Portsmouth Trojans 2024-25

[trojandave]

Last night saw the Trojans lose a tough one, as the Gallia Academy Blue Devils edged PHS 66-60 in OT. The game was close throughout, was tied at halftime, and with 7.2 seconds remaining, Malachi Loper hit 2 FT's to give PHS a 2 point lead. GAHS brought the ball down, missed a tying shot, but the Trojans didn't box out, and one of the Blue Devils' bigs hit a putback at the buzzer to send the game into OT.

In the OT, turnovers cost the Trojans with GAHS converting them into buckets. Malachi Loper had 20 points, and now has 1,167 for his career, while Daequan Woods continues to score well with 19 points. Connie Thomas returned to action and scored 17. With Connie, the Trojans are a much better offensive team. PHS is 7-13 on the season, 4-9 in the OVC, but they could easily be at least 10-10. They've lost 2 games in OT, another on a buzzer beater, and another by 5 points. With Connie Thomas, it gives PHS 3 good scorers and that in turn could give the Trojans a chance to pull off and upset or two in the tournament.

Portsmouth leads the series vs. Gallia Academy 47-21, but GAHS has won the last 2 games.

GAHS has a bright future as they started 2 freshmen and a sophomore in the varsity game.

The PHS JV won and is now 9-8 on the season.

[trojandave]

Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong, it will. Last night saw that law rise up and deal the Trojans another cruel blow, as PHS lost 70-58 in OT @Trojan Arena. It was Portsmouth's 3rd straight OT loss, and the 4th OT game in the last 5. Gallia had beaten the Trojans 66-60 in OT last Friday at GAHS. PHS jumped to a 13-2 lead, but it was downhill from there, as the Blue Devils built a 10 point lead on the strength of their bigs. Credit to our Trojans for fighting back in the 4th quarter, down double digits, and tying the game on Daequan Woods' 3 FT's after being fouled on a 3 ball. Gallia missed the winning shot in regulation, but took control immediately in the OT and the Trojans couldn't muster a rally this time.

Connie Thomas scored 21, Daequan Woods had 16, and Malachi Loper added 9 to boost his career total to 1,176. PHS finishes the regular season at 7-14, 1-3 in OT games, and 4-10 in the OVC. At one point, PHS was 3-2 in the OVC, but lost 8 of its last 9 games in the conference. The Trojans tied Gallia for 5th place. At one point in the game Gallia had 3 freshmen on the court. They have the pieces to contend for the top spot in next year's OVC.

Big shout out Coach Lenny Collins and the PHS JV, which finished with a winning record for the first time in many moons, going 10-8.

The Portsmouth varsity lost 3 OT games, 1 other game on a buzzer beater, and another by 5 points. 7 wins could have been 10 or 11.

The Trojans will play at South Point in the first round of the tournament next Friday, the 3rd time in 4 years that PHS has to play at SP in the postseason. The Pointers won the first 2 games.

[trojandave]

It has been a rough season for first year Coach Aaron Smith. First, he was dealt a severe blow when projected starter, Logan Adkins went down with an injury suffered in football and which kept him out all basketball season. Then another starter, Luke Stine, had an injury in the very first game that was season ending. So down 2 starters put Coach Smith in a tough spot, considering Adkins was a 15 PPG scorer and the 6-5 Stine would have been a more significant presence in the paint.

So down 2 starters, Coach Smith had to resort to Plan B and that was to go with a shorter lineup which at times struggled on the boards against many taller opponents. Then leading scorer Connie Thomas went down with an injury and missed at least 4 games. PHS's offense struggled without Connie, which resulted in some lopsided losses. Since Thomas came back, the Trojans are more formidable on offense but the lack of size continues to be a problem.

The team lost 3 OT games, another on a buzzer beater, and another by 5 points. They could have 10 or 11 wins.

What lies ahead for the Trojans? For the 2025-26 season, Connie Thomas and Daequan Woods return, as will 6-2 Logan Adkins. That gives PHS 3 bonafide offensive threats and athleticism, as Thomas and Woods have had many games in double figures. With starters Malachi Loper and Jayden Brewer graduating, where does Coach Smith turn to fill out his starting lineup? The JV team went 10-8, the 8th grade went undefeated, and there's a strong likelihood that several of those incoming freshmen will see varsity time, with 6-0 Joe Greene and 6-4 Mekhi Berry being strong candidates to start at the other 2 positions, with freshmen Ryan Monroe and Manny Thomas getting some varsity minutes. The JV team have several kids that if they get in the gym and work this summer, could make an impact on the varsity.

The offseason will provide many questions about next year's Trojans. Hopefully the 2025-26 season won't be full of Murphy's Law which has plagued the team this season.

[HamPorter]

Crazy that a player could go from averaging 3 points at Wheelersburg to suddenly 15 a game at Portsmouth. That would be an epic improvement

[trojandave]

HamPorter: Watching Logan during the summer, the consensus among Trojan fans who watched him all thought that he was capable of 15 PPG. Connie Thomas is averaging more than that (about 17 PPG) and not many thought that he would be that proficient offensively. Also Daequan Woods has emerged as a legitimate double figure scorer, with a couple of games in the 20's, and he played on the JV last season at ND.

[BandWagon]

Trojandave since you keep all of the Trojans stats how many games has Aaron Smith finished with multiple timeouts now I’m not saying you have to use them all but a decent coach will call timeouts and adjust his offense or defense there’s been countless games where where he’s been up or down and has needed to call a timeout to adjust but won’t

[BandWagon]

We can’t keep making excuses for Aaron he’s had 21 games to get the team ready and game after game they look worse

[Hoopster98]

So what would you do that's different? With no dept nor size you are limited on what you can do. Coach Lisath would struggle with this team. Only 2 turning kids played varsity, one kids only played JV at ND (some varsity minutes), the only kid from ND didn't even play all, Brewer and Johnson had very little minutes/ if any minutes last year on varsity. I do agree your teams should be getting better at the end of the season and not regressing but sometimes a coach is dealt a bad hand in his first year or so. Now next year if it doesn't get better than things can be discussed but cut the 1st year coach some slack.

[trojandave]

BandWagon: I don't know about how many timeouts that Aaron has used during the course of games, but actually since Connie Thomas has come back, the Trojans offensively have looked better. When he was out, we struggled with only 2 players scoring regularly in double figures, Malachi Loper and Daequan Woods. Losing Connie for at least 4 games cost us a lot of scoring, since he was leading the team in PPG at the time of his injury. We still have struggled with lack of size which essentially has resulted in an offense with no significant post presence.

We were 6-8 after 14 games, and ended up 7-14. In those last 7 games, we lost 3 of those in OT, and 2 games to Fairland which went 21-1. I'm not making excuses, those are just the facts. So I wouldn't necessarily agree that the team looked worse even though we only won 1 game out of the last 7. Do I agree with everything that Coach Smith does? No. I think, though, that 1 season is too short a sample size to judge him. I think that most of us expect the Trojans to be better next season, and I believe that's a fair assessment, as Hoopster98 alluded to.

I went back and looked at Connie Thomas's scoring numbers. He had games of 17, 25, 29, 20, 22, 17, and 21 and several others in double figures. Those numbers show how much impact Connie has had on the offense, and when he was out, those numbers couldn't be replaced.

[trojandave]

Portsmouth and South Point have met 9 times in the tournament, with the Trojans holding a 6-3 lead. The Pointers, though, have won the last 3. Here is the breakdown of the two teams postseason history:

1969: PHS 69, SP 57 (district championship)
1986: PHS 46, SP 45 (sectional championship)
1987: PHS 57, SP 52 (district championship)
1989: PHS 69, SP 67 (sectional first round)
2004: PHS 72, SP 70 (sectional championship)
2011: PHS 65, SP 64 (sectional championship)
2017: SP 59, PHS 42 (district semifinal)
2022: SP 66, PHS 56 (sectional championship)
2023: SP 58, PHS 56 (sectional championship)

[biggdowgg]

So we want to fire a first year varsity coach and say he sucks at doing this or that ? Lol you do realize that most always a new coach is given a 3 to 4 year period to prove himself.

Then in high school you play with the hand you are dealt it's not like college and pros where you go bring in the big time players.

Like posted above ,I doubt many other coaches would have done much better with this team considering the circumstances.
Aaron Smith will do a good job with the trojans and I promise he will be given at least 3 or 4 years to prove himself, and he is a Trojan so he knows the expectations of being a head coach at Portsmouth.

Im.not going to respond to anything else on coaching..


Good luck to the trojans at south point friday!!!

GO TROJANS.

[trojandave]

Good post, biggdowgg. You are spot on with your points.

[BandWagon]

Portsmouth is having a tuff time but let me guess it’s because they have a first year coach and he’s dealt a bad hand but he has 3 kids on the team that can drop 20+ any night

[Prime Time]

South Point 49. Portsmouth 30! Bandwagon makes one wonder! 19point loss is a 19 point loss no matter the excuses intournament play! What the old saying Could a , wood a , should a ! Also what if’s! Or what could a been ! Best wishes in future!

[art_vandelay]

Better days ahead for the Trojans. Logan Adkins back next year, along with the incoming freshmen class that has 3 varsity-ready players right now.*

[Gator B Long]

So we want to fire a first year varsity coach and say he sucks at doing this or that ? Lol you do realize that most always a new coach is given a 3 to 4 year period to prove himself.

Then in high school you play with the hand you are dealt it's not like college and pros where you go bring in the big time players.

Like posted above ,I doubt many other coaches would have done much better with this team considering the circumstances.
Aaron Smith will do a good job with the trojans and I promise he will be given at least 3 or 4 years to prove himself, and he is a Trojan so he knows the expectations of being a head coach at Portsmouth.

Im.not going to respond to anything else on coaching..


Good luck to the trojans at south point friday!!!

GO TROJANS.
I’ve always respected your and Dave’s views on all that’s Trojan-One question:Is it fair to a freshman class to potentially go 4 yrs to see if a coach/staff is the answer? Certainly no disrespect toward Aaron and his guys just a GENERAL question in regards to your 3-4 yrs for a coach .

[Prime Time]

All due respect to all the Trojan posters. But this last paragraph above, starting with Go Trojans is my personal opinion also. This is my thoughts ,everyone has there own thoughts here. But look at Portsmouth girls team , lots of talent on girls team and highly seasoned and a record of winning seasons by there Coach’s that produce a high quality team on the court. good luck to everyone in the coming years!

[biggdowgg]

I'm just stating a fact , not many schools fire a coach after just 1 season. I mean if I'm coaching high school basketball and a coach gets fired after 1 season, I'm not sure I'd be willing to apply at that school e even if I'm a decent coach.

I'm guessing if the board sees something that really makes them really think he isn't ready after next year anything could happen.

But in reality a new coach will be given 3 years from what I e seen, but I'm sure there's some that hasn't been given that.

Coach sparks was hired as the portsmouth football coach after Clifford stepped down, he may have only lasted 2 years but I'm not 100 percent sure.

[Hoopster98]

I don't see Portsmouth making a change especially with who it is. A change does not need to be made, 1st year varsity head coach with basically a new starting 5 and only 2 kids with full varsity experience. I do understand that they have talent coming up but these kids have not played a high school game yet. 14-15 year old kids going up against mature 17-19 year olds doesn't mesh well. Do I think the future is bright, I sure do but lets not fire a coach just because a certain class has potential. Give him this next year and see if things improve then open up conversation.

[baseball16]

All due respect to all the Trojan posters. But this last paragraph above, starting with Go Trojans is my personal opinion also. This is my thoughts ,everyone has there own thoughts here. But look at Portsmouth girls team , lots of talent on girls team and highly seasoned and a record of winning seasons by there Coach’s that produce a high quality team on the court. good luck to everyone in the coming years!

Pretty sure Portsmouth Girls team 3,4,5 years ago was only winning 2-3 games total for the year. Trojandave would know better records but the same coaching staff then to now. They have a great team now! This was not the case 5 years ago. Just stating facts. Give the guy a chance. Their 8th grade team is really good with 1 one of the best players in SE ohio coming up!