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This underscores my belief that Beechwood, Highlands and St. Henry, Conner all can beat each other any given day. Those teams are toss-ups. Cov Cath is the giant to slay. Who will be the team to step up?

It's unfortunate this game comes at the end of he regular season, as teams will be cautious to be ready for district play the following week. Beechwood has been hit by injuries and sickness. Riley out with a ankle sprain and some kids out sick with flu. In spite of all that, the Tigers are playing the best basketball of their season as they head into district play with wins over St. Henry, Holy Cross and Lloyd this last week. Highlands is playing tough as well, but have tough games this week at St. Henry before Friday's matchup. Highlands Sam Vinson and Luke Muller are playing at a very high level. Beechwood will need top play from Draud, Downton, Decker, Roth, Busald to win this one. Home court should be an advantage. Beechwood's defense should keep the Birds in check. The Tigers will need to make their shots and stay out of foul trouble......prediction.....Beechwood Tigers by 3. Should be a rowdy crowd and a hell'uva game. Good luck to both teams.

Beechwood seems to have found a way to play team ball. This is the third game in a row the Tigers look like a team.....Downton....Draud....Busald....Rolf....all hitting key shots.....Downton with the huge windmill dunk and two key threes. Draud with 30 pts...Downton with 12...Busald with 11. When Beechwood has three players hitting double digits they can beat most teams. Holy Cross's Brandon McClendon and Jerimiah Hicks and the freshman Jacob Meyer all had good games. When Beechwood plays this kind of basketball they can't beat alot of team. Looking forward to a strong showing in the district play.

Big game at the Beechwood Den Saturday night at 7:30pm as the Tigers host their district opponent Holy Cross. This will be a tight one, only Holy Cross has played with similar inconsistencies as has Beechwood. However, with Beechwood's win Tuesday against St. Henry at the Cru's home, Beechwood looks like they might be over the hump. Look for big games fro Brandon McClendon and Jerimiah Hicks for Holy Cross and Draud, Downton and Riley for Beechwood. Beechwood by 9 pts.

If you read my prediction post in the early thread this week, I saw this win coming. In spite of Beechwood's loss to CovCath, I think they realized that if they played team ball they could beat the better teams in the region. Boy, what a difference from the All A Championship game. Beechwood had 8 players score...30-54 FG.....38 rebounds...Draud with 17, Decker with 15 and was 7 for 7 from the field...Mitchell Riley with 12 pts, Cole Busald with 9....When you have four players hitting and the others rebounding and assisting.....you win. This team can win as long as they continue to play team ball. St. Henry is a very good team, hat's off to Goetz and his staff for having the kids believe.

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict Beechwood will win the rematch of their 3 point loss to St. Henry in the All A final. I think it will be close...but Beechwood wins. I can't see St. Henry repeating their like 8-10 3pt FG's...and i don't see Beechwood repeating the same mistakes (awful shot selection) and only having three players score, with some of their better shooters not taking any shots. Beechwood wins and improves as they move closer to district play.

The Colonels Green and Disken the heart and soul. Two seniors at the top of their game. For Beechwood....Downton showed he has the stuff...shooting well in the first half...and showing how good Beechwood's future might be next year as Beechwood will return 4 starters.

These are two very different teams than last years's when the Tigers of Ft. Mitchell handed the Colonels 2 loses out of 3 games. This year, Beechwood lost 4 starting seniors and one big Junior playmaker who no longer plays. Cov Cath meanwhile added transfer starters that did not play on last year's team. Not sure how many, i think two? Additionally Disken and Green return as solid top tier 9th region seniors. This one will not be close. What will be an interesting subplot though is how will the Tigers play as a team? Will they try and press? Will they try and run? Will they play zone defense as they have in several recent games, or will they go man to man. Will any of their players step up and have success? How will Beechwood adjust when/if a player is double teamed and face-guarded? Will they move the ball to the open man or force shots? Cov Cath will continue to roll....... Needless to say the results tonight will not be anywhere near similar to last season. Cov Cath is now stacked...and Beechwood is playing with four starting underclassman and one Senior.

Agree.

These stats include both 2pt FG and 3pt FG. If you break it down to 2pt FG attempts only it is Draugh = 49%, Downton = 49%, Rylee = 63%, Busald - 71%, Decker =39%, Rolf = 66% and Hughes = 47%. So for 2pt FG attempts you have 4 players shooting equal to Draugh but taking less than half his attempts. It just doesn't make any sense.

Good question...and i apologize shooting percentage is Draud = 43%, Downton = 38%, Rylee - 63%, Busald = 45% and Decker = 35%, Rolf =43% and Huges = 46%. You have 3 players shooting higher percentage than the player taking more than double the shots and one player taking 1/4 of the shots shooting the same percentage. It just doesn't make any sense to me?

Stats don't lie. Draugh has taken 492 shots in 25 games shooting 48%. The closest other player is Downton with 258 attempts....Rylee 121 attempts...Decker 114 attempts and Busald 108 attempts...everyone else...less than 100 attempts. No offensive balance. Unless the player shooting 492 shots is making them at a higher percentage, you can't win this way. It's hard to "step up" when someone is shooting you out of the gym.

For anyone who has taken exception to my previous posts on Beechwood's lack of ability to play fundamental basketball and lack of an offensive strategy, I offer this game up as a textbook example of their total lack of offensive of discipline. This was a quality opponent (very similar to St. Henry). No SuperStars...a team of 7-8 players who all knew their role and played it well. Disciplined.....NO bad shots. No hero ball. When the game got down to the wire, Beechwood did what Beechwood does....played like they had only one player on the court. Dribbling into three defenders....turning the ball over...a complete lack of court awareness and lack of offensive of strategy....No one who saw this game can argue otherwise. This team has no discipline and no faith or belief. And it is no wonder they don't. Conner put on a clinic and i hope all the Beechwood coaches, players and fans took notice and learned something. "This is how you play basketball boys." I would watch this film over and over if you need to be reminded of how NOT to play basketball....or if you needed to be reminded of how to lose a game you could have won. Hats off to the Conner Cougars....they are a very good team.

For anyone who has taken exception to my previous posts on Beechwood's lack of ability to play fundamental basketball and lack of an offensive strategy, I offer this game up as a textbook example of their total lack of offensive of discipline. This was a quality opponent (very similar to St. Henry). No SuperStars...a team of 7-8 players who all knew their role and played it well. Disciplined.....NO bad shots. No hero ball. When the game got down to the wire, Beechwood did what Beechwood does....played like they had only one player on the court. Dribbling into three defenders....turning the ball over...a complete lack of court awareness and lack of offensive of strategy....No one who saw this game can argue otherwise. This team has no discipline and no faith or belief. And it is no wonder they don't. Conner put on a clinic and i hope all the Beechwood coaches, players and fans took notice and learned something. "This is how you play basketball boys." I would watch this film over and over if you need to be reminded of how NOT to play basketball....or if you needed to be reminded of how to lose a game you could have won. Hats off to the Conner Cougars....they are a very good team.

The Colonels have a very disciplined team. Their defense is aggressive. The 5:15 mark? the 1:40 mark, really does it matter? This team does not pull their foot off the gas pedal. There is no superstar..not "one player'....and that is why they win. They want to win..they want to beat you. It is difficult to take the competitiveness from a very good player no matter what time the clock says. Disken, Green...been playing Varsity for a couple years now. I think Highlands has a very good team, but not the experience nor all the pieces Cov Cath has. The double team they did on Vinson when the pick was set....brilliant coaching.

What a TEAM win on the road! Beechwood wins with Scotty 14 pts...Will Downton 9 points and the big 3 to take lead during 4th qtr... Brandon with 9 and Cam Decker and Mitchell Riley with 7. It might have been ugly (1-18 from 3) but wow unselfish team play and a big win on road. Great seeing the bench score 17 pts. They will need to continue this defensive play and multiple offensive production to win down stretch.

Congrats to St. Henry for representing the 9th. What a team they have!

I know I'm going to sound like a "homer", but i really like St. Henry to win it all. With wins over Lexington Catholic and their strong 9th Region play in the All A, they look disciplined, tough and balanced on both offense and defense. This should be a good tune-up for district and regional play next month. Wyatt Veith and Jude Bessler continue to elevate their team.

I will respond. YTD one player on Beechwood shooting 392 shots of 1113 (36%). According to KHSAA stats YTD, there is no other player in the state of KY shooting more attempts....period. According to the top 50 leaders in 2pt and 3pt leaders, only three of the top 50 have taken more than 200 shots; 209, 211 and the closest 256. Thats nearly 136 more shots than any state leaders. All three of those and the other 47 players are shooting at least 60%. The 392 shots that have been taken equal only 467 points, with 102 being free throws. It's just not a high enough percentage to be taking that many shots. No one can justify and say this is a sound offensive basketball strategy to win games. It just doesn't make any sense. And i will say again, in the St. Henry game only 3 Beechwood players scored. Of the 22 shots taken (more than half of the total) from one player 7 of those shots were for 3's and only one was made. The Beechwood Tigers have several really good shooters, if someone is not hot, why are the other players not getting those shots? According to the stats posted earlier, Will Rolf, one of their best three point shooters could not and did not take one shot the entire game? Basketball games have an ebb and flow. Beechwood is loaded with too much talent to have one player taking more than double the shots of any other player on the team. My point is just this...You can't win that way and you are not helping that player or any other players become better. They have too good of a talented team to settle for this.

Well let’s agree it was 50% of the shots against St Henry. And the same against their losses. Beechwood had only three players that scored. Taking contested shots over and over is not good basketball. Where is the patience to allow your players to take better shots? It’s the elephant in the room.

The Beechwood Tigers have many offensive threats and have no logical reason to not distribute the ball to the open player. Downton, Busald, Roth, Decker, all can shoot and have been successful when given the opportunity. However, when you look at their stat sheet and the year's worth of stats, its a sad reflection that one player is taking more than half of the games shots?! Who needs that? What college team is going to allow a player to take more than 50% of their teams game shots? It's ludicrous. Scotty Draugh is a good player but their is no discipline. He is in the top ten in the state in total scoring, but is no where on the top 50 in FG percentage. That tells the real story. His shooting percentage is lower than average. But when one person takes more than 50% of their team's shots, that team will lose. It makes no sense that not one of their 8-9 coaches can't see that and are not willing to make an adjustment. I just don't understand it. Now, take a look at the St. Henry stats (and take a look at any of the stats of any of the opposing teams that beat Beechwood this year. It all tells the same story. Beechwood is literally having one guy "shoot them out of the game" while the opposing team is more disciplined, rotating the ball, distributing the ball to the OPEN shot. It isn't rocket science. It's basketball 101. Now, take a look at the powerhouse of the 9th Region. Cov Cath: Tell me is there one kid taking more than 50% of their shots? Heck no! I don't think you could find a team in the state that has one player taking more than 50% of their team shots? If someone can, please share it. It's a sad commentary on this teams' deficiency. Maybe someone will wake up before it's too late.

Beechwood lost and will continue to lose against top teams because they don't play team ball. Period...the end.

If Beechwood plays team ball like they did last night (I think they had Draud, 16 pts Downton 14 pts, Riley 10 and Rolf 10 all near double digits they should win a close one. But St Henry at home with Vieth and Bessler playing strong will be tough. Coaching should be a big factor as well.

Any player stats?

Anyone have any player stats?