Cooper 54 Holy Cross 41 (9th Region Quarter-Final)

A lot closer than most would have thought........turnovers killed any chance the Cross had.

Cooper/Newport will be fun.

These games are difficult. Kids come to play knowing it could all be over.

You said it Lawnboy 13. This game was close up till last few minutes. Turnovers and HC coach not having Barnes or Meinze on the floor toward the end, Houston couldnt defend the paint all alone. Cooper went to the basket with almost no resistance at that point and opened up the lead quickly. We were in the game till then. Indians played hard, glad I was sitting court side to watch. Congratulations to the jags.

Good win for Cooper, keep it up Coach Sullivan.

You said it Lawnboy 13. This game was close up till last few minutes. Turnovers and HC coach not having Barnes or Meinze on the floor toward the end, Houston couldnt defend the paint all alone. Cooper went to the basket with almost no resistance at that point and opened up the lead quickly. We were in the game till then. Indians played hard, glad I was sitting court side to watch. Congratulations to the jags.

He looked gased at the end, sweat pouring from his head. He definitely played his "donkey" off at both ends.

According to what I posted in the update thread, and I might have missed a few, Holy Cross had 13 turnovers that resulted in 20 Cooper points.

He looked gased at the end, sweat pouring from his head. He definitely played his "donkey" off at both ends.

He was gassed playing out of position all year. I look forward to checking him out on the AAU circuit

You said it Lawnboy 13. This game was close up till last few minutes. Turnovers and HC coach not having Barnes or Meinze on the floor toward the end, Houston couldnt defend the paint all alone. Cooper went to the basket with almost no resistance at that point and opened up the lead quickly. We were in the game till then. Indians played hard, glad I was sitting court side to watch. Congratulations to the jags.

It appeared to me that the perimeter defense for HC was lacking most of the night, even more so in the 4th quarter.

It appeared to me that the perimeter defense for HC was lacking most of the night, even more so in the 4th quarter.

That was a common occurrence this year. The head coach doesn't put much stock in playing lock down D.

It appeared to me that the perimeter defense for HC was lacking most of the night, even more so in the 4th quarter.

That was a common occurrence this year. The head coach doesn't put much stock in playing lock down D.

You'd be hard pressed to find a game where Kunkel and McNeil were locked down.

HC played about 2.75 quarters of the game they wanted to play, that is, deliberate.

When Cooper really turned up the pressure defense with Hendrix, C. McNeil and Kunkel at the top of that aggressive press, the Tribe really had no answer.

You can place blame wherever you choose, but Cooper was opportunistic on both ends and HC couldn't make them pay for their mistakes at a high enough frequency.

I have to hand it to the Cross for playing their hearts out and keeping within reach most of the game, and I really think that if towards the end of the 3rd quarter and all throughout the 4th if they had tried to attack the basket and draw fouls they would've given themselves a great chance to keep this game even closer, and in doing so perhaps even pull off the upset.

I sincerely believe that it could've been possible if the game plan towards the last period would have been to take it to them instead of settling for the luck or not of perimeter shots dropping.

A few things kept running though my head that puzzled me.

1. Why doesn't Barnes look to score? You'd think that he could muscle his way around the basket and draw fouls.

2. Why wasn't Meinze used more because whenever he got in the game he made instant impact, and his size seemed to be wasted on the bench?

3. Why wasn't Zimmerman used more?...he too seemed to make impact.

He looked gased at the end, sweat pouring from his head. He definitely played his "donkey" off at both ends.

The kid is a joy to watch. Plays his tail off. Will be a really nice piece for HC going forward.

You'd be hard pressed to find a game where Kunkel and McNeil were locked down.

 

HC played about 2.75 quarters of the game they wanted to play, that is, deliberate.

 

When Cooper really turned up the pressure defense with Hendrix, C. McNeil and Kunkel at the top of that aggressive press, the Tribe really had no answer.

 

You can place blame wherever you choose, but Cooper was opportunistic on both ends and HC couldn't make them pay for their mistakes at a high enough frequency.

I was not expecting HC to play lock down defense on them, what I saw by some was closer to not being interested in playing defense at all.

I was not placing blame either, just a simple observation.

Some people like to think they are a better coach than the head coach and have all the answers.

I was not expecting HC to play lock down defense on them, what I saw by some was closer to not being interested in playing defense at all.

 

I was not placing blame either, just a simple observation.

I follow.

A few more observations if you will:

I saw an offense, particularly in the second half, make hay on ball screens with two of the best bucket-getters in the region. Next to impossible to guard without emphasizing in the preseason how to handle those situations.

I saw a HC team fail to take advantage of mismatches, specifically when Barnes had C. McNeil on an island in the paint. HC is not the only team to miss these opportunities and I could easily be convinced 90ish % of HS teams miss out on these types of opportunities as they see positions and angles before matchups.

Lastly, I saw an HC team compete from the tip with one of the best teams in NKY. No trophies for second place, but keeping people in the seats until the end of the 4th is a tiny small microscopic win for a team returning most of its key contributors next season.

The last one is no good for Barnes and Williams, who finally got active in the 4th, or the rest of the seniors, but Indians fans can rest easy knowing they return a talented team capable of a pretty nice postseason run.