Tanner Thomas

[Manfred]

Lets get this out of the way. He played a really good game tonight. However......I said it before. You can defense a 2-pronged attack. The Trojanmen did this. Early in the game, whenever Johnson tried to bring the ball upcourt, they trapped him, forcing turnovers, but whenever LG brought it upcourt, they backed off because Madison couldn't handle him man to man. This eventually resulted in LG being somewhat gassed at the end, and he fouled out, I believe the 1st time all year. He had his 20-some points, and so did TT. FH lost 74-56. The 2 of them had 40-some points. The rest of the crew had 12 or 13. You can't win games like that against most teams, let alone against a team as athletic as Jtown. This could have been uglier, had Williams not been in foul difficulty most of the night. Jtown shot pretty well, Madison got away with grabbing and holding all night, Jtown scored often within 3 ft. of the bucket. FH was outmanned. Pretty much end of story. Hope Huntingdon's scouts/ coaches got a good preview tonight. They sat and filmed right in front of me. Congrats to the Trojanmen. You proved you were the best LHAC team this year.

[sportsfan1000]

Madison couldn't handle him man-to-man? Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Gallaher had 5 pts in the first half? 3 of which was the first shot of the game.

He may of had 20 some points but at least 10-15 were in garbage time. I can remember 2 long threes, a layup and 2 foul shots all when the game was long decided. Thats ten points right there.

I think Madison did an outstanding job on him tonight.

[captain earth]

He had 3 first half points.

[Don's Disciple]

Gallagher's points were not in 'garbage time'. A lot came when Johnstown was looking like they were about to blow FH out, and Gallagher single handidly kept it close. In the first half, he had a lot of nice assists to Thomas, who had the best matchup. The kid did a nice job guarding Luke, but the 5 points he had in the first half had more to do with him taking less shots than the kid's play. Luke can score at will on just about anybody..

[sportsfan1000]

We must have different opinions of garbage time then. He scored at least 10 points in the last 3-4 minutes. When the second half started Johnstown went on a run and Johnstown's lead never got below 11 points so I'm not sure what you mean about "keeping it close."

Gallaher is a great talent but he could not "score at will" last night. I think he shot more air balls last night than he did all season long. That's called good defense.

[Manfred]

It's also a testament to having to bring the ball up the floor nearly every play, then having to go into offensive mode. As to Madison. He did a better job on LG when they played at Sidman. He's a good player, but only a soph. He will get better . sportsfan: Lets agree to admit this- you see a given event on the floor from YOUR perspective; I see the SAME event from mine. What I saw last night was whenever LG was ready to blow by him, he was hand-checking and grabbing jerseys an awful lot. To me, LG seemed a little gassed in the last few minutes, but kicked in the adrenalin when he needed to. I believe the airball near the end was caused by fatigue. So was his fouling out- first time all year? Against an athletic team like the Trojans any player really has to step up their performances. Another reason why only 2 really good players can't overcome 5. Since this topic is Thomas', he was playing out on the wing on D instead of the middle or down low, my guess is mainly for protecting him from foul troubles, and better to give up fouls to Scott, Helsel, and Moss. Congrats to the Trojans on their title. It will be interesting to see how deep they go in states w/o Watson. Good luck.

[sportsfan1000]

Hey, I would love if Thomas and Gallaher were on Jtown's team. After Jtown's starting five they have nothing. Gallaher is a tremendous player. Everyone knows that. I disagree with the hand checking but whatever.

As for Thomas, not sure why he didn't get more touches down low. I think he played way to far from the basket. Not sure if that was a strategy or good defense.

As far as Jtwn advancing, I just don't see it with no depth. If they still had Eddins and Watson they would be a tough out against any AAA team in the state.

[Don's Disciple]

Any team in the state?

I'm not sure how good AAA basketball is, I know it's probably the weakest class in the WPIAL. and does the Philly Catholic/Charter teams have AAA squads? There's some real tough competition in the eastern part of the state.. I wouldn't pull the trigger on being able to compete with anyone with or without those two.