dominator
F Stephen Moore - Hickory, NC native - i dont know this guy
F Chad Staradumsky - feels the nastness of being a champion (see Tom Trojan article)
C Joseph Jordan - top scorer off bench (8 points, 5 rebounds)
G/F/C/Coach Kyle Holliday - scored two points last game without playing
Asst. Coach/Mr Fact Ben Warnick - believes that the final play in the Super Bowl was a forward pass by Kurt Warner and that the Cardinals should have been given one more play.

Game Notes
- No. 21 ranking is the highest mark during a spring semester under Holliday.
- Top ranked defense in the M13 Division, opponents avg. 30ppg.
- With a second victory will surpass regular season win total from 2008.
- Start four underclassman and one senior.

Former SBHS Star finally on a Championship caliber team

By: Tommy Trojan

It is an often common fate for some of sports greatest athletes. Barry Sanders and Gary Payton immediately come to mind when talking about sports heroes who have been struck by the bad luck of playing for porous franchises. Chad Staradumsky’s athletic career seemed to be on that same path.

Nestled in the middle of scenic Brunswick County, North Carolina is Staradumsky’s hometown of Winnabow. Call it bad luck, but the Staradumsky family resided in the South Brunswick school district. For all intensive purposes, South Brunswick High School was “athletic hell”. To make matters worse, twenty five miles south on Highway 17 was “heaven”.

The South Brunswick-West Brunswick rivalry is the Carolina-State of Southeastern North Carolina. Like the Wolfpack, the Cougars have had their moments (1989 State Baseball Champions). But destiny has not been a friend of the navy and columbia blue. Its color of preference has been Green and Gold.

West Brunswick has dominated the athletic landscape in Brunswick County for two decades. A cradle of some of North Carolina’s best high school coaches and players, the Trojans were the program of the decade in football during the 1990’s and have since became a baseball juggernaut under legendary coach Mike Alderson. If Shallotte (home of WBHS) is the “mecca” then Boiling Springs Lakes is merely a Canadian province.

Metaphorically, Staradumsky has finally left Canada and landed in French Lick. Now a junior at East Carolina, the former flame throwing reliever from the Cougar baseball team is now a contributing forward for the 8^th ranked French Lick Legends of the ECU Intramural Basketball League.

“It feels good to be a part of a winner.” said Staradumsky. “We were always good but not great. To be a part of a top ten program means so much to me.”

The FLL’s currently possess a 1-0 record after a dominating performance against G2 Thursday night in the ECU Rec Center. Staradumsky started at the Small Forward spot while former West Brunswick athlete Brett Hickman anchored down the point guard spot. Hickman insists that despite the rivalry in high school, he and Staradumsky are friends and there are no hostilities between the two.

“Chad is a good friend of mine. In spite of what people think, WBHS people don’t hate SBHS people. It is hard to dislike someone you beat with such regularity.”

Hickman went on to explain why he believes the Trojans have denied the Cougars success on the gridiron, hardwood, and diamond.

“The problem with South Brunswick High School athletics is that the school and community places too much emphasis on academics , hanging out in beautiful Southport, and visiting Oak Island. Conversely, the citizens of greater Shallotte love their football, basketball, and baseball and care very little about the ‘student’ in ‘student-athlete‘. I think South has transitioned more into that mindset the last few years. Consequently, they have started to beat us because people in our community started caring about kids grades and that other garbage.”

Staradumsky pointed out that South Brunswick did beat the Trojans during Hickman’s senior year in baseball to open the ‘04 campaign. He was also quick to note that the Cougars went on to capture an Easter Tournament Championship on Trojan field during their run to the state playoffs. However, as Hickman was quick to point out, the Trojans responded by beating down the Cougars in the next performance and finished the season with a championship a little bigger than the Beach Diamond Invitational. The ‘04 Trojans went on to win the North Carolina 3A State Championship.

The past behind them, Hickman and Staradumsky should each play integral roles for the FLL’s in what is destined to be the teams best season in history. For Staradumsky it is one last shot at being great. For Hickman, its high school all over again.