02-02-10 Eastern @Clay

[Eagle eye]

Eastern won 53 - 37. Great job tonight, Eagles!

[easternclaw]

congrats!!! 1 step closer to an SOC title! and it looks like you brought the defense back this game! i've heard you're working on setting that defensive record for eastern. keep it up!

[live4sport]

16 points--more than I predicted. I have to say I am not an Eagle fan but I have followed them close over the last couple of years and this years team is doing some impressive stuff. They play much better as team than they did last year.

[my2cents]

CLAY 8 11 4 16 FINAL 37
EASTERN 12 6 17 18 FINAL 53

This game was won in the third quarter. Clay had one of their bad third quarters that have plagued them. Valentine picked up two bad call fouls and had to sit out. Delotell was out at the same time and Easterns press forced many turnovers as Clay got out of control with the ball. Eastern is a well coached team and played good team ball tonight. Clay went into a frantic drive in and throw up a shot. With Chaz Lawson out sick, Graham and Porter both stepped up and played hard, but Graham set most of the 3rd quarter after playing really well earlier. I think the stats will show tomorrow in the PDT (I saw a reporter at the game) that TO's and poor shooting percentages is what cost the Panthers the game.

Good luck against East on Friday, Panthers.

[TripleDouble]

Congrats Eagles on the big win tonight. They had me worried in the first half, with only a 1 point lead at half. Good thing they played solid Defense, cause they couldn't throw the ball in the ocead the first half. Clay's Defense played good in the first half too, but there were several open looks the eagles had where they should have knocked the shot down or made the put back lay up. The Eagles really stepped it up in the 3rd quarter holding clay to 4 pts. That was the quarter that won the game for them, as that was the quarter that opened up the game. Clay wasn't able to get back in the game after the third. I believe the closest they got in the 4th was a big 3 by bussler to cut it to 11. Not sure how the scoring went, but there wasn't any one stand out player, they all played pretty even again. That's one thing I really like about this Eagle squad, anybody can step up at any point of the game. They don't have to just rely on one guy and hope he gets his 15-20. It hurt clay that Chaz Lawson wasn't able to play tonight and the Valentine got in foul trouble early. I still think the Eagles would have won, but may have made the game a little close. All in all good win tonight Eagles, Congratulations and get ready for SV.

[Waterdog]

Hoggy, Those squirrels! Who would of known?? Great photo. Your crackin' me up!

[live4sport]

This game was won in the third quarter. Clay had one of their bad third quarters that have plagued them .

I heard Eastern benched 3 starters for the first part of the game. Then got in foul trouble in the second so didn't do their normal rotations until the start of the third. If that is true then the game would have been a lot worse.

[my2cents]

Eastern did sit out three starter for maybe 4 minutes of the 1st quarter, but Clay had Valentine out for almost the whole first quarter. The difference in the 3rd quarter came from Valentine picking up his 3rd and 4th fouls early in the quarter (both bad calls, imo) and then Graham (leading scorer at the time) and Delotell (Valentines replacement at point) sitting out with Valentine for most of the third. Thats is when the game slipped away.
When they got down 10 points and things were falling apart a time out would have been nice to settle them down. Especially when they turned the ball over against the press and Eastern scored a layup, and then on the next possesion they were trapped and had no chance of beating the 10 second call and no one called time out, so Eastern goes up by 12. On the next possesion a loose ball is fought over and as soon as an Eastern player got control of the ball on his back, Coach Fitch calls time out to preserve the possesion of the ball. Eastern goes up by 14. I guess that is a difference in coaching strategy. By the time the Clay's guards were put back in the game, it was too late.

[live4sport]

thanks for the info my2cents. Timeouts are crucial in close games and must be utilized effectively. Too bad Clay hasn't used them to benefit themselves this season. Good luck Friday.

[Eaglesnest]

Congrats to Eastern Pike. I believe a victory on Friday will give them the title!

[buddy]

People keep taking about timeouts. Coach Trainer would have to have about 20 timeouts if he called one everytime someone thought he should have. He comes under fire when he doesnt call one to slow his team down or the other team down. He called some timeout last night but what good are they if they return to the court and lose the ball on the first pass or dribble? I also notice last night when a clay player lost the ball on the dribble or made a turnover of any kind several of the players come back up court with their heads down and eastern just ran by them to get a shot off.

I thought a rebounder for clay was going to get a 10 second call 2-3 times because he did not get rid of the ball to someone else or dribble the ball anywhere. You cant get the rebound and just hold the ball for 7-8 seconds then pass it to someone who then has to run at breakneck speed to get across the line which usually ends up in a turnover which occurred last night some.

This team needs a leader, someone who can get the rest of the team up and keep them going when times are tuff. They played well before the suspensions and illness and passed the ball around and beat some teams but when someone is missing some others think they have to do most of the shooting and the passing stops There is very little talking between the players on the floor. I have no dog in the race and no kids or relatives playing just observations. This team will not win very many games because they seem to lack the killer instinct to play. Sometimes you have to get a little nasty on the court but this team does not appear to have it

[Burg_Grad_77]

Once again Coach Trainer never ceases to amaze me with his futility as a coach. As my2cents already pointed out he let Eastern come out in the 3rd quarter and go on a big run without ever calling timeout to stop the onslaught. He had his 2 leading scorers on the bench for most the 3rd quarter when Eastern was making their run and the Graham boy, who was having his way under the basket in the first half, rarely saw the floor in the 2nd half. He let a 10 second call go against his team at a crucial point of the 3rd quarter instead calling a TO to keep possession and that lead to more points for Eastern. It seemed like after Eastern got up by 12 or 14 points he just gave up. You could see him sitting there with his head bowed down between his knees and he was just shaking his head.

[live4sport]

If that is true and he was on my team back when I played he would have a really hard time getting the ball.