June 28, 2012
By Aaron Dorksen
Wooster Daily Record
Taggart Law Firm once again stated its case concretely and left no room for objections-case closed it still has the area's premier adult basketball team.
Taggart Law blew open a close game with a 17-4 first-half run en route to defeating D Block 93-64 in the championship of the Dawg Days Summer League at Village Green Park Wednesday night.
Led by the "Zacour Four"-brothers Stephen (30 points), Paul (20), Daniel (18), and David (17)-Taggart Law had too much size, skill and, of course, chemistry to be stopped.
A talented D Block team from Orrville, led by league scoring champ Jacob Bolyard's 26 points, trailed 45-34 at the half, but fell further and further out of contention as the game wore on.
"It's fun every year to play here, (league director) Morgan (Wenger) puts on a great tournament and league here," said 6-foot-3 Stephen Zacour, who is a 2006 Central Christian alum, along with 6-4 Paul (2004) and 6-5 Daniel (2005), while 6-4 eldest brother David is a 1998 Mansfield Christian graduate. "There's real good competition here, and everybody plays hard."
"It's difinitely a benefit for us to have four brothers playing. We also play together in the Church of the Saviour League in the winter. We know who's gonna be where, what each other's strengths are and put each other in the right spot to make shots."
Taggart Law won the regular season title with a 6-0 record, followed by a three-way tie between Top Dawgs, Hiland Alumni and D Block at 4-2. Rounding out the standings were the Riders (2-6), Young Guns (1-6) and Dalton Bulldogs (1-6).
It was the third year for the Dawg Days summer league and third title for the Zacours. As if they're not a tough enough nucleus of brothers, they added former Triway two-sport All-Ohioan Josh Garrison to play in the post and bring a solid player in Chris Steiner off the bench.
Wenger will join forces with the Zacours for six straight weekends of tournaments beginning in July, but in the interest of league balance played for Top Dawgs.
"What makes the Zacours' team? They're all about 6-4, all in shape and they're all good," Wenger said.
Bolyard (five 3-pointers) and Joey Besancon (seven points) were starters on Orrville High's 2010 Div. III state runner-up and Bolyard is now a standout at the University of Northwestern Ohio. Robinson added 12 points, while Brandon Speck, a Mansfield St. Pete and Walsh University product, added nine points and Cody Seiler netted eight.
"It's always fun to get a group of guys together and play basketball," said Bolyard, who led the league with 29 points per game. "We just didn't come out on top tonight, but we'll have them next year-you can put that in the paper."
Robinson added, "Every year we play against (the Zacours), if you don't come out prepared you're not gonna beat them."
"I look forward all summer to playing them," continued Robinson, whose team beat the Hiland alums 101-92 in the semis led by Bolyard's 37 points and 23 from Speck. "I'll be back for our Orrville tournament (July 7-8). We'll make sure we add some people and I'll be fully equipped."
Leading the Hiland team against D Block were Joel Miller (26), Dustin Kauffman (21) and Josh Miller (21).
Taggart Law advanced to the finals with a 77-44 win over the Top Dawgs as Stephen Zacour scored 27 points, Daniel netted 17 and Garrison muscled his way to 13. Zach Wasson led the Dawgs with 16.
Daniel Zacour and the rest of his team, which will be strengthened for 5-on-5 tourneys with the addition of players like Wenger, welcome the challenge of being a marked team.
"For the four of us, we just really love doing this and will try to do it as long as we can," Daniel said. "We're really competitive and agree that if we're going to play, let's do the best we can."
Dalton will host the seventh annual Dawg Days 3-on-3 Tournament July 14-15 and between 25-30 combined youth and adult teams are expected.
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