Portsmouth 54
Lucasville Valley 50 a final
... in the marque matchup of the evening in D3 - the SIZE of Valley (Yates 6-3/Keller 6-3/Riehl 6-5/West 6-5/Dwyer 6-6) vs the SPEED/QUICKS/PRESSURE DEFENSE of Portsmouth (McKinley/Evans/Carter/Whitley/Collins/Brachett/Edwards) ... as Cheap Seat fans WE saw it ALL - size matters/hand speed - foot speed/defensive pressure matters ... on this night Defensive Pressure trumped Size -
BARELY ... Valley could not have had a better start to the game as Jordan West went off early - drive for a deuce/a trifecta/and a dunk for 6 quick points and a Valley lead ... the LVHS support cast owned the paint with 2 put back baskets - the BIGS were controlling the boards on the court and on the scoreboard ... Coach Collins' team sports ALL seniors but one, Coach Collins' team has been to the SHOW in C'bus, Coach Collins' team knew that 5 minutes of the first quarter does not a game make ... PHS showed a glimpse of the defensive pressure we had expected - forcing 4 Valley turnovers - PHS stayed within reach ...
Valley 16 Portsmouth 11 after one ... from the Cheap Seats you could see the tempo go up in the 2nd period as PHS continued to harass on the perimeter, but more importantly the Trojans caused the Valley boyz to "speed up their own tempo" - got out of their comfort zone as the Trojans gained the advantage on the scoreboard
Portsmouth 26 Valley 25 at the half ... Quarter #3 proved to be Valley's best of the night - as the Indians came out of the locker room - under control offensively - they were not in any hurry to get off a perimeter shot, worked the ball into their strength taking advantage of their size down low Dwyer (4)/Dunn (2)/Howard (2) ... with the patience on offense came dominance defensively - Portsmouth was one and done at the offensive end hitting only 1 fg in the period for a total of 6 points ...
Portsmouth 32 Valley 39 after 3 periods ... the Cheap Seat buzz was that Lucasville Valley had control of the paint, were using their size inside at both ends of the floor, the ONLY way PHS was going to get the "W" was to turn up the tempo ... it had to come out of their pressure defense ... by happen chance - the Trojans forced the tempo up that notch - Valley lost control on the court as the increased tempo put the Trojans in THEIR comfort zone ... PHS took advantage of their quickness to get into the lane, get to the rim, get to the FT line ... the Trojans went to the line for 16 FTs in the 4th quarter converting on 12 ... the FTs were bookended by Carter/Collins treys ... Valley had no answers for Portsmouth ... going 0/6 from behind the arc in the 4th, only 3 fgs total in the final period ... Valleys last lead was 46-50 with 1:10 to play as Portsmouth closed it out on a 8-0 run into the regionals ...
Portsmouth 54 Lucasville Valley 50 a final ...
... Pfloyd's Official/UNofficial Napkin Stats - Lucasville Valley
Scoring : Blake Yates 10, Hayden Dunn 10, Robbie Dwyer 9, Patrick Riehl 7, Jordan West 7 (all in the first 2 minutes of quarter #1), Will Howard 5, Luke Keller 2
3 Pointers : 2/13 ... West 1,Howard 1
FTs : 10/15
TOs: 16
At the Rim : 14 ONLY
Transition Buckets : 1
... Pfloyd's Official/UNofficial Napkin Stats - Portsmouth ...
Scoring : Dayllen Carter 17, Wayne Evans 14, Dion McKinley 11, Len Collins 7, Zaide Whitley 5
3 Pointers: 4/21 ... Dayllen Carter 2, Len Collins 2
FTs : 18/25
TOs : 11
At the Rim: 9
Transition Buckets : 2