Beplre (9-4) @ Southern (11-2) 1/31

[sportsfan_mov]

Congrats to Coach Thornhill and the Belpre Golden Eagles! Nice tough win on the road!

Great game by both teams tonight, down to the final seconds of the game. (Although both teams did struggle from the foul line: Southern 5-14 as mentioned above and Belpre 8-17.) Good luck to both teams as they finish out the season. Good luck in the tourney run as well!

[93Bulldog]

I'm busy doing other stuff right now - but I will put up some photos of the game in a little while.

Very nice win by Belpre - I thought Southern could have had a much better chance if they knocked down some free throws down the stretch ... From all the games I've watched of the Tornadoes the last two years - its not very typical of them to miss from the charity stripe.

The great thing about the win for the Golden Eagles is not only about the league title race - but THE SECTIONAL SEEDING ... Both Southeastern and Wellston lost tonight, Belpre with the win should definitly be in position for the No. 1 seed as long as they keep winning.

[hardfowl]

Belpre 10 8 10 22 50
Southern 8 14 13 12 47

Belpre 50

Dakota Hoffman 14
Ryan Leasure 11
Drew Nestor 9
Jake Ullman 9
Bryce Pittenger 7


Southern

Andrew Roseberry 23
Ethan Martin 8
Nate Roberts 8
Chandler Drummer 5
Adam Pape 2
Marcus Hill 1

Free Throws

Belpre 8-17
Southern 5-14

Threes

Belpre Nestor 2 Hoffman 2
Southern Martin 2

Southern had a 35-26 lead late in third quarter.
Nestor hit a 2 at the buzzer to make it 35-28 after 3.

Belpre outscored Southern 22-12 in the fourth quarter with Southern at one time in the final quarter missing five straight free throws.

JV

Southern 35
Belpre 17

[93Bulldog]

thx HARDFOWL!

I put a few photos on trivalleyconference.com ... I'll add more to the team pages tomorrow ... but here is the remainder of them that I happened to take tonight ... http://www.facebook.com/tvcohio

[Fan-o-Southern]

It was a good game to watch, even though 'we" lost. 93B, you're right, a rare night to see Southern not sink those freebies!! Oh, on to LancerLand

[Hardwood]

I had high hopes of Southern finally winning a TVC championship but it looks like another disappointing lose has knocked us out. This loss didn't bother me quite as bad as the other two because Belpre is a pretty good team. To win a TVC championship a team has to beat the teams they should beat. Belpre has done that and Southern hasn't. Southern has had leads in all three of their loses going into the fourth quarter, which makes the loses even more heart breaking. It seems our offense just shuts down in the fourth quarter. We either fire up wild three pointers or stand around the perimenter and float passes. Hopefully the coaching staff will get this fixed and we will be ready for a tournament run. Very good exciting game to watch last night, just didn't like the outcome. Go Tornadoes!

[coachK]

another year without a title for the Tomatoes :aaaaa14

[Trimble Juvenile]

At least we don't have to read about how "Southern blew them out the first time, then lost on the road the second time so the other team had homer refs."

[93Bulldog]

another without a title for the Tomatoes :aaaaa14

I know a lot of people that would rather have a district title than a league title ... Southern still has a GREAT shot at winning one.

Watching Southern on four different occasions throughout the season, it appeared to me they looked a little fatigued last night versus Belpre ... Maybe it was because some of them were sick, but it looked like all of them have lost a little weight and muscle tone ... With the Hocking title perhaps out of reach - I might take a long look at my team and see what needs to be done in order to get them ready for the tourney ... Who knows, maybe the loss could be a blessing in disguise ... Personally, after seeing how they looked and played last night, I would think about changing up how I hold practices ... Maybe go 'lighter' for a little while, less running, maybe get them back in the weight room for some work - they have six games left to go 'hard' and remain in basketball shape ... I thought Southern had an edge over everyone because of their physicality and strength - and since they're not really a perimeter oriented team - they need to get that strength and edge back before their tourney run begins. IMO

[Trimble Juvenile]

another without a title for the Tomatoes :aaaaa14

I know a lot of people that would rather have a district title than a league title ... Southern still has a GREAT shot at winning one.

Watching Southern on four different occasions throughout the season, it appeared to me they looked a little fatigued last night versus Belpre ... Maybe it was because some of them were sick, but it looked like all of them have lost a little weight and muscle tone ... With the Hocking title perhaps out of reach - I might take a long look at my team and see what needs to be done in order to get them ready for the tourney ... Who knows, maybe the loss could be a blessing in disguise ... Personally, after seeing how they looked and played last night, I would think about changing up how I hold practices ... Maybe go 'lighter' for a little while, less running, maybe get them back in the weight room for some work - they have six games left to go 'hard' and remain in basketball shape ... I thought Southern had an edge over everyone because of their physicality and strength - and since they're not really a perimeter oriented team - they need to get that strength and edge back before their tourney run begins. IMO

Yes, maybe. But most of them who say that are ones who don't win the league title. Also, it is ok to think that way, but what happens if you don't then win the district title? Trust me, league titles are important to people, otherwise there would be no leagues. So go ahead and justify it how ever you want, but it has to sting to not win the league. I know it does to our coaches when we don't win one.

[Super trooper]

I'm sure they would rather win the league than not win the league. I still think Southern is the better team and I believe they have the pieces to make a decent tournament run.

[93Bulldog]

It all depends on what kind of success your team experiences year in and year out ... If you havn't won a league title in awhile and your team has been down - sure its nice to capture a league title ... If your a team that reaches certain levels in the tourney every year - that goal becomes more important ... Waterford and Eastern girls are a good example; a waterford fan the other day after beating Eastern to secure another championship said "so what, we want to make it to the regionals."

With Southern making it to the Convo a ton in recent years - I'm sure they have their sights on a district title ... I'm not saying they didn't want to win a Hocking title - every team does - but its just a bump in the road.

For teams like that, a season can be like a birthday ... Winning a league title is like seeing and eating your cake (yea, it taste good and its cool to blow out the candles) - but what everyone wants is the presents, which is a district or regional title.

[Trimble Juvenile]

It all depends on what kind of success your team experiences year in and year out ... If you havn't won a league title in awhile and your team has been down - sure its nice to capture a league title ... If your a team that reaches certain levels in the tourney every year - that goal becomes more important ... Waterford and Eastern girls are a good example; a waterford fan the other day after beating Eastern to secure another championship said "so what, we want to make it to the regionals."

With Southern making it to the Convo a ton in recent years - I'm sure they have their sights on a district title ... I'm not saying they didn't want to win a Hocking title - every team does - but its just a bump in the road.

For teams like that, a season can be like a birthday ... Winning a league title is like seeing and eating your cake (yea, it taste good and its cool to blow out the candles) - but what everyone wants is the presents, which is a district or regional title.

Yes maybe a Waterford fan said that, but I bet the coach and players do not feel that way. I would like to see that fan if they would not have won the league and see how quickly the fan would have ripped the coach for not being able to win the league. That would be like telling the fan, who cares if we made it to regionals? We want to win the state.

Coaches only say that to motivate the players. If they said, "who cares what we do in the tourny, we won our league" what would the players think? How would he motivate them? On the other side, if they dwell about losing the league title, how will they rebound for the tourny? It's all coaching psychology. If they played for the league title after the tournament is over I think they might talk differently. But make no bones about it, the league title is every bit as important as a playoff run. The exception may be for a school like Athens, or Logan, that are clearly the biggest schools in their leagues. They may down play the league since all the schools are smaller.

[93Bulldog]

That's funny ... I can hear coach Skinner saying "Who cares if we win a league title - we're bigger than most of the schools."

Yea - I just don't see that happening ...

BTW ... Vinton County & Athens (both DII in basketball) are basically the same size genious.

[Trimble Juvenile]

That's funny ... I can hear coach Skinner saying "Who cares if we win a league title - we're bigger than most of the schools."

Yea - I just don't see that happening ...

BTW ... Vinton County & Athens (both DII in basketball) are basically the same size genious.

Thank you for helping me make my argument pup. But then again, when is the last time Athens made a tourny run?

[softballer24]

Congrats to Belpre on the win! Stay focused for the rest of the season!

[93Bulldog]

The last time Athens was at the Convo was clear back in 1993 ... It goes to show that just because Athens is a 'bigger' school - they don't have numerous league titles or any good tourney runs to show for it ... You have to have 'basketball players' to put on the court - I don't care if you have 1,000 boys, if they can't run-jump and shoot - your not gonna win.

[Trimble Juvenile]

The last time Athens was at the Convo was clear back in 1993 ... It goes to show that just because Athens is a 'bigger' school - they don't have numerous league titles or any good tourney runs to show for it ... You have to have 'basketball players' to put on the court - I don't care if you have 1,000 boys, if they can't run-jump and shoot - your not gonna win.

Well they are not bigger than the schools in their sectional, district, or region. Nor were they bigger than all the schools in the SEOAL which is where they spent most of those years. But they have some league titles now in the TVC, which they are bigger. So maybe your point should be that numbers do matter?

[93Bulldog]

League titles? You mean 1 title in three years (going on four)?

Athens has finished 4th, 1st, 4th ... And its not looking good this year unless VC losses. The year they did win it - Athens was 19-1 and beat all the SEOAL teams on their schedule as well ... They would have been champs in either league they played in.

[Trimble Juvenile]

The last time Athens was at the Convo was clear back in 1993 ... It goes to show that just because Athens is a 'bigger' school - they don't have numerous league titles or any good tourney runs to show for it ... You have to have 'basketball players' to put on the court - I don't care if you have 1,000 boys, if they can't run-jump and shoot - your not gonna win.

So you are saying Athens did not have 5 good basketball players in the school until recently? I don't think that is it. I think it goes back to the argument between those who say "Athens is winning because they hired a couple of great coaches and now also have great athletes," and those who say "Athens is winning because they are now in the TVC." Their lack of tournament success in basketball, and lack of playoff success in football leads me to believe the latter. And part of the reason being in the TVC helped them be successful is they are the biggest school in the league. No way around that IMHO.