Final: South Webster 54 Portsmouth 47

[Pressbreaker]

Great win for the Jeeps. Anyone have stats? Who played well for Webster?

[trojan7]

Good win by the Jeeps but I think having PHS' big man Dion McKinley out the whole 2nd quarter allowed the jeeps to stay in the game while Dion was getting patched up after getting raked in the face near his eye and was bleeding after going up for a rebound. No call on that also like many in the paint which they let em get really physical down low. Will definitely need stitches as he played the second half with a huge bandage on the side of his face and a little part covering his eye. I was surprised by the height the jeeps had. But overall saw alot of things the Trojans need to work on and Ill believe this team will improve and bounce back strong at home Friday. Good luck SW.

[fan_of_swankerpine]

South Webster got er dun tonight. Austin Loop drops 11 in the 4th to put the Jeeps ahead, 22 on the night as he earned player of the game. Scott handled the ball great. Inside pressure surprised the Trojans.

[jeepmadness]

Physical and exciting game tonight. Refs let them play and that will always work in favor for the jeeps. P-town has a good looking squad. They go deep on the bench. That makes them that much more dangerous as the season goes on. I think they over looked the jeeps athleticism early in the game. Kind caught P-town off guard a little. Both teams have some kinks to work out, but overall both teams will make some noise.

[Vision Quest]

Sounds like a rough one.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

jeeps by 7.... 8) fan of me is dead on. Ptown had no answer for Austin in the 4th. physical game for sure on both sides. Jeeps just came to play. how about ashton miller, he had a cramp from hell or pulled something and literally crawled off the court, comes back and finishes hard.

[biggdowgg]

Physical and exciting game tonight. Refs let them play and that will always work in favor for the jeeps. P-town has a good looking squad. They go deep on the bench. That makes them that much more dangerous as the season goes on. I think they over looked the jeeps athleticism early in the game. Kind caught P-town off guard a little. Both teams have some kinks to work out, but overall both teams will make some noise.

I dont think the trojans overlooked them, the jeeps are a good team, and I can tell you the Trojans new this coming in.

as far as being deep on the bench we still have two starters not playing, when we get them back, we will be a much better team.

congrats to the jeeps, you all will win your share of games, good luck.

[eaglesorfalcons]

watched SW scrimage at alexander this year. a very good team that is well coached. will be a tough out for any team this year

[art_vandelay]

Who would've thought that the refs letting them get physical would actually favor Webster? I'm glad they did let 'em play as it'll be better for both teams in the long-run playing a physical nonconference game (with the atmosphere of a tourney game) as opposed to having a free-throw shooting contest. I thought the Jeeps would have trouble containing Underwood and McKinley underneath, but sounds like Sutton and Loop didn't back down. Loop's swat on McKinley early in the game made a statement. If Loop plays like that on a consistent basis, I see the Jeeps just as strong as last year.

You gotta think that Portsmouth will be a completely different team by the end of the season with Bendolph and Whitely back. That'll be a team that legitimately goes 9-deep and probably the most athletic team in southeastern Ohio. I'd say a trip to Regionals is realistic for the Trojans.*

[pfloyd]

Tobias ... with PHS ALLOWING that 21-6 run will there be major questions coming up about the desire to play the tough D that it takes to get to the next level, that post season threat? ... I read in many preseason posts concerns as to the PHS dedication to play defense - still an issue? or more that the Trojans ran into a 4th quarter buzz saw in the Jeeps? ... obviously having 2 starters unable to see the floor is tough to deal with BUT defense is something that ALL players have to buy into for any team to reach its potential ...

[jgordon0315]

Good win for the Jeeps. Like everyone said, it was a very physical game. Mckinley did indeed get mugged early on in the game, when he went to the basket, to the point of a major gash on his head with a no-call. But he just couldn't find a good rhythm, having to sit out the entire 2nd quarter due to the injury, in addition to the decent defense against him. But that wasn't the only reason we lost. We really didn't use our bench much till late. With the exception of Mason Jordan, who played most of his minutes in the second quarter when Dion was out getting attended to. And LJ Adams played some spot minutes as well. But what really changed the momentum was when we were up late in the game and switched to a zone, i guess because we were tired. But you'd think we would've used the bench instead of using the zone to rest. Cause by the time we did go to the bench and went back to the man to man defense, that doggone Loops was already on fire. And when you let a shooter get comfortable, it's too late. All in all, it's just one loss. Even though we had a decent grip on da game and let it get away. In my Dennis Green voice: "We let em off da hook!" And another thing that irks me is that we played at such a slow pace. Sheesh! 47 points??? OK. Off my soapbox now!!! Gotta look forward cause looking back at this game is kinda frustrating. But I'm still surprisingly optimistic about this season. And this Friday, I think Whitley will be back for the next game against South Point so we should have a deeper rotation next game....hopefully we'll use it. Oh and one other thing, regarding our defense....We looked dead tired out there late in the game...and if you know anything about b'ball you know you make mental mistakes when you're tired. I'm not saying we needed to use our bench for extended periods of time but one things for sure you can't go one hundred percent the whole game and not get tired. The Trojans played tough D the whole game...but we just couldn't close it out late, because of those tired legs late in da game. But to me all those are excuses...plain and simple, we lost! glass half full, we're gonna have a great season! Mark my words!

[ManitouDan]

^^ maybe they could have worked on that zone D when they were beating ND by 40 in the 4th instead of applying man to man heat ? looks like it could have came in handy.

[Pepsiman]

Maybe.....jgordon0315 should.......apply for the ........coaching job........next time........since he knows......more than the....current coach.

[El Ray]

Right now the Trojans don't have that go to guy when the momentum starts to swing so hopefully Bendolph or Whitley or both can be that guy when they get healthy. Maybe it was fatigue but it is still frustrating to see the Trojans fold late in the game. I have seen it way to much over the last few years. Can't get a defensive stop when you need it. Can't get a big bucket when you need it. As several have said the roster is thin so learn from it and continue to work hard to get better. Go Trojans!

[jgordon0315]

@pepsi.....The funny thing is...they played too much zone against Notre Dame too.....but maybe I shouldn't point out what happens in a game I seen, I guess. We're not a zone team. And we're not a slow tempo team either. Sheesh! The momentum switched when we went to zone. I'm not a coach but I stayed at a Holiday Inn express. And our roster is not thin! But how would anybody know...other than....

[bballin]

South Webster can play and beat anyone this year.. They are going to be tough in the SOC 2 . And I look for them to make a deep run in the tournament in there division.
Portsmouth will be fine.. They do miss Bendolph and Whitley tho.. Even just with Whitley back I think you will see a differnt team than what you saw last night.

[El Ray]

OK jgordon I am starting to figure out you are kind of slow so I didn't mean that the players on the team are literally "thin" but was only referring to the fact that several players are either out or coming off an injury and probably not conditioned enough to give them many quality minutes...I will try to be a little more clear next time for your sake...LOL...by the way what is this journey you keep referring to?... is the team going Florida for a basketball tournament or NASA to take a trip to the moon?

[ManitouDan]

portsmouth played too much zone against ND ? we must have watched different games. I don't recall anything but in your jersey man to man.

[El Ray]

ManitouDan, just consider the source...on the count of three can we say Clueless...for jgordon the definition of clueless is "totally uninformed of what is going on"

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Jeeps on the win.......they got it done in the 4th quarter and the Trojans did not........resulting in a SW win. Austin Loop caught fire in the second half, and the Jeeps rallied around him.......defensively I thought SW's bigs did a credible job on Underwood and McKinley, though it did hurt the Trojans to have Dion out the whole 2nd quarter due to injury.

I have to think from what I saw last night that SW will be a serious contender for the SOC II title and should make a very good tourney run in D4, perhaps to the regionals.

I am not taking this loss hard because I know that this is not the Trojan team that we will see in about a month.......down two starters, of which one is the best player, makes a difference for ANY team.......what really hurt Portsmouth was scoring only 6 points in the 4th quarter.......tough to win on the road when you go cold in the final frame........we gave Loop some open looks when we were up 44-37 and he responded with 3 straight 3's to give SW a 46-44 lead.......and it was the Jeeps' game after that.

The good thing about losing the first game is that you have 19 games to get better!!

GO TROJANS!!!