article Bluegrasspreps.com 3rd Region Preview

[ApolloFan98]

The fact that they played box and one on Matthews says a lot about him, but more about his teammates. Generally the coach didn't think his teammates could do enough to win. If Matthews and/or Meade hadn't seen this at all this year then it is difficult to adjust to on the fly. Interesting move by Apollo. it may have been a good call against Meade but I don't know if this says much about Apollo's confidence in their abilities to defend moving forward.

 

This same defense has worked very well against the best teams in the region. If they can run it on Lance Lewis and still not get beat by Douglas and Gardner... I don’t see that hindering them a ton going forward. I do however think that Ohio County could be a tougher matchup for them just due to their big physical guards in Parker and Sandefur. I also think Simmons can at least somewhat match Graham. If Ohio can hit some 3’s they will make it a tough game. They just can’t play with as many errors as they did last night.

[wkyhollywood]

Apollo is playing at a high level and surprisingly dominated Meade. It appears their weakness is they have no bench scoring. I see a Catholic v. Apollo regional final, but OC is capable of laying an egg on offense and losing before that... we'll see.

[Eagle3]

I watched the Eagles play Friday night in the district finals against Catholic and the we boxed and 1 the Hayden kid from Catholic and he still tagged us for 16 points, plus the big shot to send the game in OT. Seems like Riley did more to get Hayden open looks, which he did. As far as last night, Matthews seemed frustrated the entire game waiting on his players to make something happen for him instead of he (Matthews) trying to create offense for himself. You could witness the confusion from the start. Credit Apollo, they played well. Meade shot terrible. As an observation, it seemed that Meade was starry eyed about playing Apollo. Im not 100% sure, and can use some help on this, but, Meade played Catholic & Daviess this season outside their own district and were boat raced by both teams. I assume they played more of an eastern time zone schedule to coincide with their own travel and chose not to schedule west. It showed. They were completely out manned. Going to be an interesting finish for sure.

[dognation2]

I watched the Eagles play Friday night in the district finals against Catholic and the we boxed and 1 the Hayden kid from Catholic and he still tagged us for 16 points, plus the big shot to send the game in OT. Seems like Riley did more to get Hayden open looks, which he did. As far as last night, Matthews seemed frustrated the entire game waiting on his players to make something happen for him instead of he (Matthews) trying to create offense for himself. You could witness the confusion from the start. Credit Apollo, they played well. Meade shot terrible. As an observation, it seemed that Meade was starry eyed about playing Apollo. Im not 100% sure, and can use some help on this, but, Meade played Catholic & Daviess this season outside their own district and were boat raced by both teams. I assume they played more of an eastern time zone schedule to coincide with their own travel and chose not to schedule west. It showed. They were completely out manned. Going to be an interesting finish for sure.

 

I guess it was kinda what i was alluding to: Matthews is a very good player, Apollo will probably meet other teams ready to attack the box and one.

[dognation2]

Very good point dognation2 and much agreed. It looked like Meade allowed the box and one to dictate things too much early in the game. Other than maybe an offensive putback attempt, Matthews didn't take a shot in the first quarter. I didn't see how Meade could win a game like this if he was going to be a non-factor. Some of the other kids certainly have had some nice games recently, but they can't carry a team the way he can. I think somehow that got lost and I'm not sure how.

 

It just looked like they needed to get Matthews involved earlier even if he had to force things a bit. He got Gray in foul trouble and off the floor, but the guards weren't looking for him when he had a size mismatch. I would not have allowed that to happen. He is your best player and you need to get him going.

 

Don't know how effective Apollo can be against other teams who have more scorers, but the box and one last night had the effect of taking the head off a snake. I was surprised by how good Apollo looked last night. They certainly have size, but quickness might be an issue.

 

Yeah if Aiden and Coach T didn't prepare for it; it can really be difficult to get him involved, and they certainly need him to be involved

[74devil]

On the nose with the Catholic, Breck score. Great job. Quit your day job and go to Vegas for a couple of days. Might never have to work again.

[74devil]

You have your final four, you going with the results you've posted earlier or have you seen something that has caused you to rethink?

[ApolloFan98]

On the nose with the Catholic, Breck score. Great job. Quit your day job and go to Vegas for a couple of days. Might never have to work again.

 

Game 1 saw Muhlenberg dominate Grayson. The game was never in doubt and the Stangs looked pretty locked in to me. Nice team effort with solid contributions from their young guys.

 

The way Cath/Breck started, I thought it favored Breck. I think Breck executed coach Critchelow’s gameplan well and they worked it for a 7 point lead in the 2nd quarter. Tim Riley takes a timeout and the entire game turns. That is the 3rd game in a row that I have seen that happen. 2 6-0 runs out of timeouts where they trailed and a 12-2 run out of this one. It really came down to Catholic simply hitting big shots and Breck being unable to. McFarland, Ballard and Reid all hit shots in that 2nd quarter that ended up deciding the game. They coasted home after that. Much like Apollo, Catholic is looking tough. And it’s real hard to bet against Tim Riley at this point. Saturday’s games should be good ones.

[cardfan01]

I agree completely with what you saw in the Meade/Apollo game. Meade played Apollo in the Summer varsity league at Apollo High School (back in June I think). Matthews hit shots from everywhere on the floor that day and Apollo had nobody who could guard him. I think Apollo won that one, but it was very close. I'm sure Apollo remembered quite a bit from that game.

 

I don't think Meade was in any way affected by the thought of playing Apollo. They played an extremely tough schedule outside the 3rd Region (many from the tough 5th region). Central Hardin is a team similar to Apollo and they beat them pretty handily in the final regular season game.

 

While the team did not handle the stronger competition very well throughout the year, Matthews always seemed to perform at a high level in all of those games. The stronger the opponent, the better he seemed to play.

 

Meade did lose in a blowout to Catholic very early in the season. They had some major ball handling issues in that game, where they turned it over time after time right underneath their own basket for easy layups (it was almost comical how bad it was). I think Meade was down 16-0 before they got on the board. I assure you that a more recent matchup between those two would not result in a similar score. Meade improved a lot over the course of the season.

 

It's hard to gauge the Meade Co./Daviess Co. game. Close game until somewhere in the 3rd. Too many turnovers and some hot shooting from Owen (I believe). The problem with Daviess County is that they can blow people out on a hot shooting night or lose to anyone when the ball isn't dropping (no size at all). I'm being honest here when I say that they really didn't look much different than last year when Meade beat them twice (with and without James Baker). Maybe they were a little quicker, but smaller this year.

[ApolloFan98]

The table is set for showdown #5 between Apollo and Owensboro Catholic. The Aces took down the Mustangs a lot easier than I was expecting, as Muhlenberg just did not play well at all. Far to many turnovers to pull the upset for them. Ohio looked pretty good early on, shooting well and getting James Graham in foul trouble, but you kind of knew when Apollo led at halftime even after not playing well and Ohio County playing very well, that they were probably going to be ok. Graham has been a monster in the postseason and continued that tonight. Even through the foul trouble, he still went 8-8 from the field. Ohio County fought hard and really kept it close with great shooting from beyond the arc. They have a decent core of young guys and will be back.

 

Tuesday nights game should be a classic. Catholic has beaten Apollo 4 times, but 2 of those Apollo let slip away with a last second shot. Both teams are playing at their peak right now and the Sportscenter should be packed. I could see it going either way but Apollo just has that look of a championship team.

[74devil]

I see no need to vote against you now. I just hope if Apollo is up toward the end of the game (when catholic usually decides to become a little more aggressive), they the don't fall into the "antics" that catholic has pulled in past games. Don't want to get a player thrown out and ruled ineligible for the state. The winner will need all hands on deck for that first round. You should seriously consider that Vegas trip. Good job as you have done all year!

Edited March 4, 2018 by 74devil
grammer

[devils58]

It's been a couple weeks now since Apollo upset OHS, and no, I'm not over it, but I've had the privilege of broadcasting the boys and girls 3rd region tourney games for Homers Radio. Here are some observations:

 

1-As far as boys are concerned, this may be the worst 3rd region field (teams out side the 9th) that I've ever seen. Apollo and Catholic have cake walked to the finals.

 

2-The girls tournament was fun and balanced, mainly because the region was good. Muhlenberg, Edmonson, and Breck had really good teams.

 

3-Owensboro Catholic girls are a machine. They're all about 6 foot tall, wear their hair the same, and play the same. It's like they build robots lol.

 

4-The Sportscenter has done a good job with timeout entertainment. Half Court shots, trivia, karaoke are lots of fun for crowd involvement.

 

5-Ohio County has won the best crowd hands down. Eagle Nation from Hartford literally filled half the Sportscenter

 

6-Shame on the students for not getting out to support the girls.

 

7- Sportscenter ice cream is the GOAT. Rupp isn't even close

 

8- OHS and DC are still the best two teams in the region. Don't @ me.

 

9- Apollo has the look of a special team. Talent wise, they've scared me all year and now they're showing why. 2006 could be happening again

 

10- I'm unbelievably blessed to able to to broadcast these games, get to know the coaches, the players, and interact with the 3rd Region fans. Steve and I were just guys in the bleachers about 5 years ago, and now we're getting to live a dream. Thank all of you!!!

 

10.5- Gimmie Apollo over Catholic in a war!

[ColonelCrazy]

Will the Championship game be broadcast anywhere online?

[devils58]

Championship game will be broadcast here: Homers Radio is on Mixlr. Mixlr is a simple way to share live audi...

[wkyhollywood]

Good trivia question, has any team beat another 5 times in one season? I agree, this should be an epic battle as both teams know each other all too well. If boyle and shelton are hot, it could be the end of the Aces season.