3-17 (7:30 pm) Ironton vs Portsmouth (Regional Finals) @ Co

[ohbuckeye2]

Congrats to Portsmouth on the win, good luck against Ottawa-Glandorf in the FINAL 4

Bring home another STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.

[chef_piketon]

Congrats Trojans from The Chef.

[Just My Opinion]

CONGRATS to the Trojans, now go and show the rest of the state what southern Ohio is all about.

[noreply66]

:aaaaa41 :aaaaa41 :aaaaa41 :aaaaa41 :aaaaa41

[frank-n-beans]

PHS gets by IHS in an UGLY GAME. Can't hit beyond 4 ft. I-town coach clueless, Carter fouls out and all hope is lost. PHS will get waxed by 20+ in semi's, They can't hit a shot beyond 4 ft.

[Hitchbone64]

Congrats to the Trojan Nation. Especially Coach Collins. He is rapidly becoming a coaching legend in the great history of Trojan hoops. What a turnaround for this storied program.

[pfloyd]

Portsmouth 50
Ironton 40 a final


... I'm sure that I have NEVER seen a game like this one - ever ... Portsmouth showed their senior maturity in this one right from the start - PHS played solid defensively in their box and one with Wade Whitley chasing Zac Carter all over the court - the D worked to perfection as Carter was forced to give up the ball, rarely able to get into the paint in the entire first half, took off balance three pointers ... while the Trojan offense was as solid as the D - working for the open shot, good ball distribution as 5 Trojans scored in the first quarter ... Portsmouth 13 Ironton 5 after one quarter ... Quarter #2 was more of the same defensively for Portsmouth - nothing offensively for Ironton and I MEAN NOTHING !!! Ironton was "O for the quarter" from the field ... Ironton was "O for 2" from the FT line ... Ironton out rebounded Portsmouth on both ends of the floor BUT (and there is always a but) ... BUT it made "0" difference as Portsmouth was able to extend it's lead to 18 points ... Portsmouth 23 Ironton 5 at intermission ... the 3rd saw Ironton come out of the locker room determined to put the ball in the right peoples hands on the offensive end - paging Zac Carter/Josh Glover - IHS turned up the defensive pressure, was able to up the tempo, was able to get into it's full court pressure after MADE shots ... it's amazing what can happen when the ball starts going in the basket - the Fighting Tigers forced 8 Portsmouth turnovers in the 3rd period - Zac Carter connected for 8 points in the quarter/Glover added 4 ... Portsmouth began looking like a team trying NOT TO LOSE - trying to take care of the ball, trying to run time off the clock, trying not to make mistakes BUT (and there's that BUT again) ...BUT we all know that when a team tries "not to lose" bad things always happen ... Portsmouth with the 8 TOs in the quarter was outscored 11-17 by the Tigers ... Carter was getting into a flow and to make things worse the officials "blinked" apparently as the clock literally "ran out", Trey Fletcher was still dribbling across half court - buzzer sounded - Fletcher let it fly - blanked it in ... it was called good by the officiating crew ... momentum shifted over to I'town ... Portsmouth 34 Ironton 22 after three ... the 4th quarter had the makings of the greatest comeback I have personally seen as the Ironton trio of Carter/Fletcher/White found the range ... Portsmouth took a number of quick shots from behind the arc ... Ironton had closed the gap to 6 points with 3 minutes to play 40-34 PHS ... Portsmouth was now making multiple trips to the line as Carter/Stevens/Glover were over playing on D trying to get into a transition game - PHS converted on 8/13 FTs in the 4th ... all IHS hopes to come all the way back went South when Carter picked up his 5th foul with 1:47 left to play ... Carter's departure was met with a Dion McKinley open court slam ... Aaron Stevens left with 5 personals for IHS ... Zaide Whitley with a couple drives into the paint for PHS baskets ... Portsmouth 50 Ironton 40 the final ...

... Congratulations to the Portsmouth Trojans as they Survived and Advanced to the "Show" as the SouthEast District/Regional Champions !!! ... experience got the Trojans to the D3 Final Four for the 2nd straight year - I believe trojandave posted that the back to back trips to the Final Four is a first ever for the Trojans ... Best of luck from ALL of us here in Southern Ohio - "represent" !!!!


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


Scoring : Zac Carter 13, Trey Fletcher 13, Josh Glover 6, Trevor White 4, Nolan Johnson 4

3 Pointers : 2/13 ... Trey Fletcher 2

FT's : 8/15

TOs: 27 ...ouch !!! 15 in the first half ...

ATR : 10

T: 0

... the Ironton offensive "0'fer" the 2nd quarter was too much to overcome ...



...Pfloyd's Official/UNofficial Napkin Stats - Regional Champions Portsmouth Trojans


Scoring : Zaide Whitley 14, Waynes Evans 11, Dion McKinley 9, Jayllen Carter 8, Len Collins 4, Duke Edwards 4, Seth Bratchett 2

3 Pointers : 2/16 ... McKinley 1, Whitley 1

FTs : 16/24

TOs : 13 ... 8 TOs in the 3rd period

ATR : 13

T: 1


... Keys to the game : Zaide Whitley's defense on Zac Carter in the first quarter - forced Carter to give up the ball - 0 pts in the first ... Whitley holding Carter scoreless in the 2nd while the rest of the PHS defense held the ENTIRE Ironton team scoreless in the 2nd quarter : 0 pts in the second ... game over ...

[pfloyd]

... great to see the Portsmouth SEOPreps folks for one last time this season ... biggdowgg wanted to make sure the Portsmouth TEAM gets his congratulations on a great win - his Radio Shack Color Computer is acting up again LOL - BUT he will be at the Schott Thursday night cheering on the Trojans as they take on Ottawa Glandorf for the chance to play for all the marbles in D3 Saturday ...

... hey Lou!!! tell the wife that the cake was outstanding !!! ... yet another great job on the PA for the 3 Weeks of the Convo !!! - as I said to you Lou, all of the outstanding teams/players in Southern/Southeastern Ohio play their hearts out to get to the Convo every post season just to get a chance to have their name broadcast by the "Voice of high school basketball in Southern Ohio" - Lou Horvath ... take care Lou !!! hoping I will be in the stands again next year for "Basketball Thirty" ... cheer on those OU Bobcats Sunday !!!

[on a mission]

With no knowledge of any of the four remaining teams I'll make my judgement on what I've witnessed 3 times this season. Ironton handling Portsmouth the 1st game,the second Portsmouth dominated and almost gave away,the 3rd Portsmouth played a tremendous first half,but seeing all three games leads to this conclusion; Portsmouth would shock the crap outta me if the win it all,they get to comfortable with the lead. Great teams smell blood and bury their opposition. They have shown me on two separate occasions that the killer instinct is lacking. If Carter doesn't foul out this game probably would have gone the other way! CONGRATULATIONS ON A GREAT WIN AND I HOPE YOU BRING THE TITLE TO SOUTHERN OHIO. I don't honestly believe that either team I watched tonight can/could win a state title. Ironton for maturities,Portsmouth lack of discipline!

[on a mission]

Lack of discipline was evident in a few players when the coaches had to deter their attention from the student section to the court. Wanted to clarify,not talking coaches. We all know the coaches can draw it up,but can't execute it to perfection. Portsmouth has a class act as far as coaches,but a few of the kids showed their immaturity! IMHO.

[86Tiger]

Congrats to Portsmouth!!! I will be rooting for ya! Congrats to the Trojan seniors also it has been fun watching you guys.

My Tigers beat themselves, but I have to say that I thought that they were very mature in the way they handled themselves. They were down by 18 at the half and came roaring back! They did not quit! A lot of teams would have given up and threw in the towel. What's funny to me is now everyone wants to say "oh they didn't impress me" "I knew they weren't that good" "It was too big of a stage"..... No way was this "too big a stage" we have played big games all season long and we even beat the mighty Trojans. They had a bad game, it happens. NO ONE expected that game to look like that the first half not even Portsmouth. So before ya go talking smack about some KIDS who are already hurting use your head before ya type.

Congrats Tigers on a great season!!! Thank you for all your hard work and giving Ironton something to be proud of. WE WILL BE BACK!!!!!!!

[juke boxer]

Well done Trojans. The box and one worked to limit Zac. Tigers couldn't seem to hit a shot in first half. Great come back in the second half, but hard to make up 18 points on an elite 8 team. Biggest difference i saw in the Trojans; 1) Dion Mckinnley kept his head. With Stephens beating and pushing all over him, he didn't lose his cool. Last year or even at the beginning of this year he would have become frustrated and got in foul trouble. 2) Trojans have begin to play as a TEAM. Every player seemed to know their role and executed. Good Luck from this TIGER fan and bring home the TITLE. Nice to see the congrats and hugs between players from 2 GREAT teams and 2 classy coaching staffs !! Would have loved to see this one go into overtime, what a classic that would have been !

[mark]

Well done Trojans! Great come-back effort by the Tigers; who most of us know to be a very talented group of kids. Anyone who really knows,would have known,that Ironton would not lay down;they would give us a bloody nose.Coach Lofton made the proper adjustments at the half.Carter began to penetrate the lane,score,draw fouls.Fletcher stepped his game up and became a factor;scoring and rebounding.Irontons defense was outstanding in the second half forcing Trojan turnovers. Portsmouth kind of had to milk the clock a little to survive;because they simply were not shooting well from the perimeter.They could not afford to wast a possession. In a way the second half was a carbon copy of the last time the two teams meet.Portsmouth had a 15 point lead,only to see Ironton come back and almost get the win.I for one was not comfortable at the half. SO GREAT SEASON TIGERS,MUCH RESPECT TO YOUR PROGRAM! Oh,and by the way,for what its worth,i dont see anyone touching the Tigers next season.

[Tjhtygeverve]

What a mess this was to listen to. Just sounded horrendous for the tigers & a bit better for Trojans.
Hold your heads up "young" tigers.
Bring home the trophy Trojans.
What an eye opener.

[TrojanBuff]

[pfloyd]

... great pic TrojanBuff !!!

[TrojanBuff]

[TrojanBuff]

[TrojanBuff]

[trojandave]

VERY PROUD OF THE 2012 REGIONAL CHAMPION PORTSMOUTH TROJANS!!!

The Trojans played perhaps ther best defensive game of the year, considering how good Ironton is..........I knew that the Fighting Tigers would make a run, and they did, but PHS held off the charge to advance for the 15th time to the state tournament.........Portsmouth is now 2nd all-time in state appearances with 15......only Canton McKinley has been to the state more than the Trojans.

Zaide Whitely played an OUTSTANDING game..........he guarded Zac Carter, limiting one of the state's best guards to only 13 points, while scoring 14 himself.......the Trojans as a whole matched the Tigers physical play.........and PHS made clutch plays and FT's in the clutch.

Portsmouth is 23-2.........no matter what criticisms come their way, 23-2 is an outstanding record, so our kids have to be doing something right........we beat Valley, Chesapeake, and Ironton consecutively in the tournament, won the SEOAL outright, have a 20 game winning streak, and are going to the Final 4 for the second year in a row.

Form follows function.......I'll take a win no matter how we get it..........GO TROJANS!!