I think the devil's were 15-18 from line BD.Zanesville offense is starting to click they did work the ball very well and made the shot's.I hope to see this team progress each game and we will be a very good team at the right time.
Next is Logan which will be another tuff game but it's one game at a time for this young and improving team..Great win Devil's
Zanesville has to be one of the best 6-7 team's around and there brutal scheldule is helping them out now and there responding.
No time to rest as the Devil's entertain Logan this evening and Marietta on Tuesday.
This team is finally starting to gel..and everyone is contributing looking at the box score from the Portsmouth:joe prati 10 8-9 29 raheem forman 8 1-1 17 tanner gibson 3 2-2 8 brandon mills 2 2-2 8 noah baldwin 2 0-0 4 cole carpenter 2 0-0 4 allen harris 1 2-2 4 prati and forman each had 11 boards apiece....
Congratulations to the Zanesville Blue Devils on the win and running their SEOAL record to 6-1........Coach Aronhalt has his team playing good basketball right now, and their non-conference schedule is starting to show dividends........Joe Prati had a monster game for ZHS, and showed a nice variety of offensive skills.
I was proud of the Trojans comeback in the 4th period........cutting the lead to 59-49 after being down by 18 points shortly after halftime.......Portsmouth actually outscored Zanesville in the third quarter 22-20.........unfortunately the Trojans dug themselves a big hole the first 2 periods, as they were down 34-19 at the break. Much of the problem was turnovers, unforced and forced. ZHS played good pressure defense, but some of the miscues were Portsmouth's fault.......as biggdowgg said, weak passes against ZHS's zone defense.
I liked the press that Coach Shoemaker used in the second half.......it really sparked PHS in the third quarter, and the result was that the Trojans cut into the lead........but we could not get any closer than 10 points, and ZHS wrapped up the game at the free throw line.........
Anthony Williams had another nice game for Portsmouth, tossing in 17 points and I believe pulling down 14 rebounds. Andrew Bendolph tallied 15 points and shot the ball well from 3 point range.
Anybody who was at the game last night would have to say that Zanesville is a very good team........ZHS and Chillicothe are the only 2 teams that completely outplayed Portsmouth this year. Of Portsmouth's 6 losses, only ZHS and CHS beat us by more than 8 points.
I think the Trojans' fate in the tourney draw is sealed......they are headed for an #8 or #9 seed to play #1 North Adams if PHS can win their first game...........
I told people last night at the game, there are some who can scoff at Portsmouth's record, but look at this stat.........we are 5-0 OUTSIDE the SEOAL and 2-6 in the SEOAL.......speaks well of the competition the Trojans have faced in the league.......and 4 of our wins OUTSIDE the league include Wheelersburg, Minford, Greenfield McClain, and South Point.........all have solid winning records.
GO TROJANS!!!
Last edited by trojandave on Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dan: We have flaws, but really I don't think it's a coincidence that we are undefeated outside the league.......we knew when we joined the SEOAL that the competition would be tough for us being the smallest school in the league.......and even when we play the larger schools who don't have great records......we find out that they still are pretty good.......
I wish we could take that last 4 minutes of the 3rd quarter and the first couple of minutes of the 4th quarter to the tournament with us. It's some of the best basketball that we have played this year, considering who we were playing.
I did not attend last nights game, however, I have been to about half our games and will be there tonight......is there something I said to offend you?
Maybe I'm the one who had my head in the clouds thinking........our returning players with a year or two of varisty experience playing together, playing a full summer schedule, adding another quality player in Horne to the roster and adding a 19 year veteran college coach to the staff........yeah.....I DID expect bigger and better things this year........along with many others.......... guess I'm shocked....
dave: great point about PHS's non-conference record. Wins over Minford, Burg and South Point are pretty solid and I bet North Adams isn't too thrilled about a potential matchup with the Trojans in the Sectional Final. If this team gets it together, I still wouldn't be surprised to see them in the District Finals regardless of their regular season record.
playmaker: I think your expectations might have been a little high. The SEOAL is a tough league to play in when you are the smallest school in the conference. While losses to Chillicothe, Marietta, Jackson, Logan, Zanesville, etc. seem bad, they are all D1 and D2 teams. I think the better gauge of the Trojans is that they have beaten solid D3 teams like Burg, Minford and South Point, and they took Ironton to overtime on the road. Don't give up on the Trojans just yet.*
I expected a better record this year, but I also know, Like posted above, this is a very tough league to win in, and even the teams we play out of league, are no gimmes.