The Cru escapes...Great job Villa, you should be very proud.

 

MARCH MADNESS IS HERE

Villa played one heck of a game.:thumb: The blue lightning faithful should be very proud.

Nice win for St. Henry, probably the sloppiest game I've seen all year. :creepy:

"Escapes" being the prime word. WOW!!!

 

Great Job to Villa. They CLEARLY did not pay any attention to the past two meetings. They wanted this game and believed they would win.

 

Survive and move on...that's what March is all about.

 

-CardinalsFan

Villa - you played an excellent game!

St. Henry looked like they were looking ahead to the next round. But hey a wins a win when it comes to tournament time. Good game to watch.

Congrats to St. Henry for advancing to the semi-finals and also a BIG congrats goes out to Villa Madonna for their first appearance in the 9th Region Tourney and a heck of a gameplan.

ttt

WOW. Sure didn't think it would be this close. Congrats to the Cru for hanging tough and pulling one out. They will need their "A" game against Cov. Cath.

Great game to watch. Much better than the HHS-CCH game. I thought Villa tried to force too much when they had a 8-10 point lead and should have been more patient on offense. The refs really let the boys play in this game which made it fun to watch. Bryan is a great athlete/player for Villa.

Villa clearly won tonight. The school and players will remember this for years to come. Great job to all the young men on the floor and all the students and families in the stands. Way to represent.

Villa clearly won tonight. The school and players will remember this for years to come. Great job to all the young men on the floor and all the students and families in the stands. Way to represent.

Hmmm...interesting definition of the phrase "clearly won". I am fairly positive the final read something like this:

 

St. Henry - 59

Villa Madonna - 56

 

So, if by "clearly won" you mean that they played their hearts out against a team that had previously owned them (twice!) and almost pulled off a fairly major upset in the region but unfortunately fell just a little short thereby ending their season...then yes, they "clearly won". :thumb:

 

As the classiest coach in the Ninth said after the win, "They deserved to win the game." That's about all you can say.

 

-CardinalsFan

I was very impressed. I follow DIII quite a bit through out the year and honestly did not think Villa had much of a chance. Villa played their hearts out. I thought their entire game plan was to slow things down (smart), but were forced out of it with the pressing and half-court trap that St. Henry kept throwing at them. Villa was up most of the first half until St. Henry went on a run near the end to go up 1 at the half. Everyone in that gym (don't lie) thought, "ok, here we go, now is when St. Henry goes on to blow them out". But it didn't happen. Villa opened the second half on something close to a 12-2 run (?). It was crazy. To see St. Henry have to call a time out being down 9 to Villa was something else. It really was a great game.

Have to give a ton of credit to St. Henry for the win. It was very exciting and a great atmosphere for a high school basketball game. Faust really is a class act.

 

Funny seeing all of the Cov Cath students helping out the Villa students with their cheers. It was just really what a high school basketball game should be, very entertaining.

 

Good luck to St. Henry! Congrats to Villa on the great season, there were a ton of people who felt you didn't belong there, and you really did prove them wrong.

Impressive effort Villa :thumb: I was pulling for ya. Just came up a little short, but you left the court looking like winners to me. :thumb:

 

 

Congrats to St. Henry for moving on. As you know, you'll have to play much better than that if you stand a chance against the Colonels. I think you have it in ya though to make a respectible game of it.

I got there late in the 4th and Villa was winning by 3 points. I think there was like 2 min left. Now, isnt STephen Love Villa's best player? From the moment I walked in, sat down and watched the end of regulation and the full overtime I dont think he looked at the basket one time to score. Bryan looked very good on a couple moves to the basket but they looked out of gas.

 

They couldnt have drawn up the final play of the game any better though and once again I thought Love should have spotted up at the top of the key for the kick out off the missed free throw and the game winner. The dark haired kid had the guts to take it but if Love is spotted up at the top, he had time to swing it over to him for the winner. That boy that took the final shot looked hesitant and it didnt look smooth at all. It almost went in and you can bet pandemonium would have set in. I was just confused as to why Love played no part in any of the offense those final minutes.

 

Congrats to the Blue Lightning though on a valiant effort.