Wheelersburg 58
Harvest Prep 67 a final
... the Burg - THAT team, THAT team that all schools in the SE District love to "hate" ... not a new "thing" as I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's in New Boston - "the Burg is the Word" was not a favorite phrase of anyone "county wide" - EVEN "back in the day" ... the Pirates seemingly are good in all sports, in all seasons ... talent, coaching, attitude - the Burg ... Coach Prater's Pirates drew the short straw getting the Sunday matchup with Harvest Prep - winners of 5 of the last 6 District Championships ... coming off of a 2022-23 appearance in the State Final 4 with 3 of the 5 starters from last years state appearance team - Brandon Roddy (jr)/Adonus Abrams (sr) and sophomore big man Ephraim Campbell - leading HP's 9 man rotation of length, athleticism, size, next level quickness ...
... many, many bleacher fans ask , "Why?!" ... Why do local teams play in classics such as the Battle in the 740 vs teams from out of the district? teams who on paper, in pedigree are going to get the W? ... IF you are coach looking to improve, you know that playing games that you KNOW you will win - tells you NOTHING about your TEAM ... when you play teams who ARE on paper matching up player for player are better than your team, quicker/faster/bigger/more athletic you learn something ... your players learn ... every possession and opposition possession is a "teachable/coaching" moment ... Wheelersburg vs Harvest Prep ... I learned a lot about the Pirates in the loss ... the Burg based on yesterday's game ARE or WILL BE an Elite 8 Team in the SE District by seasons end ... for most of the game WHS was led by one of the best "groups" of sophomores I have seen in awhile - Braylon Rucker (PG)/ Landon McGraw (post)/ Kenyon Evans/Hunter Bivens/Logan Adkins add to the mix junior underclassman jr Zander Mowery - THAT IS AN OUTSTANDING "VARSITY" TEAM right there ... throw in the senior experience/playability of Devon Lattimore and Luke Swords ... already one of the best teams in the Southeast district , a 17+ win season in the making imo ... even with ALL of the youth on the floor , even in a LOSING effort - the Burg was , if I had to rank the teams from the SE district who played Sunday ... Wheelersburg was the best of the best ... Harvest Prep 67 Wheelersburg 58 a final ...
... the game opened as expected , HP's quickness was overwhelming for Coach Prater's Pirates who started 2 sophs (McGraw/Rucker) , 1 jr (Mowery) and 2 seniors (Swords/Lattimore) ... the defensive pressure/quickness of Harvest Prep had it's intended result - sped up the game, forced 9 Wheelersburg turnovers resulting in a pair of transition baskets for HP ... the Burg only had 2 fgs in the qtr - all by soph. Logan Adkins coming in off the bench (2 fgs/ 1 for 2 from the line... 5 pts) ... seniors Lattimore & Sword each were 1/2 from the FT line ... for Prep, Coach Dennis ran 9 into the game during the quarter/6 of the 9 put up points on the napkin stat sheet - Jaylen Sims 5pts including a triple/ London Foggie 2pts/Alan Chiles 2pts/ Brandon Roddy 2pts / Antwan Pollard a three pointer (HP was 2/6 from 3 point land in the 1st period) ... Ephraim Campbell closed out the scoring with a pair of lefthanded shots in the paint 4pts ... Harvest Prep 18 Wheelersburg 7 after 1 ... for many I'm guessing the question as to "Why?" popped into their heads BUT then again we are talking the Burg mentality here - a school full of athletes who "have been there" have played in THE game from biddy ball up through the ranks ... with a lineup of 3 sophs,a junior and led by senior Devon Lattimore , Wheelersburg did "burg things" they learned from the opening quarter blitz, they adjusted to the speed of the game, played with physicality - soph Landon McGraw went toe to toe with the bigs in the paint/held his own - outstanding game by the young sophomore ... Lattimore provided "burg quickness" as the senior put up 9 points in the quarter/ framed by 4pts each from sophomore Braylon Rucker and McGraw ... the youngsters outscored HP 17-13 in the period, "forced" an HP timeout (a win in itself) ... HP was led by Campbell's 6pts/ a Jaylen Sims 3 ball and 2/2 from the line/ and Roddy transition basket ... you could see the confidence build in the play of the young sophomores - they showed no fear/ the stage , the opponent was not too big ... they were in their element ... back in the game ... Harvest Prep 31 Wheelersburg 24 at intermission ... the 3rd quarter showed me what we are going to see from the cheap seats in this Wheelersburg TEAM ... a defense that turned HP over 4 times converting one into transition points, a quarter played by 3 sophomores on the floor at any given time with 2 more sophomores coming in off the bench ... leadership from a junior and a senior PG Lattimore ... McGraw played like a seasoned varsity veteran on the boards while scoring 10 pts including a smooth triple from outside the arc (14pts thru 3 periods) ... Lattimore adding 6 pts ... Mowery/Bivens 2 pts each in the qtr ... HP was held to 3 fgs ( a three ball each by Sims (3pts)/Roddy 7pts) London Foggie 1/3 from the line ... 20-11 advantage Wheelersburg on the score sheet at the quarter break ... Wheelersburg 44 Harvest Prep 42 at the end of 3 ... 32 minutes of relentless pressure has it's toll, even on 'the burg" ... the HP 9 man rotation eventually got the intended results - the opposition "tries to catch it's breath" when that happens the quickness wins, gets to the rim , when a team like Harvest Prep sees blood they attack (the rim) HP put up 25 points in the 4th period to the Wheelersburg 14 points ... the Burg had it's final lead at 5:47 on the clock @ 48-47 burg ... at 4:32 HP was up 50-47 ... the game finished with HP on a 17-11 run ... for WHS McGraw added 5 pts in the 4th (including his 2nd trey 19 pts for the game) sr Luke Swords came off the bench to hit a triple from the corner, Rucker 2 pts/ Lattimore 3pts/ and Mowery 1/2 from the line to close out the scoring ... Prep was paced by #22 (held scoreless in the opening 3 qtr) netting 9 points in the period/ Roddy 8 points (19 on the game) /Foggie 2pts/Jamarus Jones 2pts ... Harvest Prep 67 Wheelersburg 58 a final ...
Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Wheelersburg ...
Scoring ... Devon Lattimore 19, Landon McGraw 19, Brayon Rucker 6, Logan Adkins 5, Luke Swords 4, Xander Mowery 3, Hunter Bivens 2
3 Pointers ... 4/12 ... Landon McGraw 2, Luke Sword 1, Devon Lattimore 1
FTs ... 8/14
TOs ... 19 (9 in the opening quarter/10 over the next 3 qtrs)
PnP ... 17 fgs/34 points in the paint
PnT ... 2 fgs/ 4 points in transition
Pbk .... 3 fgs/ 6 points on putback buckets
... the youngsters (sophomores) put up 32 points for the game ... with 3 sophomores on the floor throughout with 2 sophomores coming of the bench in an 8 man rotation ... solid basketball TEAM ... the Burg is still the word ...
Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Harvest Prep ...
Scoring ...Brandon Roddy 19, Jaylen Sims 13, Ephraim Campbell 12, #22 ... 9 pts, London Foggie 5, Antwon Pollard 5, Alan Chiles 2, Jamarcus Jones 2
FTs ... 12/14
TOs .... 12
PnP .... 19 fgs/ 38 points in the paint
PnT ... 6 fgs/ 12 points in transition
Pbk ....... 4 fgs/ 8 points on putback buckets
Harvest Prep 67 Wheelersburg 58 a final ...
Re: Harvest Prep 67 Wheelersburg 58 a final ...
Awesome write up and summary. This was a fun game to watch. I was really pulling for Burg to come away with the win, but they just ran out of steam at the end. I do like how Burg was able to handle HP pressure. Outside of the first quarter, Burg took care of the ball and played at a comfortable pace, not letting HP speed them up too much. Kudos to the HP coaching staff and players. HP is a very talented and well coached team. They will win alot of games this year and I would consider them the early favorite to win their region again. I believe this game was big for the burg sophomores that you mentioned, they proved to themselves and to others that they can play with anyone around. Now they just need to get over the hump..... which I think will come soon enough.