#2 Zane Trace (16-5) vs #7 Belpre (11-9)

[MRI13]

Thoughts? Predictions?

My first thought is, how in the heck is Belpre a 7 seed????

Second thoughts, ZT wins if Beam gets the ball down low and plays well and also if Hutton/Mowery can take away Belpre's guard play.........

Gonna be a dog fight though, ZT has beaten Belpre twice in the last few years in Sectional play, Belpre will be looking to play spoiler

[EasternDspy]

Belpre lost their best player Jake Ullman at the beginning of the year. They have 3 really good players 1 avg player and then alot of kids that would struggle to start Jv for most schools. G Dakota Hoffman is really good. Bigs are good to Leasure and Theruilet.

[danicalifornia]

Zane Trace has too many weapons, so they are able to play through a bit of foul trouble should it arise. This will be a pretty good ball game, but I believe the Pioneers win by 8.

[93Bulldog]

Belpre dropped to a 7-seed because they lost 6-foot-5 center Ryan leasure for a good chunk of the season - during that stretch over the winter they lossed a lot of games ... BUT ... The Golden Eagles are (8-3) in their last 11, which is really what you need to look at.

[warrior90]

Belpre is playing good ball right now. They will give Zane Trace all they want. I think this will be a close game. Belpre struggles with full court pressue, if ZT plays full court pressure this might not be as close.

[MRI13]

I watched RIver Valley/Belpre.....not a very exciting game...but...I was impressed with the athleticism of Hoffman. I think Hoffman/ Hutton will be a great matchup to watch. The other thing I noticed is the 17 offensive rebounds, ZT has to box out!

warrior90....ZT is a sit down defensive team, will press some, but their 1/2 court pressure from Hutton and Mowery causes a lot of problems. Hutton is the quickest kid in the SVC and Mowery anticipates like no other kid I have seen

[freethrow]

The Mowery is only a freshman I heard also.

[danicalifornia]

The Mowery is only a freshman I heard also.

And a young freshman too. Averaged a little over 14 a game and is unshakable. Lots of confidence and talent in that kid, I'd love to see him on the big stage at the Convo for the next 4 Marchs.

[MRI13]

yea and he is only 14 as DaniCalifornia said. The kid has just played so much ball that he is comfortable in all aspects. Like I said, he anticipates so well. The kid is level headed too...not cocky...just a good kid. Not afraid to take the game winning shot at 14 years old is beyond impressive to me. The SVC has a lot of young talent...should be a fun league to watch for the next few years with Miles, Strange, Overly, Hosley, Mowery, Hutton, Stratton, etc. I think if Mowery can work hard and learn to penetrate and finish, the sky is the limit for him. He already has a great outside shot, 51 threes this year, and plays great D...kid can jump too for only being 5'7-5'8.

[mister b]

Belpre needs to bring their "A" game, box out/rebound like crazy and stay out of foul trouble.

Best of luck to both teams.

LETS GO EAGLES!!!

[MRI13]

agreed, best of luck to both teams. Hopefully we see a more exciting game than on Tuesday!!

[theburgtheword]

Zane Trace 53
Belpre 40

Zane Trace (17-5) will now take on Lynchburg Clay (12-11)

Lynchburg started the season 0-7.

[justlookin]

Belpre had a tough season and did pretty well considering. The senior heavy team seemed ready to make another TVC Championship run but injuries slowed that down. In early season 6'5 Ryan Leasure missed 9 games with a dislocated knee, he gets my true grit award, the trainer along with his dad and Coach Thornhill worked with him and put his knee back in place, he walked off the floor and watched the rest of the game from the bench. 6' speedy Dakota Hoffman has had a bad elbow all year from a track injury last year,6'4 Brice Pittenger had some leg and back problems all year.But no excuses every team has those things going on this time of year. Zane Trace was quicker to the ball and had some space eaters underneath, they played well and answered every time Belpre got close. By my count Belpre had 10 layups fall off the rim, that's hard to over come. The Pioneers guards played nice trapping defense and distributed the ball to the open man. Nice team win for them. The refs seemed to swallow there whistles in the second half with each team with only a few team fouls into the 4th. Not sure why a technical was called on Belpre but thought it was really fast. Maybe some bad blood there with the ref. Great season Belpre and Good Luck ZT. Nice call of the game on iheart radio from Chillicothe WJJK, thanks I enjoyed listening.

[teach123]

WHAT? Are you saying a coach helped put a players dislocated knee back into place? That is the first thing they teach you NOT to do in first aid classes. He really is setting himself up on this one IMO!

[MRI13]

The Technical was called quick because Hoffman turned around and said "BULLSH*T!" Not many refs gonna let that slide. Thornhills actions toward the refs after the buzzer almost got him a ride in a cruiser.

[bhseaglex12]

WHAT? Are you saying a coach helped put a players dislocated knee back into place? That is the first thing they teach you NOT to do in first aid classes. He really is setting himself up on this one IMO!

Are you serious right now? Im getting sick and tired of ppl calling out coach thornhill. I played for belpre the last 4 years and had 3 different coaches my 4 years of high school basketball and i can tell you right now that coach thornhill is a good coach and an even better friend. Out of the 3 coaches, hes the only one who cares for his players as an athlete, student, and individual. the last 2 years belpre has went around 28-17. 28 wins in two seasons is more than belpre had with the parsons and plummer coaches combined. Seems to me like a lot of ppl dont know how to give credit when credit is due bc of their so called "ego". Now that thats over with, I would like to say good luck to the belpre seniors, and the rest of the TVC teams in post season play.

[justlookin]

The Technical was called quick because Hoffman turned around and said "BULLSH*T!" Not many refs gonna let that slide. Thornhills actions toward the refs after the buzzer almost got him a ride in a cruiser.

Thanks for the info....didn't see from where we were setting.

[justlookin]

WHAT? Are you saying a coach helped put a players dislocated knee back into place? That is the first thing they teach you NOT to do in first aid classes. He really is setting himself up on this one IMO!

Are you serious right now? Im getting sick and tired of ppl calling out coach thornhill. I played for belpre the last 4 years and had 3 different coaches my 4 years of high school basketball and i can tell you right now that coach thornhill is a good coach and an even better friend. Out of the 3 coaches, hes the only one who cares for his players as an athlete, student, and individual. the last 2 years belpre has went around 28-17. 28 wins in two seasons is more than belpre had with the parsons and plummer coaches combined. Seems to me like a lot of ppl dont know how to give credit when credit is due bc of their so called "ego". Now that thats over with, I would like to say good luck to the belpre seniors, and the rest of the TVC teams in post season play.

Coach Thornhill never touched him he was there to support his player and to keep him calm. The trainer did all the work on his knee, I've seen coaches just stand off away from when a player goes down. teach123 Were you at that game??

[MRI13]

I have no disrespect toward Coach Thorhill...he did a great job, very passionate, good coach.

The Athens Sectional is ridiculous...ZT as a #2 and Belpre as a #7? Neither made any sense. 4 coaches in there buddying up with the guys in their league to get the most favorable way out. Belpre was one of the top 4 teams in that sectional, regardless of their record. They shouldnt have been playing the 2 seed, who actually should have been the 1 seed, considering ZT's losses were D2 Logan Elm ( without starting PG) and Vinton Co (by 2). 2 losses to Piketon and a bad night at Southeastern.