Moken

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.

Agree and AGREE :thumb: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/content/ex-nfl-star-brad-culpepper-wife-monica-competing-survivor-her-opportunity-shine

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.

The officiating at the Ockerman/Gray game last night wasn't any better than the HMS/Sharp game it sounds like. Ockerman 6th grade boys beat Gray by 15 or so. Gray didn't have anyone that could match up against Robbins and he carried the load for the Hawks. The 7th grade game started at 6pm and got done around 7:25pm. Granted there was an extra 10 minute halftime for the Ockerman competitive cheerleading team that was very good, however, I don't believe the game went up and down the court one time without the older, heavier set ref blowing his whistle with a call. Whether he was over ruling the other ref, and then, once that ref was a little miffed by the over rule and questioned the older ref, he tried to do a 'make up' call when Gray inbounded the ball on the sideline (against no pressure) the kid then passed it back to the player that inbounded the ball and the ref called that the player wasn't in bounds as of yet (although he had already taken 2 or 3 steps inbounds). Or, another classic call is when the older ref called a loose ball foul on Ockerman when both teams were in the bonus and Gray didn't shoot free throws. The calls were so bad and so often, you couldn't tell if he was leaning towards one team or not. Gray won 48 - 43 in what could have been a far better game if the refs allowed the teams to play and not worry about what call was going to be made next. As for the 8th grade game, after a 5 - 4 lead at the end of the 1st quarter for Ockerman, it seemed much of the same crazy calls were happening again, I decided to leave. I believe Ockerman and Gray have some of the better 7th and 8th grade teams and it is a shame the refs wouldn't allow them to showcase their talents on the court and decided stop the clock each time down the court.

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?

How was the tall ref? He had to be worth a few points....

Do most middle schools use the same 'home' refs each game? The reason I ask is because the worst middle school ref I've seen so far this year was the tall ref at Turkey Foot. You talk about a homer job for Turketfoot (or he was anti the visiting team, lol). It sounds exactly what you've described took place at Twenhofel (lopsided fouls, etc.). I didn't know if the refs rotated schools or if they stay at the same school for all their home games. In my opinion, the best refs are the ones that you barely notice. It's to the point now, that when you walk into the gym, you have to check out to see who the refs are to see how things are going to go. It shouldn't be that way. I understand missed calls, blown calls, etc.. However, noticably 'homer' calls is what needs to be 'called out'. Should we grade the refs at the various middle schools?

Any Middle School updates from last night on the boys side?

Exactly!!! I might just yell at every HS basketball game I go to from here on out - 'Come on Clyde' to see if any of the refs turn around..... All the BGP'ers in the crowd will be watching as well, giggling!!! Kill two birds with one stone!!!! Find out who Clyde is and find out who my fellow BGP'ers are. All with one phrase. :popcorn:

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.

Thanks for posting this above. I wish we could get more info about the middle school games though. Does anyone know that records for these teams? Are these for 6th, 7th and 8th grade? Boys and girls games?

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.

Wow, Libby Leedom is the girls soccer Player of the Year? Her sister Jill won the honor last year!!!!! Congratulations Libby and the Leedom family. If I'm not mistaken, she has verbally committed to continue her soccer career at the University of Dayton after graduating next year!!!!

Agreed. Although Lloyd had no one to match his size, strength and ability last night it was nice to see him get out and run up and down the court and be active. Glad to see he is back to feeling better after battling through the Cov Cath game sick and sitting out the Campbell County game. Hopefully, he gets back to scoring his 20+ points a game like he was earlier in the season. Anyone have his rebounding stats? I would like to know how many offensive rebounds and total rebounds he had last night.

During the next time out the three refs huddled in front of me and discussed what happened. The ref stated 'he missed the ball going into the basket' and awarded the player 2 free throws. The scoreboard still reflected 0 - 0 at that time of the first free throw. When the ref reported the foul to the scorers table, he never indicated the basket was good and therefore the points were never put up. Once the mistake was noticed after the missed free throw and put back, in my opinion, what should have happened was: the refs should have met, determined that the basket in fact should have counted, given NCC 2 points for that part. Since the free throw was missed, at that point it should have been a dead ball and based on the alternating possession the ball should have been inbounded by the team based with the aarow and the score NCC 2 Lloyd 0. You couldn't allow NCC who got the rebound and put back to keep those points since Lloyd (which I'm sure they weren't but could argue) didn't attempt to rebound since the ref said 2 shots. Just my thought on how it should have been handled. If the play was called correctly as an and one, NCC would have received the original basket (2 points), the put back (2 points) and I believe McDonald was fouled on the put back (don't know if the ref would have called it or not but it looked like he got fouled) with McDonald at the free throw line shooting one. So, NCC could have been up 5 - 0 on the trip down the court.

After watching NCC against Boone the other night, they don't look like the same team that played in the Lloyd tournament. I don't know if they are tired, beaten down or just had an 'off' game but their offense was pretty choppy at best and they didn't have the flow that they had earlier in the year. I like McDonald on the slip screen and pounding the ball inside to him more. I'd like to see Miller shoot the ball more on the offensive end. He's got a nice shot, but it doesn't seem as though NCC looks to get him involved. I think NCC would be better served with Highchew at the point and Beuter (sp?) at the two guard. I like how Highchew attacks. He's a high risk / high reward type of guard but I think he gives the Breds an extra threat going to the basket plus it allows Beuter to get some spot up jump shots beyond the arc. If McDonald gets back to being a main scoring threat for NCC (scoring in the 20's again) then I like their chances. If NCC doesn't get him involved like he was earlier in the year then I think the Colonels win. I'm thinking NCC won't go back to what was successful for them earlier in the season..... Cov Cath 69, NCC 60.