By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
FORSYTH — Spensar Seiger showed his Fair Grove teammates Friday a side of himself they hadn’t seen before, at least not in an Eagles uniform.
Seiger assumed Fair Grove’s point guard duties for the first time this season and directed the Eagles to a 61-50 Mid-Lakes Conference triumph against Forsyth.
With Fair Grove minus point guard Jaxon Rowden due to a shoulder injury he suffered earlier this week at Buffalo, Seiger shifted from shooting guard to point guard. As fate would have it, his first time out as the Eagles’ primary ball-handler came opposite a Forsyth bunch that applies full-court pressure from start to finish.
Seiger impressed mightily against the Panthers’ press. Fair Grove had a modest nine turnovers, with only two of the giveaways occurring as the Eagles brought the ball upcourt.
“I said to myself, ‘I need to (fill) Jaxon’s shoes and handle the ball well,” Seiger said. “My goal was not having a bunch of turnovers and to put the guys in successful places. I love presses. If they’re up on me, that tells me I’m going to get to blow right past them and score a bucket at the other end.”
Seiger had the benefit of a season’s worth of experience he gained as Ava’s point guard as a freshman last year. He transferred to Fair Grove last summer.
“Spensar had been in this situation before,” Fair Grove coach Bryan Tucker said. “I knew he was ready. I was not worried at all about him.”
“I thought we might have the opportunity to do good things with (our press) and stymie them a little bit, but we didn’t,” Forsyth coach Kevin Smith said. “We thought we could wear them down, which is when we turn (opponents) over. Hats off to them. They got it up the floor. They’re well-coached.”
Seiger scored 13 points and played stellar defense.
As much as he enjoyed trying to beat Forsyth’s press, he relished the chance to defend Panthers forward Ryder Blevins. Seiger blanketed Blevins one-on-one. The Eagles were in a man-to-man for all but a few possessions.
Blevins, who came in averaging 22.1 points a game on 56-percent shooting, scored 19 points on 9-of-25 shooting from the field.
Seemingly the only shot Blevins had all night without Seiger putting a hand in his face was a breakaway dunk.
“My whole goal was to lock down Ryder,” Seiger said. “Scouts look at you for (defense) more so than your offense, I feel like.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“He knew he couldn’t help off because their offense runs through (Blevins),” Tucker said. “It was an incredible defensive performance. More than anything, that’s the standard he sets for himself. I’ve never had to explain my expectations for him. From day one, he’s shown he’s going to compete his tail off.”
Seiger’s transition to Fair Grove has gone as well as he could have hoped. He joined the Eagles after his father, Damon, was hired as Fair Grove’s athletics director and assistant principal.
“He said it was up to me,” Spensar of his father and about their family’s move from Ava to Fair Grove. “It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. It’s been amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything better. They’ve welcomed me and treated me so well. They brought me into their families and treated me like family.”
Seiger never would have guessed while attending grade school and junior high in Marshfield through the seventh grade that the Fair Grove players he had competed against annually would be his future high school teammates
“I’d played against them at The Courts and The Fieldhouse my whole life,” he said. “I still have pictures of me playing against them. They were always my enemy because they were always beating me.”
In addition to Seiger playing the point, Fair Grove adjusted to Rowden’s absence by increasing sophomore Sam Kennard’s role from mop-up duty to sixth-man.
Kennard responded with four 3-point goals in his 13-point night. He had back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a 56-46 lead with 3:00 remaining.
“I was feeling it from the get-go,” Kennard said. “I was hitting pretty much all my shots in warmups, so I was ready to put them in during the game.”
“This was really his first night in the fire,” Tucker said. “He’s played a lot of jayvee this year. He’s been ready to get his opportunity at the varsity level. We knew we would possibly need him in a big moment and that big moment was tonight. We had all the belief in the world in him. He showed what he can do. He’s getting more comfortable with the speed and physicality of the game.”
Fair Grove was 6-of-14 from 3-point land.
The teams repeatedly traded the lead through the first three quarters. Forsyth (18-4 overall and 1-1 in the Mid-Lakes) last led at 40-39.
Panthers center Tanner Baird was strong early on, scoring 13 points in the first half. But the Eagles held the 6-foot-11 sophomore to two points in the second half.
“That had to do with Tyler Barnett and the way he guarded (Baird),” Tucker said. “That was as physical as I’ve seen Tyler play this year. I’m extremely proud of his effort. (Baird) was never able to take over the game like I’ve seen him do on film.”
“They made the shots they needed to make and we missed shots around the basket that we’re usually pretty effective with,” Smith said.
Forsyth was 1-of-6 on free throws.
Barnett scored 18 points, with most of his buckets at mid-range and out of Baird’s reach. Baird blocked three shots in the first half.
“We told our kids, ‘You’re going to be able to get the ball inside, but there a lot of times on the bounce you’re going to have to pull up and shoot from the free-throw line,” Tucker said. “We’ve worked on shooting the pull-up jump shot.”
Fair Grove (17-6 and 2-0) will look to win the Mid-Lakes championship with a win next week at home against Strafford (13-9 and 2-0).
“We’ve had that game marked on the calendar since day one,” Seiger said. “We’ve been working for that game.”
Fair Grove 61, Forsyth 50
FAIR GROVE (61) — Seiger 4 4-7 13, Kennard 4 1-2 13, Baxter 5 0-0 11, Barnett 8 2-3 18, Geitz 2 0-0 4.
FORSYTH (50) — Strahan 1 0-1 2, Blevins 9 0-1 19, Coen 1 0-1 2, Volvia 1 0-0 3, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Kreutziger 2 0-1 5, Baird 7 1-2 15.
3-point goals – Kennard 4, Seiger, Baxter, Voliva, Blevins, Kreutziger.
