Portsmouth Trojans

[biggdowgg]

Congratulations on another good season ,we all know it ended a lot sooner then expected but you have nothing to hang your head about there are many many schools that would love to have a18 win season .

Good luck to the 3 seniors ,Ethan leanord , Trent Rodbell and IMO the best all round player in our area Kyre Allison who will be playing at the next level next season , not going to try to mention all the schools that's entertained him but have a good idea where he will end up.


Even with the loss of these 3 I expect another great season next year with what we have coming back and the young players that got playing time this year ,I'm very exited for next season .

Next year's team will get plenty of experience from what I hear we will still be playing in a couple tournaments and will also be going back to Florida for 3 games , glad to see the kids get to experience that trip , hats off to the coaches and everyone else that makes this happen!

[wipala]

Tough loss to end season. Who is coming back and moving up from JV? Will there be any size, this, IMO, really hurt the Trojans all year. Thanks for any updates.

[biggdowgg]

Kendal Reynolds ,Mike Malone ,Reese Johnson , Jordan Lucas ,Danielle Jordan D.J. yeley ,all varsity players that will return next season and all have started this season at one point or other .

Danielle Jordon is about 6" 2 or 6" 3 could grow another inch or so. Resse Johnson is close to same but plays much bigger he is strong under the basket.

Mickell McKinley is on the freshman team at 6" 4 and improved a lot toward the end of the season and I think has potential to be a great player in a couple years so he could see some varsity time.

D.J. will more then likely start at pg and this kid is going to be very fun to watch , and we all know what Kendall brings , he averaged around ,17 or 18 a game and should get his 1,000 point early in the season.

[biggdowgg]

Kendal Reynolds ,Mike Malone ,Reese Johnson , Jordan Lucas ,Danielle Jordan D.J. yeley ,all varsity players that will return next season and all have started this season at one point or other .

Danielle Jordon is about 6" 2 or 6" 3 could grow another inch or so. Resse Johnson is close to same but plays much bigger he is strong under the basket.

Mickell McKinley is on the freshman team at 6" 4 and improved a lot toward the end of the season and I think has potential to be a great player in a couple years so he could see some varsity time.

D.J. will more then likely start at pg and this kid is going to be very fun to watch , and we all know what Kendall brings , he averaged around ,17 or 18 a game and should get his 1,000 point early in the season.


Feel like I'm leaving someone out...Trojandave??

[trojandave]

Congratulations to the Trojans and coaching staff on a very good 16-8 season despite lacking size and a true post player. This season saw Kyre Allison become Portsmouth's all time scoring leader (unofficially around 1,665 points in his 4 year career), and also saw junior Kendall Reynolds closing in on the 1,000 point milestone (unofficially around 910 points). Coach Eugene Collins started the season the 4th winningest coach in PHS history, and he moved into 3rd place after the win vs. Manchester. He now has a career record of 122-48, with 2 Final 4's, a regional runnerup, 2 SEOAL titles, and 1 OVC title. The 16 wins marked the 42nd time a Trojan team won at least 15 games in a season. Portsmouth's all time record now stands at 1,417--753. The win total is #1 in the SE District, and #8 in Ohio.

Best wishes to all the seniors, Kyre Allison, Trent Rodbell, Ethan Leonard, and Colby Pearson.

Looking forward to the 2016-2017 season, the Trojans are in pretty good shape despite losing Kyre Allison, Ethan Leonard, and Trent Rodbell. If the season started tomorrow, my projected starting 5 would be 6-3 senior Kendall Reynolds, 6-2 junior Daniel Jordan, 6-1 junior Reese Johnson, 5-10 senior Mike Malone, and 5-8 junior DJ Eley. Eley will take over the PG role and I personally believe he will be outstanding. The experience he got this year will prove to be very important for next season. Other candidates for starting positions will be 6-2 senior Jahmir King, 6-0 junior Jordan Lucas, and 5-10 senior AJ Jones.

The JV team of this past season could produce some players who could see varsity time. Perhaps the most intriguing player in this group is Myquel McKinley, who played exclusively JV the last 5-6 games and showed quite a bit of improvement. Already almost 6-4, McKinley could be getting some varsity minutes as a post player on a team desperately lacking that spot. Jeremiah Ellis, Gage Mosley (6-3), Parker Johnson, Ty Oliver, Austin Dickey, and Daniel Lattimore could see meaningful varsity time depending on how they work in the offseason.

As far as the OVC race in 2016-2017, I look for Fairland and Ironton to be the frontrunners, with South Point as a possible contender. Portsmouth and Chesapeake lose quite a bit, but both teams should still be competitive in the conference.

GO TROJANS!! Looking forward to the 2016-2017 season.

[art_vandelay]

biggdowgg/trojandave: Any idea where Allison going to end up? I've heard MAC schools are all over him and look forward to watching him play D1.

As for the Trojans, lack of size hindered them last 2 years. Shame that a player of Allison's caliber didn't have a post game to take some pressure off him. But sounds like some bigs are in the pipeline and Portsmouth should be pretty solid again next year with Reynolds back.*

[wipala]

Thanks for the updates. McKinleyat 6'4" and only a freshman could grow to 6'6"! Do not let another school recruit him. Coach has done a really good job the past couple of years without a large, PHS Bob lived on!

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

sounds like another great year in Trojan land trojandave.

[trojandave]

art vandeley: Right now, Marshall University and North Carolina A&T are seriously interested in Kyre. Haven't heard too much about MAC schools, but there's no doubt he could play in that conference and do well. I hope he chooses a school where he is comfortable and will get a chance to play right away at least in some role.

Kyre will be the biggest personnel loss since Dion McKinley in 2012. Since Dion, who had a great career at PHS, the Trojans have lacked a true post presence. It's frustrating to watch so many schools with multiple bigs, and here at Portsmouth we can't get just one. Yet the Trojans have still done well since Dion, going 65-33 with Kyre, being regional runnerup in 2015 and a district runnerup in 2014, an SEOAL title in 2014 and an OVC title in 2015.

But what we could have done with a big..........we had the pieces around that position, but players had to play out of position because the lack thereof.

[PTownhoops]

Trojandave, those are some familiar names in McKinley, Oliver, and Johnson. Who are the fathers/grandfathers of these gentlemen? I'm sure they were "ballers" in their time.

[trojandave]

Ty and Sky Oliver are Al Oliver's grandsons, Reese Johnson's grandfather, Bruce, played for the Trojans in the 50's, and made the game winning basket vs. Athens in the district championship (score 24-22). Reese's father, Eric, was a standout athlete at PHS along with his uncle, KB. The McKinley family has a long legacy in Trojan basketball, with Dion, Greg, Shannon, Jerry, and Dwayne. Sky may have been the best 3 sport athlete at Portsmouth HS in the last 30 years; currently he is at Rio Grande playing basketball and baseball. Greg McKinley was recently inducted into the PHS Hall of Fame. Dion set the individual scoring record of 42 points in one game which was broken by Jayllen Carter's 44 points the very next year. Dion played on the only Trojan teams to go to back to back Final 4's.

[pfloyd]

... congratulations to the Trojans on another fine year ... by PHS standards where the bar is set high (State Tourney expectations every year) the season results will seem not what Coach Collins & staff ONLY because of the early out in the post season ... looking forward to see where Kyre winds up - what an outstanding career, a pure joy to watch when he was on the court - thank you young man for your efforts every game - not many better no matter what position you filled on the court - thank for 4 years of great hoops ...

... I really missed NOT playing vs PHS this season ... sadly with the new direction LHS is going I don't foresee another matchup of the 2 schools ... I will always find my way to a Trojan game during the regular & post season as I'm sure Coach Collins will have his PHS boys back at the Convo sooner than later ...

[Phoenix31]

Reese Johnson's cousins are Megan and Craig Felts who were standout athletes about 15 years ago.

[trojandave]

It will really be fascinating to watch the 2016-2017 Trojans. Really looking forward to summer basketball with 3 new starters and a different rotation of players. I'm sure there will be a surprise or two as well.

[Bucknuts15]

I heard from a reliable source that kyre has been contacted by witchita state as well....just don't know how much they want him. I was told they are highly interested in him but he really likes Marshall.

[LetsGoPSU]

love Marshall for him, close to home, a nice way to follow his career, Wichita State seems to be a darkhorse in the NCAA tourney almost every season, knocking off a big dog along the way

[uherdit]

Go Herd!

[Moses Guthrie]

Ty and Sky Oliver are Al Oliver's grandsons, Reese Johnson's grandfather, Bruce, played for the Trojans in the 50's, and made the game winning basket vs. Athens in the district championship (score 24-22). Reese's father, Eric, was a standout athlete at PHS along with his uncle, KB. The McKinley family has a long legacy in Trojan basketball, with Dion, Greg, Shannon, Jerry, and Dwayne. Sky may have been the best 3 sport athlete at Portsmouth HS in the last 30 years; currently he is at Rio Grande playing basketball and baseball. Greg McKinley was recently inducted into the PHS Hall of Fame. Dion set the individual scoring record of 42 points in one game which was broken by Jayllen Carter's 44 points the very next year. Dion played on the only Trojan teams to go to back to back Final 4's.

Dominic McKinley was an outstanding basketball player and played a major role on the 88 State Championship Team. He went on to become a physician and has a practice in N Carolina

[art_vandelay]

trojandave: Marshall would be a great fit for Allison with D'Antoni's up-tempo style. Wichita State wouldn't be so bad either!*

[trojandave]

Thanks, Moses.......I knew I omitted a McKinley or two.......how could I forget Dominic? He was a great player on our 1988 state championship team and was also a great person......I know that he ran a half marathon a while back and to this day keeps himself in great shape.

Dominic scored 31 points total in the state tournament in 1988 (6th highest total in Trojan history) and was the leading scorer in the state championship game vs. Chesterland West Geauga with 19 points. I remember him dunking an alley oop pass from Patrick Tubbs vs. Boyd County in the regular season that year.