John I. Burton at Union (Friday, January 20th, 2012)

**PV2WISE2VCU** · January 17th, 2012, 12:27 AM

Thoughts?

The winner of this one wins the LPD in my opinion and both need the title for better seeding in the regional tournament. Union seems to be playing better after an early season funk that saw them lose to Twin Springs twice and Haysi while Burton keeps churning out wins against sub par competition. The Raiders to me are still a mystery, the only team of value they have played handled them on their home floor (Twin Springs) and they are coming off a less than stellar effort against Central. This one comes down to fouls and will be decided by Vernon's ability to stay on the floor to defend Robinette/Beaty. The one big advantage that JIB has is at PG, Deaton is more experienced than the point guards Union can trot out and that could pay major dividends. Long story short, at the single a level I always go with the team that has the best player; thus, I'm going with Union 52-46.

**duckmeat** · January 18th, 2012, 11:11 PM

Norton looked extremely good tonight against TS. Limited Finch to 10 points. Stajovic and Finch combined for 31 rebounds though and Finch had 8 blocks, they exposed Norton's weakness against teams with size. Norton contained them okay on the offensive side, but were done in by TS's shooters because of all the bodies they put in the paint. Can't remember the score, but I think it was 57-51 TS.

Should be a good one Friday.

**beamer_ball** · January 21st, 2012, 02:07 AM

Union with a 64-62 win over Burton tonight.

**Biggin** · January 21st, 2012, 03:11 AM

Great game tonight, clearly the two best LPD teams by a wide margin. Norton was down by as many as 8 really late in the game, but Union missed free throws and let JIB close the margin. The last bucket was inconsequential, UHS let JIB score to run out the remaining seconds.

All in all, very good, back and forth game. JIB jumped out to an early lead, Union came roaring back to take a lead into halftime, JIB came out on fire (and UHS ice cold) in the 3rd, but Union dominated the 4th quarter.