Moken

Yes, McDonals did play good defense on Towles when he was guarding him. He did give up a couple baskets to him, however, Towles made hay and single handitly kept HHS in the game when McDonald was on the bench, in transition or when someone else was guarding him down low.

By definition - Yes. A quick google search for a definition of a charge brought back this: Charging- an offensive foul which occurs when an offensive player runs into a defender who has established position. Established position - when a defensive player has both feet firmly planted on the floor before an offensive player's head and shoulder get past him; the offensive player who runs into such a defender is charging. However, I am not an official, even though I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once, I'm sure there are interpretations, hence, a judgement call. But to the letter of the law I would say that your feet need to be established in order to make it easier for the official to make a charging call. Just my thought.

Agreed. However, with the bigger arena, nerves, etc., I'll go with the team that gets their inside game going in this match up. I think NCC has a bit more potential to establish an inside presence against CCH that is why I am giving them the edge. Now, whether or not they take advantage of this will be the question. If they get the ball inside first the outside shots will open up. In my opinion, the outside shooting will off set for both teams, or perhaps CCH gets a slight advantage. I think McDonald, Shulte, Miller will be to much for the Colonels to handle if they are utilized. NCC - 56 CCH - 50

Not hurt, been back for a couple games now. Played well on defense against Towles, however, wasn't involved on the offensive end of the court. Took one shot the entire game.

I can't believe there hasn't been a thread started yet about this game.... Predictions?

Ok, so it sounds like it wasn't reviewed by you, correct? If it was rewinded 5 times, it doesn't seem as though it was 'clearly a charge'. Again, it was a judgement call. From where I was sitting, it didn't look like the HHS player had his feet set at all. With him still moving his feet it doesn't matter how hard he gets hit, it is still a block. Not only did he get drilled, he got called for the block. Can you say double whammy? I agree with Bengals33, we need to move on from ONE judgement call in the game. It didn't cost HHS the game. Towles was a one man wrecking crew for the Birds and really played tough and kept Highlands in the game.

Dixie, Cov. Holy Cross, North College Hill, Roger Bacon, Bishop Brossart...... Some pretty stiff competition..... He needs to be involved inside if NCC wants to advance next week. NCC at least needs to ATTEMPT to get the ball inside. It's 3 pointer after 3 pointer with them. Like it was pointed out earlier. BoK is going to take some time getting used to shooting outside. Pound it inside..... that will help set up the outisde jumpers, just my opinion.....

:lol::lol::lol:

For HHS to be successful, Patrick needs to be the focus of their offense. He was big for Highlands tonight, single handitly kept Highlands in the game. Hard to get on the young man for missing a free throw towards the end. Without him, Highlands gets beat by 20+ tonight. BIG GAME for NCC's Andy Miller. 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM!! Some very well deserved recognition for the young man. He really stepped up in the biggest game of the year so far for the Breds both on the offensive and defensive side of the court. Still hard to figure out how Drew McDonald goes from scoring 20+ points a the first 7 or 8 games in the season to taking one shot last night against the Birds. I know he was injured for a bit and teams make adjustments, but he's the Breds biggest inside offensive threat. I really think the Breds have to get him more involved in the offense as they head into the regional tournament.

Good point paNDA!! With NCC and CCH both outside shooting teams, I think whichever team establishes an inside game may have the upper hand in this one. Hopefully, NCC at least attempts to get McDonald the ball on the inside. With Miller's strength, I would like to see the Breds either have him post up or have him take his defender off the dribble with drives to the hole. I really think these two will be the key to success for the Breds in this one. I agree, tough draw for the Breds, however, they are coming in on a roll.

Agreed!! Looked like a blocked to me. The defender was not close to being set in my opinion. Just because it was a violent collision doesn't mean it was a player control foul. If you are going to try to take a charge, you need to be prepared to be hit. I thought it was a good aggressive drive up the sideline by Hightchew. It was 1 of 150 judgement calls made (or not made) by the officials.

For HHS to be successful, Patrick needs to be the focus of their offense. He was big for Highlands tonight, single handitly kept Highlands in the game. Hard to get on the young man for missing a free throw towards the end. Without him, Highlands gets beat by 20+ tonight. BIG GAME for NCC's Andy Miller. 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM!! Some very well deserved recognition for the young man. He really stepped up in the biggest game of the year so far for the Breds both on the offensive and defensive side of the court. Still hard to figure out how Drew McDonald goes from scoring 20+ points a the first 7 or 8 games in the season to taking one shot last night against the Birds. I know he was injured for a bit and teams make adjustments, but he's the Breds biggest inside offensive threat. I really think the Breds have to get him more involved in the offense as they head into the regional tournament.

Agreed. I would like to see McDonald get some playing time to help get back in sync before needing to rely on his offensive skills later in the tournament.

He will be available to play tonight. Now, IN MY OPINION, if NCC would put Highchew at the 1 and leave him there NCC would be much better off. If he needs a breather, put #11 in or better yet, put Pangallo in to run the point (hard to put the young man in that position in the post season, this should have been done throughout the year). Also, NCC needs to quit with the offense / defense substitution of Miller during the 4th quarter. Put Miller in and leave him alone! He can score when needed. He again made a key bucket against Conner and came up with a big steal late in the game. I really don't understand the Miller / Ryan substitutions during the 4th quarter. Miller can shoot from the outside and drive to the basket. He is definetly not afraid to go after offensive and defensive rebounds. If I were a betting man, I would bet his shooting percentages from the field, 3 point line and free throws are better than Ryan anyway. With McDonald back tonight, I would like to see NCC play McDonald and Schulte on the court at the same time to see what that looks like.

I just heard that he will be available to play tonight for the Breds. I would think his minutes will be limited based on score/situation, however, I was told he will be available to play.

Wow, very impressive, both on the field and in the classroom. Congratulations Libby on the award and verbally commiting to UD!!!

Ken Angel graduated in 73, played 4 years at University of North Carolina Charlotte. Lost to Kentucky in the 1976 NIT finals at MSG. Lost to Marquette on a buzzer beater in the 1977 Final Four in Atlanta.

I wasn't at any of these games, however, did run into a Ryle Freshman afterwards and when I asked how the game went against Cov Cath, his response was 'we got hammered and even dunked on'. I asked who dunked on them and he said Bo Schuh.

I agree, Towles is the best player on Highlands and they need to do exactly as you stated. Theres not very many teams that are going to be able to stop him down low once he gets the ball. When Highlands made their run, he was the focal point. He needs to be the focal point of their offense more, in my opinion. He should be positioned on each low block and at the free throw line. Highlands offense should run through him. He should get a touch each time down the court if possible. If he doesn't have anything, then he can kick it out and the guards can jack up the three. He needs to be better utilized.

I thought Miller did a great job on the boards last night. I also liked his aggressiveness on looking for his shot on the offensive end, both shooting the 3's and driving to the basket. I thought McDonald more than held his own with Towles. I thought Towles scored his points when McDonald was out. I thought NCC was two whistles slow in getting McDonald back in when Highlands brought Towles back in. I just think Beuter should be the 2 and Hightchew should be the 1. Again, not a knock on either of them, I just think they should be flipped (Beuter is a nice spot up shooter and Hightchew likes to take the ball to the basket) and Pangallo should get some looks with varsity.

I think Bueter should be a 2 this year with Highchew at the 1. Have Pangallo be the back up 1 to Highchew (along with Bueter) this year. At least give him some quality time at the 1 this year. Any possibilty they don't want Pangallo to play this year because they are afraid he may take PT away from an upper classman? What about the offense/defense substitution with 3:30 minutes left in the game last night? Did anyone think that was a bit early? Did NCC score the last 3 minutes?

I agree. I hear refs saying the Euro Step looks funny so therefore they call it. Now granted, I'm a HS and Middle School fan and the refs I am speaking of perhaps aren't up to speed on this, however, I see this called all the time as a travel. I second step is to the side which seems it get a travel called a lot around here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqx7OqmJpL8

Clyde, this is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to travelling. Technically, could A2 bobble the ball before ever controlling it all the way down the court?

I think Grant could have gone absolutely nuts over the call and got everyone fired up if he wanted to. Could have gotten technicals and even thrown out of the game because of the blown call. However, I think he felt that he had the better team, should win the game pretty easy with or without the call, why make a bigger deal out of it. The ref said he blew the call.... I think Grant handled it well. Why go off on the call and berate the ref who admitted he blew the call when you have the entire game still to play. I think he took the high road on the play because he had an entire game to play against a lesser opponent. Had this exact same scenario played out against HC in the All A final Saturday night, I believe his reaction would have been drastically different, but it was against a team he was a heavy favorite against.

And I think this is part of the reason Grant didn't press the issue. With or without the points, I believe NCC decided not to stir the pot to much 45 seconds into the game. I thought Grant was more calm (knowing how he normally acts on the sideline with the officals) about the situation than I thought he would be. But again, Dave Kanarack simply said 'He blew the call'. At least he admitted it. I think the whole situation could have gotten worse if he 'fought it' or 'argued' it with Grant, the coaches, the fans, etc.. Even though the wrong call was made and after 'not fixing it', he admitted the mistake and moved on. I was ok with that part of it. As for the Lloyd kids not going in the lane. I believe everyone in the gym thought it was a one shot free throw except for Larry, Curly and Moe (only kidding). It was a kind of a long rebound that McDonald got and put back in. Did anyone notice anything strange with 10 seconds left in the 3rd quarter when NCC put their 5 starters (at once) back in the game and the Lloyd coach called time out (their last time out for the game) to set up some kind of defense against NCC? And the defense was to foul and foul hard so NCC couldn't run their end of quarter play? I thought that kind of sparked some chippiness between the teams for the remainder of the game. Or, it could have been just me that noticed it.