Bowman (IN) vs. Chillicothe @Wellston

[datchillicav]

The Cavs won fairly easily last night against a good Warren team. I don't know much about the competition Bowman has faced this year but I hear it has been tough. They are currently 2-8 after last nights loss to Huntongton Prep but they are defending State Champs and according to the a newspaper article I read out of Gary Indiana's paper, they are still favored to repeat as state champs despite their record. I don't know how knowledgeable the paper is so take that as you will. They do 6'5'' Junior Small forward Dejuan Marrero who is a top 100 national recruit in the class of 2012 and already has written offers from schools like Ohio State, Cincinnati, Memphis, Illinois, Indiana, and several others as well as interest but no offer yet from a lot of other schools.

Sounds to me like Bowman has a talented team that has faced a difficult schedule and they just haven't been able to put together the wins to go with the talent. With that said, I will take the Cavs to win it but I cannot speak with any certainty. I will have some reflection on the game and both teams' efforts after the game.

[bengalfan76]

Bowman Prep defeated Chillicothe by a score of 73-49

[newlex/sheridan]

The Marrerro kid is tough, not sure he is a big impact player for higher end D1 schools as he is a 6'5 post player. IMO, Chilli could have played with them had the officiating crew not catered to the out of state team in the shoot out. I am by no means a Chilli fan but the muggings that were going on in that game were rediculous. When Chilli came close to a Bowman player they were called for a foul. I think London could be very good if someone works with him. Was not impressed by Ragland at all, the game was way to physical for him yesterday.

[08Tiger]

I was at the game as well, I heard the chilli fans screaming about fouls, but when i looked up the scoreboard the refs had called more fouls on bowman then chilli, so it wasnt them not calling the fouls, it was them letting the boys play.... and like mentioned, the game was to physical for the chilli, i am not saying i like letting them play and bowman's kids was alot stronger with the ball ...but it was consistant both ways.... chilli had a few hard fouls on them that wasnt called, alot of unforced turnovers as well...

[player555]

newlex/sheridan and 08tiger..... i agree completely

[bvmv4life]

Ok ok....the refs were fair to midland....physical is how Chilly plays D anyway,but Bowman was just toooo much....matter of fact,imo,no one in the SE could beat that team last night or ever,they were a good deep solid team...the press Chilly saw lastnight was unforgiving....Chilly knows they didnt play well against a top notch team,i also know that its not how u start its how u finish and thats why Chilly schedules these types of teams to be ready for the tourney run....i also know that come Friday Jackson is gonna get an old fashioned beat down...this was a good loss for the Cavs,no excuses!

[TribeManiac10]

But a 24 point beatdown? I didnt get to go to the game, and when you are playing out of state schools, you never know what you are getting, but frankly 73-49 shocked the fire out of me.

From our game with the Cavs, I wondered how they would hold up against the best DII teams in the state that they will face in the tournament. They have nice size and are very athletic, but they dont have the bulk down low to move people around and if you get officials who let you play, IMO it hurts Chillicothe more than a physically stronger team.

I dont know about the comment about Ragland as I understand he is a DI signee with UTEP, but then I only saw the Cavs once.

Ragland was completely taken out of the game. Dejuan Marrero was a stud in the post and his team's agressiveness getting to the basket on offense and defense was the difference in this one.

[trojandave]

No shame in losing to Bowman.......they were very defensive minded, and they seemed to get after it on D on every play........Marrero was an absolute beast, one of the toughest minded, most physical players I have seen in a while. The Cavaliers made a lot of turnovers.......but look at the opponent........to a degree that was understandable.

I told bvmv4life that Chillicothe won't face a better team through the regionals, so I still have CHS as a serious contender for the Final 4.

[bvmv4life]

Thanks trojandave.....what I c alot is whan Chilly takes a loss,many people get down on them...regardless of Bowmans record they have a schedule that is BRUTAL! Is Chilly still a top team in the SE? Imo,sure they are!

[datchillicav]

Don't take this the wrong way because Bowman was not anywhere near the best team I have ever seen but, their press was the best I have ever seen. I have seen a lot of teams with a lot of NBA players including several top 5 national teams in multiple years. That press was the best I have ever seen. They came at you with wave after wave of long, athletic defenders and made it nearly impossible to get the ball up the court. They pressed every play and quite frankly, played the way that I think Chilli should play when we play physically inferior competition. Offensively they were really rough(sorta like us), but defensively that team was unreal and unrelentless. Marrero will not be a post player in college. He already has written offers from a ton of big time programs. They were not the most talented team, but they were super deep. I counted 14 players that saw action and this was before the benches cleared in the last couple minutes. This was actual playing time in meaningful minutes. As for the refs, I thought that the style of the game being called favored Bowman from the very beginning. If you look at just the number of fouls called, they would be fairly even and probably even favor Chilli. The think was that while Bowman got called on a lot of fouls, they fouled every time up the court. Hand checking, hands in jerseys, slapping at the ball every time up the floor and it was not called most of the time. Chilli got away with some things as well but Bowman got away with mugging after mugging and it lead to frustration for Chilli and transition buckets for Bowman. While Bowman got called for a lot of team fouls, they had no one to my knowledge in any foul trouble because of the depth and liberal substitution patterns I mentioned earlier.

As for Chilli's effort. It was obvious that early in the game they did not have their legs and were probably a bit tired from the game the night before. The shots would not fall with consistency all night. The passing was horrendous and ended up being the difference in the game. The pressure was intense but you still have to keep your head and make sound decisions and good passes. Bowman was the physically superior team and there is no shame at all in losing to a team like that. The better team won. With that said, I was furious about what I saw with about 4 or 5 minutes left in the game. The game was in hand for Bowman and it was obvious but the starters were still in for both teams and it appeared to me that the Chilli starters(at least some of them) quit. For a 2 minute stretch before Kellough replaced them(and maybe why he replaced them), theystopped hustling on defense, quit moving without the ball on defense and just all around gave up IMO. That is unacceptable. Championship teams DO lose games. Championship teams DO NOT quit.

I do want to give props to Tyler Manion and Max Corcoran who I both thought played well. Malik London played well also. Manion had a great night schoring the basketball and still facilitated the offense effectively. Corcoran did a great job in spurts guarding a much bigger and stronger Dejuan Marrero and was called for several fouls for simply using too much body trying to box out. I loved the effort from him. If all our players played with that mindset, we would be a scary scary team.

Go Cavs