Air Academy vs Fossil Ridge Notes
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Two teams with differing playstyles, Fossil Ridge squeaked away with an overtime victory thanks to a well balanced scoring effort across the board. Air Academy on the other hand clawed their way back in through the second half, led by…
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Continue ReadingTwo teams with differing playstyles, Fossil Ridge squeaked away with an overtime victory thanks to a well balanced scoring effort across the board. Air Academy on the other hand clawed their way back in through the second half, led by elite perimter play from Max Howery Max Howery 6'0" | PG Air Academy | 2024 State CO and Noah Hellem Noah Hellem 5'10" | SG Air Academy | 2024 State CO .
Fossil Ridge
Shields stays active attacking immediately off the catch, either for straight line drives or three point attempts. His wide reach allows the junior to finish around contests with extended arm finishes and finger rolls. While attacking the rim, Shields showed excellent vision making kick outs just when the weak side collapse occurred or a bounce pass for a slasher. They bring an efficient style of play without extra fluff.
Highlights
One of the more consistent perimeter shooters in the class, Gray requires the defense to stay glued to him. Possessing plenty of gravity, the guard has done well leveraging the space for passes to rollers, often over the top into the low block region. The guard is a consistent downhill scoring threat, attacking immediately off the catch, showing value getting to double clutch layups mid-air.
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Jensen Planansky
Jensen Planansky
The forward is particularly strong, often leveraging his impact through hard screens and post touches versus smaller defenders. Effective in this matchup hustling for rebounds on either end, Planansky was excellent creating extra scoring opportunities for this group. Getting to multiple spin moves in traffic, the forward had no trouble going up and drawing contact versus opposing guards.
Nutting was active attacking the lane, making the extra pass if needed to keep the defense rotating. He was instrumental in multiple fast break conversions, grabbing the defensive board and pushing to create easy scoring opportunities from an outlet.
Banek worked to stay active for passes around the rim, contributing on a few contested layups in traffic thanks to his off-ball movement. The forward is continuing to work in the paint to draw contact, often initiating out of a spin move while possessing downhill momentum on a drive. His help side rotations have helped stunt drives, utilizing his quick verticality to swat away attempts.
Highlights
Air Academy
There are few guards in the state, if any, who are as dangerous as Hellem off the catch. Particularly dangerous flowing off of screen actions, such as flares and pindowns. He can rise up from anywhere along the perimeter, shifting his hips quickly to square up in the blink of an eye. He hit multiple clutch threes in this matchup, although one of his biggest plays was an and-1 floater towards the end of regulation. His performance helped Air Academy battle down to the end of overtime.
There’s not much more you could ask from a lead guard with Howery’s impact. Adept controlling the flow to create the best possible scoring opportunities for teammates, the guard brings exceptionally high IQ with the ball. Continuing to showcase consistency shooting the ball out beyond the arc and from mid-range pull-ups, Howery has been as consistent as anyone scoring. The fact that he is never sped up allows him to find his spots, taking routine shot attempts even with a hard contest. Defensively, he is constantly roaming around on help side for steals or to take a charge.