Cooper Downs was nothing short of spectacular this evening. One of the best point guard performances of the year and I've seen a lot of them. He was truly a quarterback tonight and put his team on his back. He handled Holmes tremendous pressure, his penetration was unstoppable and he got the ball to his teammates when they were open. He also found time to put one of Rondo's fake behind the back pass drives to the basket in tonight. If this kid plays Saturday like he did tonight, Boone will be playing on Sunday, he was that good. Kudos to young Mr. Downs, you played your tail off tonight.

 

And had that been 9th region officials out there it would've been called a walk like it should've been. The Dixie fans I was with even agreed so it has nothing to do with me being a Holmes supporter.

Question and I honestly don't have the answer: When was the last time a CovCath and a Cov Holmes team lost in the first round of the Ninth Region in the same year?

Two outstanding games tonight at the BOKC and while the lower bowl wasn't full, their was a very nice crowd attending!

 

I actually was wondering the same thing! I believe the answer would be 2001. CovCath lost to Conner and Holmes lost to Simon Kenton, both in the first round!!

As for the game, #4 for Boone and Brown were the difference. Any time Holmes made a run, it was one of those two who were stepping up and getting a big bucket for the Rebels. Boone shot extremely well tonight from the field and absolutely killed Holmes on the glass as the game wore on.

 

It was tough for both teams to get in a rhythm with the amount of fouls being called. Both were in the bonus early in the 4th quarter.

 

Boone was the better team and deserved to win. Holmes made their runs and the Rebels were able to weather the storm and answer.

 

As stated earlier, Holmes has nothing to hang their heads about. A lot of young talent out there tonight for the Dogs and missing Gray much of the game due to foul trouble gave Coston some big game experience.

 

Coston and Palmer will be the best guard tandem in nky in 2012...mark it down.

 

Good luck to Boone against Dixie. They're going to need another hot shooting performance to knock off the Colonels.

Scoring for Holmes:

 

Palmer 17, Hayes 13, Rice 13, Gray 10, Coston 4, Englemon 2, Knox 1

And had that been 9th region officials out there it would've been called a walk like it should've been. The Dixie fans I was with even agreed so it has nothing to do with me being a Holmes supporter.

 

Well, I am going to disagree with you and the Dixie fans. That was a great move by Downs IMO and not a walk.

 

As to the backcourt play, Stanley was straddling the mid court line so no back court violation.

 

As to the officiating, yes they messed up the one foul call and almost messed up the other two. Two of the 3 officials in the Boone/Holmes game were very good. The third official struggled on a few calls but was solid the rest of the night. The 3 officials in the Dixie/Highlands game did an excellent job.

 

On the game itself, Boone's guards were tremendous - both Downs and Stanley. It was obvious Holmes' game plan was to not leave Brown on penetration and make Boone's guards beat them, and Boone's guards beat them. Downs almost single handedly defeated the press all night. One other tremendous play Downs brought the ball down court on what I recall was a kick out after a missed shot. But Downs was being pressured up the sideline and Holmes had another defender right there helping with two other defenders hustling along side. Downs went behind the back, split the double team and took it to the basket where he was fouled going up for the layup. It was literally a 1 on 4 move and play. Great ball handling all night. He had a few turnovers but for handling the ball all night against the Holmes pressure all over the court, he was just tremendous. You also have to give credit to Stanley. He helped with the ball handling, hit the open shot and also had two big steals and break away layups. I don't think anyone expected Boone's guards to beat Holmes's guards like they did. If Downs and Stanley can play like this when teams try to take away Boone's inside game, Boone is going to be very tough to beat.

 

To see other pictures from this game go here:

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57448&id=100000001760626&l=c41af4f847

And had that been 9th region officials out there it would've been called a walk like it should've been. The Dixie fans I was with even agreed so it has nothing to do with me being a Holmes supporter.

 

I could NOT disagree any more with you. It was a thing of beauty and NO WAY was it a travel. it did make some Holmes defenders look silly and perhaps that's where your opinion comes from, but please don't take away a great moment and try to minimize it with a bogus non call. Cooper Downs was THE MAN tonight and there is nothing you can say to change my mind. You would not even give him his proper due as you referred to him as #4. You seem to know everyone else's name Walter. This kid played his heart out and it's sad to see you trying to detract from that. Give credit where credit is due. Holmes had no answer for #4 tonight.

As for the game, #4 for Boone and Brown were the difference. Any time Holmes made a run, it was one of those two who were stepping up and getting a big bucket for the Rebels. Boone shot extremely well tonight from the field and absolutely killed Holmes on the glass as the game wore on.

 

It was tough for both teams to get in a rhythm with the amount of fouls being called. Both were in the bonus early in the 4th quarter.

 

Boone was the better team and deserved to win. Holmes made their runs and the Rebels were able to weather the storm and answer.

 

As stated earlier, Holmes has nothing to hang their heads about. A lot of young talent out there tonight for the Dogs and missing Gray much of the game due to foul trouble gave Coston some big game experience.

 

Coston and Palmer will be the best guard tandem in nky in 2012...mark it down.

 

Good luck to Boone against Dixie. They're going to need another hot shooting performance to knock off the Colonels.

 

Beuter and Hightchew will be right there for NCC as the best imo but Holmes has a couple diaper dandys.

Downs for Boone had one of the best performances for a point guard I've seen all year long. He makes them legit to win it all.

Anybody have individual scoring for the winning team?

Holmes (21-11) - Palmer 6 2 17, Hayes 4 3 13, Rice 5 2 13, Gray 4 2 10, Coston 1 1 4, Englemon 0 2 2, Knox 0 1 1. Totals 20 13 60

 

Boone County (21-10): Downs 5 10 21, Stanley 6 3 17, Brown 7 2 16, Crabtree 6 0 12, McQueary 2 0 4, Palmer 0 2 2. Totals 26 17 72.

 

Holmes 8 21 16 15 - 60

Boone County 11 22 17 22 - 72

 

3-pointers: H 7 (Palmer 3, Hayes 2, Rice, Coston). B 3 (Stanley 2, Downs).

How much zone did Boone play?

How much zone did Boone play?

 

They played a 2-3 the whole game. They did challenge the 3 some, but Holmes hit some big ones. Holmes actually got the ball down low to Rice, but he didn't finish as well as he usually does. After the first quarter, Boone allowed very few second shots. They owned the glass.

21 for Downs, WOW!!!! that has to be a varsity career high for him....

 

I wasn't at the game, but it sounds like he played an all around great game from all the posts. He's a good kid and has some great parents. Nice balanced scoring for the Rebels.

 

How did Mr. Brown do? I see 16 points...... Did he play his NORMAL solid game? Sounds as though Holmes's game plan was to take him away and have the rest of the Rebels beat the, which it sounds as though they did.

 

Congrats Boone!!

How much zone did Boone play?

 

They played a 2-3 the whole game. They did challenge the 3 some, but Holmes hit some big ones. Holmes actually got the ball down low to Rice, but he didn't finish as well as he usually does. After the first quarter, Boone allowed very few second shots. They owned the glass.

 

Yes, Boone played zone all night. Holmes actually did a pretty good job hitting the three ball, as you can see with the 7 three's in the box score. Holmes needed to do more penetration to the middle of the zone and hitting that short jumper in the lane. Boone took away second chance points by controlling the boards. Crabtree did a really good job on the boards and Boone's team all went to the glass to make sure Holmes got no second chance points.

 

It will be interesting to see Boone's defensive game plan against Dixie. I don't think they can play the zone they played tonight against Dixie. Trammel and Hatton will eat it up hitting three's and driving to the middle. Boone may still try the zone and make sure they shade Hatton and Trammel, giving the open looks to Hassell. Coach McQueary's game plan was right on target versus Holmes and he coached a great game. He is going to need to do come up with another great game plan against Dixie for Boone to win that one.