Clay 100 Grove City Christian 97 (2017 Sweet 16)

[Kgg]

Decided to go watch both games last night, hadn't been in a while. Both were great games . I call them like I see them. I do think the gccs clay game was decided by the refs. Clay had their 3 studs with 4 fouls early in the 4th quarter and not one of them fouled out , even through two overtimes. Gccs had 2 starters foul out in regulation, their big man fouled out diving for a loose ball, shouldn't have been a foul. Gccs was by far the better team, but as the tournament goes, the best team doesn't always advance. Congrats to clay. 9 out of 10 games gccs wins by 20, no doubt in my mind. I know the clay fans are pumped for the win last night ,but they can't honestly think that game wasn't handed to them. The game changing foul was on gccs point guard when he blocked a guys shot on a fast break from the behind clean, even the clay fans know it was clean. A little bit of a rant, i know. Just a shame that old refs cant run the floor and keep up with the fast paced teams, a lot of gccs fouls were anticipation fouls on the refs, gccs was so quick and athletic I've never seen another team like them. Hats off to clay for sticking in there, good luck

[Preacher Purl]

Decided to go watch both games last night, hadn't been in a while. Both were great games . I call them like I see them. I do think the gccs clay game was decided by the refs.[/u][/i][/b] Clay had their 3 studs with 4 fouls early in the 4th quarter and not one of them fouled out , even through two overtimes. Gccs had 2 starters foul out in regulation, their big man fouled out diving for a loose ball, shouldn't have been a foul. Gccs was by far the better team, but as the tournament goes, the best team doesn't always advance. Congrats to clay. 9 out of 10 games gccs wins by 20, no doubt in my mind. I know the clay fans are pumped for the win last night ,but they can't honestly think that game wasn't handed to them. The game changing foul was on gccs point guard when he blocked a guys shot on a fast break from the behind clean, even the clay fans know it was clean. A little bit of a rant, i know. Just a shame that old refs cant run the floor and keep up with the fast paced teams, a lot of gccs fouls were anticipation fouls on the refs, gccs was so quick and athletic I've never seen another team like them. Hats off to clay for sticking in there, good luck

9 out of 10 times they win by 20, but the one time they played they lost. Interesting observation!! SOUR GRAPES!!!!!

[Prime Time]

Lol. Whining at its best. Funny thing they only play 1 game and Clay won the one game, the game that counted. Lol gccc can win the other 9 , who cares if they win the other 9' Clay is moving on and GCC is not. Good Luck Panthers

[formerfcfan]

A troll in the dungeon!

[Panther alum]

I was at that game too and yes there was bad calls. Typically happens in every game but to say that the Panthers were handed the game well that is a complete wrong statement. Both teams gave it all on that court. The Panthers never gave up and stayed with them. I would never take anything away from GCC. They were good but come on so is Clay!!! Truly makes me sad that people think that a team from Southern Ohio can't hang with Columbus teams. If you ask me as far as the calls goes it seemed to me that the obvious ones were the ones missed and the ones called well some shouldn't have been. With that being said I am proud of all of those playing in that game! Best game I have ever witnessed! So Clay Panthers - keep up the good work and take each game one at a time and bring home the title!

[Spectator555]

Decided to go watch both games last night, hadn't been in a while. Both were great games . I call them like I see them. I do think the gccs clay game was decided by the refs. Clay had their 3 studs with 4 fouls early in the 4th quarter and not one of them fouled out , even through two overtimes. Gccs had 2 starters foul out in regulation, their big man fouled out diving for a loose ball, shouldn't have been a foul. Gccs was by far the better team, but as the tournament goes, the best team doesn't always advance. Congrats to clay. 9 out of 10 games gccs wins by 20, no doubt in my mind. I know the clay fans are pumped for the win last night ,but they can't honestly think that game wasn't handed to them. The game changing foul was on gccs point guard when he blocked a guys shot on a fast break from the behind clean, even the clay fans know it was clean. A little bit of a rant, i know. Just a shame that old refs cant run the floor and keep up with the fast paced teams, a lot of gccs fouls were anticipation fouls on the refs, gccs was so quick and athletic I've never seen another team like them. Hats off to clay for sticking in there, good luck

So I'm assuming the refs also made them miss 4 free throws in a row which would've led them to win the game, or giving up a 10 point lead in the 4th, or the fact that they went one on one to score the final basket in both regulations instead of running a play. Or that they let Clays point guard #15 get to the rim the whole second half, that's a shame you blame the refs. Clay played with more heart then they did, in no way can you say they would win by 20+ or 9/10 games, Clay is a better basketball team. Shouldn't have even made that comment, a sour fan couldn't see his teams year end. Good luck to the panthers against wellington friday!

[Prime Time]

This is what's wrong now that these private schools such as Columbus where you have 3-5 Div 4 schools that get most of talent that comes to those schools and stacks there teams. this attitude of we are the best because we have all these players coming to our school and these small rural schools or even small public schools anywhere can't play at our level. Well I love seeing these parents cry on here or fans that think they are so much better than these small county schools in Ohio. Elistist, attitude of we are better than you. prime example of this guys post, don't everyone love this, whine all you want , you got beat by the BETTER team. 1 game for all the marbles and you all got beat. love these arrogant attitudes

[Ground Buck]

This is what's wrong now that these private schools such as Columbus where you have 3-5 Div 4 schools that get most of talent that comes to those schools and stacks there teams. this attitude of we are the best because we have all these players coming to our school and these small rural schools or even small public schools anywhere can't play at our level. Well I love seeing these parents cry on here or fans that think they are so much better than these small county schools in Ohio. Elistist, attitude of we are better than you. prime example of this guys post, don't everyone love this, whine all you want , you got beat by the BETTER team. 1 game for all the marbles and you all got beat. love these arrogant attitudes

And don't forget how great you think Howie is.

[formerfcfan]

This is what's wrong now that these private schools such as Columbus where you have 3-5 Div 4 schools that get most of talent that comes to those schools and stacks there teams. this attitude of we are the best because we have all these players coming to our school and these small rural schools or even small public schools anywhere can't play at our level. Well I love seeing these parents cry on here or fans that think they are so much better than these small county schools in Ohio. Elistist, attitude of we are better than you. prime example of this guys post, don't everyone love this, whine all you want , you got beat by the BETTER team. 1 game for all the marbles and you all got beat. love these arrogant attitudes

There's no way to determine the school affiliation of the poster you're referring to. Only one post. Could be a troll.

I'm a fan of one of these "Columbus privates" you are referring to (assuming you're equating Central District as being 'Columbus'.) Graduated from the school I affiliate with, plan to send my future kids there. The fact is the overwhelming majority of the D4 private schools, including 'mine' as well as Grove City Christian, do not 'stack' the teams full of talent. Attracting students and their families for the beginning of ninth grade is difficult as only a certain percentage of families that want their kids in our schools are in a secure enough financial position to actually afford it; sometimes for the more sports-centered students, e.g. kids who have aspirations to play in college, it's a challenge in and of itself to convince them to stay with the kids they grew up with here at our small private schools in favor of transferring to the large 1000-2000 student public high schools (a la the Ohio Capital Conference) because the belief is 'the bigger the school, the better the exposure.'

I can assure you no one has the 'elitist' mindset you are claiming when it comes to competition. That simply cannot be the case, because when we have 12 non league games to fill, because most larger schools are booked in the extra four open dates (our league has 6 schools, most other leagues have 8) we often find ourselves playing even smaller(!) private schools that are roughly the size of tiny ol' Ironton St. Joe. No one is too 'bad', or 'beneath' playing us. We all know that the road to states isn't easy after districts. Anyone who thinks otherwise should get their head checked. Even Newark Catholic baseball has had many tough, extra inning games in Regionals.

GCC's entire team, with the exception of Clay Shoemaker (who transferred in last school year from the public high school literally a block down Hoover Road; Grove City HS) has played with each other since middle school. This senior class, much like the class at Clay, was lauded as being 'the class.' The class that can take the basketball program to new heights. And they did just that.


- - -


It is a shame such a memorable game for both schools (and many fans!) has to get mired by absolutely ridiculous and derisive comments like the one I'm responding to. If you as an individual, posting this mess, isn't representative of a certain school or community (Clay), then I'm sure their opponents last night should be afforded the same courtesy that this one post wonder isn't actually reflective of their fanbase.

[Gold and Blue]

Decided to go watch both games last night, hadn't been in a while. Both were great games . I call them like I see them. I do think the gccs clay game was decided by the refs. Clay had their 3 studs with 4 fouls early in the 4th quarter and not one of them fouled out , even through two overtimes. Gccs had 2 starters foul out in regulation, their big man fouled out diving for a loose ball, shouldn't have been a foul. Gccs was by far the better team, but as the tournament goes, the best team doesn't always advance. Congrats to clay. 9 out of 10 games gccs wins by 20, no doubt in my mind. I know the clay fans are pumped for the win last night ,but they can't honestly think that game wasn't handed to them. The game changing foul was on gccs point guard when he blocked a guys shot on a fast break from the behind clean, even the clay fans know it was clean. A little bit of a rant, i know. Just a shame that old refs cant run the floor and keep up with the fast paced teams, a lot of gccs fouls were anticipation fouls on the refs, gccs was so quick and athletic I've never seen another team like them. Hats off to clay for sticking in there, good luck

First time posters like this are obviously someone outside of the sport and these 2 good teams that played last night. Never seen another team like them says it all. Remember the great game Panthers and celebrate the win and congratulations on a fine season by GCC.

[Pantherfan]

Decided to go watch both games last night, hadn't been in a while. Both were great games . I call them like I see them. I do think the gccs clay game was decided by the refs. Clay had their 3 studs with 4 fouls early in the 4th quarter and not one of them fouled out , even through two overtimes. Gccs had 2 starters foul out in regulation, their big man fouled out diving for a loose ball, shouldn't have been a foul. Gccs was by far the better team, but as the tournament goes, the best team doesn't always advance. Congrats to clay. 9 out of 10 games gccs wins by 20, no doubt in my mind. I know the clay fans are pumped for the win last night ,but they can't honestly think that game wasn't handed to them. The game changing foul was on gccs point guard when he blocked a guys shot on a fast break from the behind clean, even the clay fans know it was clean. A little bit of a rant, i know. Just a shame that old refs cant run the floor and keep up with the fast paced teams, a lot of gccs fouls were anticipation fouls on the refs, gccs was so quick and athletic I've never seen another team like them. Hats off to clay for sticking in there, good luck

I enjoyed reading this almost as much as watching the game. LOL . Give me a break. Refs are Refs and fans are fans. Stay classy and troll on my friend!

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Clay Panthers on a fantastic win........so refreshing to see a game with this score in this day and age of half court, grind it out, slow down basketball. One will have to go way back in the record book to find a regional game where the winning team scored 100 points. I would say that last night's game was probably a record for most points by both teams in a regional game, maybe any HS tournament game at the Convo. I know Middletown beat Portsmouth 102-82 in the 1956 regional semifinal, but that was not at Athens. I can't recall any other regional game where the winning team scored 100 points.

Fairland and Wellston played about 20 years ago in a district game at the Convo, with the Dragons winning 92-90. Scott Lackey had 39 points for Wellston......but that score doesn't really come that close to last night's affair. Of course Clay vs. GCC went into 2 OT though.

[pfloyd]

Great, great game ! it wasn't a "perfect" game by any means but as far as fan viewing pleasure it was AWESOME !!! - let's put the 'referee" issue to bed and not do this game an injustice ... there WERE sequences during this game that BOTH teams could have picked up 4 or 5 fouls on ONE play LOL ...the officials let them "git after it! - figuratively and literally ... in a couple of 10 second loose ball sequences I had pencil lead flying trying to stay up with turnovers and body parts going one direction and another ... BUT there was no advantage gained by either team - the fouls called on the GCC players that fouled out - they were earned ... just as the fouls that the Clay players were called for - they were as well ...

... the stats for this one have been posted ... I got home last night and read the rundowns, the in game updates by everyone - great job LucasDavenport ... my 2 to 3 finger typing would never be able to do in game updates ... the folks who were not at the game I'm sure totally appreciate it ...

... there WERE some key points in the game - some were obvious ones others "you had to be in the Cheap Seats to see" ...


... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Grove City Christian ...

Scoring ... Brandon Baker 22, Matt Bailey 19, Brandon Balnoschan 17, Noah Tomlinson 13, Hunter Oda 12, Clayton Shoemaker 7, Stevie Whinham 5, Alec Sliemers 2
3 Pointers ... 10/23 ... Brandon Balnoschan 5, Brandon Baker 3, Matt Bailey 1, Stevie Whinham 1
FTs ......... 17/28 ... 0/4 in the first OT was HUGH ... 3 missed FTs in the 4th by Bailey/Baker HUGH to allowing Clay to tie it in regulation ...
TO's ........ 17 ... Clay turned them over 11 times in the 3rd & 4th qtrs.
PntP ... 46
Points in Transition ... 10

... GCC had this one right where they wanted it in the 3rd ... getting separation at one point up 14 pts, Clay was in foul trouble , GCC players were feeling the "W" - #0 for GC drove baseline for a bucket & was fouled ... the GCC player did one of those "stare down looks at the Clay player as he stood over him" as I jotted it down on my napkin with an asterisk as I THOUGHT this was going to be a "moment" if clay could get back to win it - and they did ... at 3:51 in the 3rd GCC was up 51-40 ... at 2:24 55-45 GCC ... end of 3 60-50 Grove City ... the 4th quarter had GC going 6/9 from the FT line ... the key was they could not stop Cameron King (13 points in the 4th) and an unsung hero was Brody Riffe for Clay who dropped 14 points in the Clay run, 8/9 from the FT line as Riffe was bringing the Panthers back with the clock stopped ... the Hinze 3 ball from the corner ... Clay took the GCC hits for the first 3 quarters then punched GC in the mouth in the 4th ... 75-75 end of regulation ... GCC should have got the "W" in the 1st OT as Brandon Baker looked like a man possessed with 7 points in the OT but GC's 0/4 shooting from the line gave the Panthers ALL of the daylight needed to AGAIN extend the game - I have to give props to Caleb Kline as the young man came off the bench when Anthony Williams fouled out for Clay ... Kline had 2 BIG TIME FTs for Clay to tie this one up ... 84-84 at the end of OT numero uno ... Clay opened up a HUGE 86-91 lead with 2:35 to play only to see GC's Whinham/Balnoschan drop back to back treys ... enter Caleb Kline for a big time putback ! ... Clay 96 GCC 95 :42.4 to play ... the Panthers 98-95 :19 mark ... Gilliland for 2 FTs ... and appropriately Cameron King finished off the Panther scoring , pushed the winning point total to the century mark of 100 by dropping 2 FTs with :06 to play ... Clay 100 GCC 95 ... Grove City finished IT'S scoring with an uncontested layup to end their season ... Portsmouth Clay 100 Grove City Christian 97 double OT final ...


... Pfloyd's Official "unofficial" Napkin Stats - Portsmouth Clay ...

Scoring ...Cameron King 27, Cole Gilliland 23, Brody Riffe 20, Nate Hinze 18, Anthony Williams 8, Caleb Kline 4
3 Pointers ... 6/18 ... Nate Hinze 2, Cole Gilliland 2, Cameron King 1, Brody Riffe 1
FTs ..... 26/40 ... 5/5 in the 2nd OT ... 4/6 in OT #1 ...
TO's ..... 17 ... 16 were in the first 3 quarters ... the Panthers went qtr 4 with "0" TOs ... 1 TO in OT #1 and "0" TOs in the final 4 minute OT ...
PntP .... 50
Points in Transition .... 4

... great TEAM "W" ... at one point in the 4th Clay had 4 players with 4 personal fouls ... Williams eventually fouled out in the first OT that opened the door for Caleb Kline to be ONE OF the "prime time" players with 4 HUGE points ... Brody Riffe - OUTSTANDING as he along with King kept Clay in contact with GCC - hitting timely FTs and inside buckets ... Cameron King/Cole Gilliland/Nate Hinze ? they're three 1000 point guys - they can score the ball !!! and did !!! Best of Luck vs Wellington !!!

[Ironman92]

Congratulations to the Clay Panthers on a fantastic win........so refreshing to see a game with this score in this day and age of half court, grind it out, slow down basketball. One will have to go way back in the record book to find a regional game where the winning team scored 100 points. I would say that last night's game was probably a record for most points by both teams in a regional game, maybe any HS tournament game at the Convo. I know Middletown beat Portsmouth 102-82 in the 1956 regional semifinal, but that was not at Athens. I can't recall any other regional game where the winning team scored 100 points.

Fairland and Wellston played about 20 years ago in a district game at the Convo, with the Dragons winning 92-90. Scott Lackey had 39 points for Wellston......but that score doesn't really come that close to last night's affair. Of course Clay vs. GCC went into 2 OT though.

Lackey graduated in 91...but good throwback example

[Gold and Blue]

Was at this game and reading the 6 page game updates on here is fantastic. Helps to re live this one. I bet others that were there agree. Can still feel the emotional roller coaster. So proud of our boys effort. A big shout out to those posters.

[BigBlueNation]

Congratulations to the Clay Panthers on a fantastic win........so refreshing to see a game with this score in this day and age of half court, grind it out, slow down basketball. One will have to go way back in the record book to find a regional game where the winning team scored 100 points. I would say that last night's game was probably a record for most points by both teams in a regional game, maybe any HS tournament game at the Convo. I know Middletown beat Portsmouth 102-82 in the 1956 regional semifinal, but that was not at Athens. I can't recall any other regional game where the winning team scored 100 points.

Fairland and Wellston played about 20 years ago in a district game at the Convo, with the Dragons winning 92-90. Scott Lackey had 39 points for Wellston......but that score doesn't really come that close to last night's affair. Of course Clay vs. GCC went into 2 OT though.

In 84 or 85 Portsmouth West scored over 100 at the convo against Thorneville Sheridan. They scored in the 90s I believe. Juse can't remember the final.

[trojandave]

BigBlueNation: I remember that West team that had Boyce Jordan as one of their top players.......that Senator team went undefeated in the regular season and lost to Steubenville in the regional 60-57 to finish 23-1. Thanks for the reminder on that.

[BigBlueNation]

BigBlueNation: I remember that West team that had Boyce Jordan as one of their top players.......that Senator team went undefeated in the regular season and lost to Steubenville in the regional 60-57 to finish 23-1. Thanks for the reminder on that.

Your welcome "trojandave". That was a great Basketball team.

[14U]

BigBlueNation: I remember that West team that had Boyce Jordan as one of their top players.......that Senator team went undefeated in the regular season and lost to Steubenville in the regional 60-57 to finish 23-1. Thanks for the reminder on that.

Your welcome "trojandave". That was a great Basketball team.

West also had with 6'4 Jordan was three other bigs around 6'6 and 6'5, Tuel, burchett and Kelly shy? Their other guard was 5'10 but was all around player in Hamilton. For mid 80's that was a big team for a little county school

[JEEPNATION]

BigBlueNation: I remember that West team that had Boyce Jordan as one of their top players.......that Senator team went undefeated in the regular season and lost to Steubenville in the regional 60-57 to finish 23-1. Thanks for the reminder on that.

Your welcome "trojandave". That was a great Basketball team.

West also had with 6'4 Jordan was three other bigs around 6'6 and 6'5, Tuel, burchett and Kelly shy? Their other guard was 5'10 but was all around player. For mid 80's that was a big team for a little county school

I remember that team, they were tough! It's been a long time since West has had a good team I'd like to see them get back to being a good program!