I am going to preface this by saying that I cheered for Elliott in this one; so that the state could see the best matchup of the season in the second game of Session 7 tomorrow-Holmes vs. Elliott County. This isn't meant to make anyone mad or take away from what either team did, it is how I saw it, and it was an entertaining game until the very end.

 

1. Elisha Justice was the best player on the floor, plain and simple. He may have had an off night shooting, but he is the reason that they were in the game at all. He was a 1-man press breaker, made several amazing passes, all of the key rebounds, and broke his man down off the dribble almost every single time down the floor. I thought that nothing would beat Sanford's late-game heroics from yesterday, but Justice's performance to keep Valley in the game surpasses Sanford's.

 

2. Elliott wasn't going to lose that game, if the officials had any thing to do about it. And they did. I don't complain about referees or their officiating ever, but a lot of the calls were questionable at best. Valley was in the bonus FOUR MINUTES INTO THE SECOND HALF. At that point, I believe Elliott had 2 team fouls. There were some very ticky-tack calls, such as Justice's foul on Christopher Knipp, Knipp had already passed the ball away and was virtually out of the play. It appeared that Justice had hand checked him and was called for the foul. At this point, I believe Valley was up 3, I don't think that Knipp hit both free-throws, but even so, I don't believe in a game of this magnitude the call should have been made. There were also several instances in which Elliott County would have a shot blocked and a whistle blown. But then at the other end, the exact same thing would happen and play would go on. Also, when Ethan Faulkner took the charge in the fourth quarter, his feet were not set and a blocking foul should have been made in my opinion.

 

3. I can not wait until tomorrow morning when the two best teams in the State meet up. With all due respect to Central and West Jessamine, I believe your State Champion from 2009 will be the winner of Game Two of Session 7.

 

With all of this being said, congratulations to Elliott County. Your dreams live on for another day, all of your hard work is beginning to pay off and your goal is just two games, albeit tough games, away. And to Shelby Valley, congratulations on a great season, although it isn't ultimately what you wanted, you are All-A Champions, and I look for you all to be back in the State Tournament next year.

 

And to Elisha Justice, your performance from this state tournament has put you into the discussion as the favorite for next year's Mr. Basketball Award.

 

Good luck to West Jessamine, Louisville Central, Elliott County and Covington Holmes for getting this far. Congratulations on getting here, and realize that your goals are a little less than 24 hours away.

 

There were 20,000 fans tonight saw that Shelby Valley got the better of the calls tonight and Elliott still prevailed. Elliott is the better team, like I said many times before. Shelby Valley is a good team and will have to be one of the favorites next year with Holmes. But Elliott was the better team this year as they proved on the big stage. :ylsuper:

I'll be honest in saying that this was one of the poorest performances I watched from Elliott County on the season (the other was the last time they played Shelby Valley). I won't really say the Lions looked tired, but they made many uncharacteristic turnovers and bad decisions. They could have easily won this game by 10-15 points, but they shot themselves in the foot with mistakes.

Maybe, just maybe, Shelby Valley had something to do with that.

The officiating in this game was abolutely, positively ridiculous for a game at this stage of the season. I'm not sure if they were having trouble keeping up with the helter skelter play and speed of the game or what, but it was insanely bad.

Have you ever been complimentary of the officiating?

Maybe, just maybe, Shelby Valley had something to do with that.

Have you ever been complimentary of the officiating?

 

Wasn't your team sent home?

Wasn't your team sent home?

I don't have a team ... and even if I did, how would that lessen the validity of my opinion?

Oh yeah, I wanted to add:

 

It never fails...I always get stuck beside that one idiot guy in the crowd that knows everything about basketball and talks out loud during the entire game. Tonight was no exception. The guy sitting behind me talked with the slowest, country accent I've ever heard and he talked out loud the entire game. He challenge every call, every decision and every mistake that was made the entire 32 minutes. The funny thing is that 90% of what he said was insanely wrong. I really did want to turn around and just choke him.

 

That wasn't Dale back there was it? Ive read a few times about how he is always in the stands yelling at the refs during the game.:sssh::lol:

 

J/k Dale.

Maybe, just maybe, Shelby Valley had something to do with that.

Have you ever been complimentary of the officiating?

 

 

 

The Truth is the Truth.:idunno:

Also, I think Justice is a great player, but did everyone realize that he was 8-25 from the field?

 

And, that in my honest opinion, was due to the great Elliott Co. defense, he seemed to get very frustrated at times.

 

I also love to watch Elisha Justice almost as much as I do Ethan Faulkner, and I truly believe they are the two best point guards in the fine State of Kentucky. They both were giving each other as much as the other wanted, again, IMO.

 

Congratulations to Shelby Valley on making it this far and I would have loved, like others have said, for this to have been the championship game.

 

Way to go, Lions! You can do it, we believe in you and this what you have worked for so long, good luck in today's game.:thumb:

I don't have a team ... and even if I did, how would that lessen the validity of my opinion?

 

It seems your team is whoever is playing Elliott Co

Also, I think Justice is a great player, but did everyone realize that he was 8-25 from the field?

 

I didn't know what he shot, but I knew he missed a lot of shots. Hes a great player, but I didn't think he set the world on fire either last night. He plays hard and is a nice guard. If I was Morehead St. Id be all over him.

 

I thought Ferguson took a lot of bad shots, particularly in the 1st half. I believe it kindof kept Elliott from getting a really big lead going into the half. He must have the ultimate green light.

And, that in my honest opinion, was due to the great Elliott Co. defense, he seemed to get very frustrated at times.

 

I also love to watch Elisha Justice almost as much as I do Ethan Faulkner, and I truly believe they are the two best point guards in the fine State of Kentucky. They both were giving each other as much as the other wanted, again, IMO.

 

Congratulations to Shelby Valley on making it this far and I would have loved, like others have said, for this to have been the championship game.

 

Way to go, Lions! You can do it, we believe in you and this what you have worked for so long, good luck in today's game.:thumb:

 

Justice vs. Faulkner was alot like watching Creed vs. Balboa

I didn't know what he shot, but I knew he missed a lot of shots. Hes a great player, but I didn't think he set the world on fire either last night. He plays hard and is a nice guard. If I was Morehead St. Id be all over him.

 

I thought Ferguson took a lot of bad shots, particularly in the 1st half. I believe it kindof kept Elliott from getting a really big lead going into the half. He must have the ultimate green light.

 

Well, Ferguson has scored over 3,000 points so I'd say turn him loose. Those shots seemed forced, but those are shots that Ferguson makes most of the time. I think ultimately what made the game tight was Elliott's unforced turnovers. They had a bad stretch in the 2nd quarter where they were throwing it all over the place.

Maybe, just maybe, Shelby Valley had something to do with that.

Have you ever been complimentary of the officiating?

 

Shelby Valley is a great name and they would've been my favorites in any other game. Elliott has played better against better teams, however.

 

I'm complimentary of the officiating when they do decent - not perfect - just decent. Last night was not decent.

That was probably one of the best calls all day. It happened right in front of the official and he made the correct call. Faulkner went right after the Shelby Valley player and caught him with a forearm/elbow. Everyone in the building who was watching the game without having a dog in the fight, knew it was the correct call. Great call.

 

I'm not affiliated with either team, but what I saw was 2 players getting their feet tangled up while running down the court. Why would you "intentionally" foul some one who had just inbounded the ball and is 80 feet from the basket when your up 8 points ? The call was ridiculous.:eek:

That wasn't Dale back there was it? Ive read a few times about how he is always in the stands yelling at the refs during the game.:sssh::lol:

 

J/k Dale.

 

The funny thing it that it was a guy that didn't even have a dog in the fight. He was just there to watch the Sweet Sixteen. He literally talked about and analyzed every play of the game. He made 4-5 comments about individual kids that almost had me turning around to tell him to zip it.

I'm not affiliated with either team, but what I saw was 2 players getting their feet tangled up while running down the court. Why would you "intentionally" foul some one who had just inbounded the ball and is 80 feet from the basket when your up 8 points ? The call was ridiculous.:eek:

 

And, adding to that, Ethan is one of the nicer kids you'll ever meet. It would be 100% out of character for him to intentionally elbow someone in the face.