Eastern Pike vs. Columbus Africentric - Regional Final

[mglight88]

60-28 Nubians after three but Eagles made a little run toward the end of the period.

[mglight88]

Eastern Eagles fall 78-43 to Columbus Africentric Nubians. Great season Eagles.

[Hitchbone64]

Great run for Eastern. IMO, their are no true losers when you get to the Sweet 16. Memories forever.

[pfloyd]

Africentric 79
Eastern Pike 43 final


... going into this one Eastern was the decided "an understatement" underdog ... the scouting line was that the Nubians would come out of the blocks playing in your shirt defense, push the ball at every opportunity, harass the EHS ball handlers, throw up shots from ALL over the floor in anticipation of crashing the boards to get the put back basket ... ALL of it happened in the first 8 minutes of play - Africentric played the first quarter at BOTH ends like it was "a shark feeding frenzy" ... if your an Eastern Eagle player you couldn't/didn't have a clue as to what you would see speed wise or athleticism wise until that tip off went up ... by the time the waters cleared Africentric had closed the door on this one Africentric 28 Eastern Pike 11 after one ... the Nubians played 14 players in the first half with 8 different players denting the scoreboard ... Africentric forced 15 EHS TO's in the first 2 quarters ... the Eagles were outmanned number wise and outmanned athleticism wise as well ... watching the 1st two quarters I kept seeing the movie 300 play out on the court ... the Nubians kept running waves of bodies at the Eagles - the Eagles never quit, gave everything they had at both ends but could never make a dent in the Nubian armor ... Africentric 44 Eastern 18 at intermission ... Africentric 60 Eastern 28 end of three quarters ... Africentric 79 Eastern Pike 43 the final ...

... a couple of observations : Eastern was out numbered, out manned ... yet to the credit of every player Coach Fitch put on the floor not one of the Eastern players quit playing ... 100% from every single kid that went into battle ... 100% coaching by Coach Fitch for all 32 minutes of the game ... Coach Fitch got everything out of his kids tonight AND those kids that are coming back next season? yeah - those kids LEARNED a great deal about the next level of basketball that is out there as well ...Chad Lands/Alex Phillips/Tavares Pickett/Brandon Murphy <= every single one of them became BETTER basketball players during this game ... I was impressed - I could see them get better during the game - Lands handled the pressure better, Pickett brought the ball up court under the Nubian pressure and did it well in the 2nd half ... when Murphy got on the floor he was solid in the paint vs the athleticism of the Nubian rebounders ... my hat goes off to all of the Eastern players ... getting your "nose bloodied" , being knocked down, then getting back up off the floor - you learned a lot about yourselves as TEAM ... Congratulations on getting to the Elite 8 !!! - no one can take that away from you ...

... Africentric ? Congratulations on getting back to the final four ... Regional Champs ... not sure I saw the coach for the Nubians "coach" once during the game ... not even sure what he showed me about his "class" or "lack there of" by pressing full court the entire game when his team was up by 30+ points ... I suppose the offensive numbers (97,91,81, 91, 86 to name a few) will look impressive in the State Tournament program BUT as a Cheap Seat guy - I wasn't impressed - I was in the Cheap Seats when the Nubians played Bloom Carroll to open the season - they could only muster 42 points vs the Bulldogs and lost ... Bloom Carroll - they impressed me ...


... Pfloyd's Official/UNofficial Napkin Stats - Africentric ...


Scoring : Black 13, F. Tucker 13, Robinson 11, Smith 9,Harrison 8, Saunders 7, C. Tucker 4, Wallace/Wilson/Miller/Walls 3 ea., Waddy/Manzie 1 ea.

3 Pointers: 9/23 ... F. Tucker 2, Sauders 1, Black 1,Walls 1,Robinson 1,Harrison 1,Wilson 1, Wallace 1

FT's : 14/29

TO's : 13

ATR : 16

T: 6



... Pfloyd's Official/UNofficial Napkin Stats - Eastern Pike ...


Scoring : Tavares Pickett 12, Chad Lands 8, Billy Lykins 6, Aaron Satterfield 6, Blake Roberts 5, Alex Phillips 2, Matt Shaw 2, Zack Babst 1, Brandon Murphy 1

3 Pointers : 1/12 ... Satterfield 1

FT's : 12/21

TO's : 25 ... 15 in the first half

ATR : 10

T: 0

[NewEra]

FT's : 14/29

I would play hack a nubian hah..

GREAT SEASON EASTERN!

[streetballer]

take that whoopin eastern...haha warned ya that u couldn't hang with a columbus school

[jumparound]

I first want to congratulate the Eastern Eagles. Great job this season and like the previous post said....you worked hard the whole entire game. Afrocentric was bigger, stronger and more experienced. I am 100% not impressed with Afrocentric's coaching though. I don't care what division you are in high school, pressing when you are up almost 40 points in the 3rd and 4th quarter is ridiculous ...these are kids. I would have been embarrassed if our team did that...then not to mention pressing the subs??? Good Luck to the eagles next year.

Oh and yea.... What school are you from street baller that did so well this year?? Bet they didn't make farther than the eagles!!!

[THE CLAW IS THE LAW]

Great season eagles u have nothing to b ashamed of Africentric is the best team I have seen this year play including D2 and D3 teams. u guys have made this eagle fan very proud and gave me a lot of memories that I will never forget.
best of luck to our departing seniors , next year should b another great year for the eagles with lands Pickett and Murphy returning and we also have a very talented 8th grade cLass led by Brandon Rowe a name that people will get to know really soon. go Eagles

[danicalifornia]

take that whoopin eastern...haha warned ya that u couldn't hang with a columbus school

And Manchester couldn't hang with Eastern.

[Dr. Mccoy]

I was in attendance at this game and I disagree with some of the views expressed by some observer. Africentric played full court man to man defense. That is the basic premise of the game to guard your man on defense and Not let him score. What I found troubling was the fact that the coach from eastern never came out of his 2-3 zone even though they were losing by more than 20. What message does that send? Was he not trying to win the game, this was a regional final a birth in the state final four was on the line and he made his team sit in a packed in 2-3 zone all game. That is not playing to win, did he think he could win like that. I agree the coach from africentric didn't coach, but in my opinion he didn't have to, because the coach from eastern wasn't trying to win, he was trying not to get blown out, which still happened! So instead of bashing the coach at africentric for playing full court man, which if you follow them is what they have done all year, how about saying something about the coach who was not playing to win.

[Fundamentals]

Hey don't knock the Afrocentrc team, we could do the same in our area but we tend to lean to school loyalty and older traditions due to our smaller communities, but I remember when there was talk of going to a big county school here in scioto and how did the combining of Portsmouth and portsmouth east go? It didnt, imagine how good Portsmouth would be with the influx of those additional athletes. So Afrocentric is just doing what s allowed p, calling those kids rejects is not fair to them, they work hard and go out and play just as Eastern did.

And to say why did he not come out of he 2-3,Fitch did be smart thing by reeling he didn't have the athletes to match up across the board, if he went man 2man it could have been worse. So he played it smart, but maybe needs to look at being more aggressive out of the zone. Eastern had a great run and should be proud, and don't trash the opponent cause you got bet by a better team, just build on your success. Congrats Coach "PJ" Fitch (he will always be PJ to us old Falcons). And the Eagles

[B-dawg79]

take that whoopin eastern...haha warned ya that u couldn't hang with a columbus school

you know what manchester wouldnt score 20 if they was in this game hell i bet africentric wouldve started there jv team so why dont you post on a different thread and just stay on manchester threads

[live4sport]

McCoy--- I don't know what you are a doctor of but it sure isn't basketball. It was clear Eastern was outmanned before tipoff. How in this world or any other do you suppose it would be smart for Eastern to try to man up with that team? You are crazy. That's right go ahead and pull out of the zone so everyone can watch a bunch of backdoor cuts with dunks for exclamation.Idiot. You say they didn't coach to win--- If you looked at your program I'm sure the line of teams that got beat by 50+ also didn't coach to win their game either. Oh, and yes there is fullcourt man and there is also HALFCOURT. But if it were a "true" man then they wouldn't jump the doubleteam between 3/4 and halfcourt each time down the floor. I believe they were showing man but setting up to trap.IDIOT. I'm sure if you were the coach Eagles would have won that game? Eagles couldn't win that game if Bobby Knight was sitting there--sometimes that is just the sad reality.

GREAT JOB EAGLES---don't listen to any of the idiots on here and keep your heads high. WHAT A RUN!!

Streetballer----It's too soon after the game for you to run your childish mouth. If Eastern got beat by 35 then we all hate to think of what would have happened to your team. See the adult thing to do when a team beats yours is to congratulate them and wish them well as they go on not this crap you keep spewing out. Do everyone a favor and close your account.

[turnbird]

Congrats to eagles for the great season and also to Africentric for advancing to the final 4.I was at the game and was impressed with Africentric play, probably the best ive seen for a long time.But was also impressed with the play of the Eagles in that even though they were getting beat up bad they continued to play hard. Nothing to hang head about. And to those armchair coaches and critics who have the nerve to trash talk and degrade any of the kids on any team should feel ashamed. All of them are kids and they want to win. If your team losses, get over it and support the kids and enjoy the sport.

[TripleDouble]

Live4sport, I agree. That team was clearly more athletic and we only rotated 7 players where they rotated 14. So they constantly had a fresh man in. Had we went man and tried to keep up with all their fresh players we woulda been exhausted half way through 3rd which would have led to lots of alley oop dunks. Maybe thats what Doc was wanting to see?

To the departing seniors, you guys have had a great career and what a way to top it off. 2 SOC titles( for those on the roster 2 years ago. I believe Billy was and maybe Blake too?), 2 sectional championships, 1 district title, and 1 regional runner up. Only a select few can say they accomplished those feats at Eastern and now you guys can join that class. Congratulations to the Eagles on a fine season and a great run in the tournaments. You can leave this season knowing you were the best D4 team in all of southeastern Ohio. Not to shabby.

And to the Eagles coming back next year, keep working hard this off season and their is no reason you can't accomplish all these goals again. Good luck to Chad, Tavares, Brandon, and Crew as you keep working hard and start preparing for next year. Best of luck and once again Congratulations Eagles on a Great season. One that us Eagle fans will be talking about for years to come.

[pfloyd]

... I was sitting in the Cheap Seats and was impressed with the support that the entire Eagles Nation gave to the Eastern Pike squad for all of the 32 minutes ... just as loud when TEAM was down 30+ as when the TEAM was warming up ... certainly filled the entire home side of the court AND part of the visitor side as well - great job of supporting your boyz ...

... give me a break on the "full court man to man" - trapping out of the man full court is not playing straight up man to man ... yes it was the regional final, yes the Nubians had their way in EVERY way in this game , yes it is their history to run up the score (just look at the scores I posted originally) ... sometimes "class" enters the picture EVEN in a Regional Final - it was missing last night ... Eastern should have gone man ???????????????????????? Dunk Fest ... then the Nubians coach would have gotten the score he was looking for 100 to ????? ... Coach Fitch could have sat on his hands from the 1st quarter on, the Eastern players could have mailed it in from the 1st quarter on - neither happened ... Coach Fitch "coached" for next year - no way will Eastern players see anything pressure wise, quickness wise, athleticism wise like they saw last night here Below the Lancaster-Dixon Line ...Coach Fitch was "coaching" his players up for NEXT year - THAT will pay dividends NEXT season with the returning Eastern players ...

... Congratulations again to Africentric on advancing ... Congratulations to the Eastern Pike squad for representing themselves, their school, their fans with class glad I was in the cheap seats for this one ...

[streetballer]

we played a better columbus team last year and had it won but refs screwed us over...and id lay money on it if eastern played manchester again on a totally neutral court(the game they played wasn't on a totally neutral court)that manchester would beat em easily..but oh well both teams seasons are over and on to next year..peace out homies..

[run-n-gun]

It was a great season Eagles, nothing to be ashamed of but everything to be proud of. It cam tournament time, and you won the games necessary to move in. To make the Elite 8 is an impressive accomplishment that teams everywhere would love to do.

And streetballer, does it really matter? Eastern beat Manchester the one game they had to play. They could play 100 times and Manchester win 99, but Eastern won the game that counts, so let it be. All you are doing is embarrassing yourself. I wish the best of luck to Manchester next year and their true fans who show good support and attitude through the ups and downs.

[Eaglesnest]

The tragedy here is that the OHSAA allows this stuff to go on year after year. Are you telling me all of those athletes are all born and raised and live within a stones throw of Livingston Avenue?

It has been debated on here time and time again, but the Private schools need their own division and within that division belongs schools like Africentric which uses loopholes to recruit athletes by using education/culture as a front. I do not blames Africentric's school, administration, coaches, and certainly not their kids because they are just that. How any D4 could compete with the athletes they have is beyond me.

I also agree with those on here that commented on how hard the eagles played regardless of the score. It made me proud to be an Eagle! I also enjoyed Coach Fitch's comments on the radio following the game that praised the players, parents, and the community. Very classy and well done.

Best of luck to the Eagles next season!

[HoundsAre4Real]

Congrats Eagles from the true Greyhound nation. No one thought you would win this game against a team that isn't home grown boys. Way to play hard and never quit. None of us D4 teams are ever going to win until the STATE steps in and does something about these teams recruiting all the time. Again congrats and best of luck next season.