SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

Wheelersburg 62
Zane Trace 57 OT final

... The Burg ventured up Rte 23 to Kinnikinnick to take on fellow D3 foe the Zane Trace Pioneers. 2 solid teams, 2 excellent coaches in Coach Prater for Wheelersburg and Coach Kellough for Zane Trace ... Coach K has had to figure it out without his floor leader PG Landen Jarrell, but after getting eyes on ZT for the 2nd time - early in the season WITH Jarrell "the younger" vs Vinton County and now without the sharp shooting pg at home vs Elite 8 Wheelersburg ... I'm thinking once L. Jarrell returns ZT will be a very solid team - Noah Huston much improved 6-2 size / Coen Larson giving Coach K good minutes off the bench, not a team I would want to face in the post season ... Wheelersburg - I've seen the Burg live 3 times, I come away impressed each time - 5 sophomores getting significant minutes in the rotation, QB1 Braylon Rucker starts/led the Pirates tonight with 21 points including the tying baseline drive in regulation to send the game to OT ... Landon McGraw sophomore #2 in the starting lineup kicked in 15 pts ... sophomores off the bench Kenyon Evans 4pts/Hunter Bivens - handling the ball/running the offense - on the floor in the OT - solid in getting the ball into the scorers hands/ Logan Atkins 2 pts ... 1 junior Xander Mowery/sr. Luke Swords both are solid role players who BOTH give up minutes to the sophomores ... ALL of this is held together by senior Devon Lattimore ... the senior does senior things - defends on the perimeter, wants the ball down the stretch in crunch time ... tonight Lattimore (15pts) scored on 3 drives to the rim in the OT to give the Burg separation - can't put a value on senior leadership, in the end Lattimore is HIM for WHS ... Wheelersburg 62 Zane Trace 57 OT a final ...

Scoring by the Quarter Breaks:

Zane Trace .... 14 ...26...37...49...57
Wheelerburg.. 08 ...25...37...49...62

... Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Zane Trace

Scoring ... Landon Robinson 16, Ezra Rippeth 13, Gunnar McCullough 11, Noah Huston 7, Brock Jarrell 6, Coen Larson 4
3 Pointers ... 5/17 ... Brock Jarrell 2, Landon Robinson 1, Ezra Rippeth 1, Noah Huston 1
FTs ... 12/18
TOs .... 14
PnP ... 14 fgs/ 28 points in the paint
PnT ... 0
Pbk ..... 7 fgs/ 14 points on putback baskets

... Pfloyd's official "UN-official" Napkin Stats - Wheelersburg

Scoring ... Braylon Rucker 21, Devon Lattimore 15, Landon McGraw 15, Kenyon Evans 4, Xander Mowery 2, Luke Swords 2, Logan Atkins 2, Hunter Bivens 1
3 Pointers ... 2/8 ... Braylon Rucker 1, Landon McGraw 1
FTs .... 14/16
TOs ..... 12
PnP .... 21 fgs/ 42 points in the paint
PnT .... 3 fgs/ 6 points in transition
Pbk .... 2 fgs/ 4 points on putback baskets

... as I've said I'm a big fan of this Wheelersburg TEAM ... Lattimore is special, and the 5 sophomores will keep the Burg a fixture in the Elite 8 conversation for the foreseeable future ... Rucker/McGraw are THERE now ... Atkins/Bivens/Evans will ALL become solid ppg players ...Mowery/Swords both give solid varsity level "player" minutes - because they ARE quality varsity players taking on the roles TEAM needs ... WHS made a great "whoa!" impression when I saw them lose to Harvest Prep at SSU ... showed growth as a team in beating South Webster @ Bloom Vernon ... battling it out in a close game in which they were down early, trailed in the last 20 secs of regulation, then "took" the game in OT vs a well coached/athletic Zane Trace team on the road ... kudos to Coach Prater ... Coach Prater impresses me with his game decisions/ rotation calls / team preparation every time I see his squad ... Coach P is proving himself one of the best in the SE District ...

pfloyd wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 9:44 am ... as I've said I'm a big fan of this Wheelersburg TEAM ... Lattimore is special, and the 5 sophomores will keep the Burg a fixture in the Elite 8 conversation for the foreseeable future ... Rucker/McGraw are THERE now ... Atkins/Bivens/Evans will ALL become solid ppg players ...Mowery/Swords both give solid varsity level "player" minutes - because they ARE quality varsity players taking on the roles TEAM needs ... WHS made a great "whoa!" impression when I saw them lose to Harvest Prep at SSU ... showed growth as a team in beating South Webster @ Bloom Vernon ... battling it out in a close game in which they were down early, trailed in the last 20 secs of regulation, then "took" the game in OT vs a well coached/athletic Zane Trace team on the road ... kudos to Coach Prater ... Coach Prater impresses me with his game decisions/ rotation calls / team preparation every time I see his squad ... Coach P is proving himself one of the best in the SE District ...

Praters teams have proven to be fun to watch. They play the game the way it’s supposed to be played

Zane Trace played one of their better games all season against Wheelersburg.
ZT is 0-6 non league, 6-0 SVC. They do play a good non league schedule with all of those games being competitive.
Landen Jarrell should be back this weekend after the ankle injury before Christmas.

Bozo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 1:16 pm Zane Trace played one of their better games all season against Wheelersburg.
ZT is 0-6 non league, 6-0 SVC. They do play a good non league schedule with all of those games being competitive.
Landen Jarrell should be back this weekend after the ankle injury before Christmas.

... great to hear about Landon Jarrell - he's a nice PG/SG for Coach K ... the duo of L. Jarrell & Rippeth form a 30+ ppg combo on the perimeter, add spot up shooter Brock Jarrell ... Robinson will be able to look to score more vs handling the PG duties ... Huston has good length and hoops talent ... you have to like the Pioneers moving forward ...

Bozo, will Langley be back this season? I ask thinking that with L. Jarrell out - McCullough & Larson have had to step it up off the bench ... more PT for the "next one's up" ... ZT goes from 6-7 deep to a solid 7 and 8,9 with everyone having meaningful floor time in Jarrell the youngers' absence ...

Langley had pins put in his broken hand.
He may be back toward the end of the season.

Bozo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 3:05 pm Langley had pins put in his broken hand.
He may be back toward the end of the season.

I saw it wrapped last night, wasn't sure of a return ... thanks Bozo.