Fairfield (8-9) #5 vs. Clay (11-8) #4 @ Valley HS 3/1

[rockyraccoon]

you could have played zone and they would have just held the ball - you always go man when you are trying to get back in a game!!!

The didn't get behind until they went to man to man. It was 7 - 5 end of first quarter and 14 -12 at half. FF ran up both their leads in the 2nd half after Clay switched out of zone. Fairfield was too quick for them.

[yabbadabbadoo]

Fairfield had some of the quickest guards I have seen in awhile and Clay had trouble with that. Lot of TO's caused by the quick hands. On the other hand, Clay was able to ge the ball to the hole, just couldn't finish alot of easy shots. Clay's biggest downfall is that it seemed like every loose ball fell into the hands of a Fairfield player. None bigger then the one when Clay was down 48-44, had the Fairfield player trapped on the sideline, knocked the ball loose and as it was going out of bounds a Clay player grabbed it and with 3 players for Clay and 1 player for FF standing there, the ball ended up in the hands of the FF player who passed it ahead for a wide open layup. It seemed like after that play, it took the wind right out fo Clay. Instead of being down by 2, the went back down by 6 and then FF hit there FT's down the stretch.

I have to agree with RR in with the way Fairfield was shooting form the outside, I would have never left the zone. FF started out 0-9 from the three point line and didn't get much better after that. When Clay went to the man to man, Cox was able to get free under the basket and made alot of layups. When Clay was in the zone, they held him check.

Once again, Trainer outcoached himself. I don't understand why one of the assistant coaches don't recognize some of the things he does and say something to him. Isn't that what an assistant coach is supposed to do????


To the departing Clay Seniors, thanks for your 4 years of commitment to the Clay basketball program. It has been fun watching you guys, some of you 4 years starters and most of you 3 year starters. Good luck in whatever the future holds for you.

[SPOTSMAN17]

sending out a great big thank you to all 7 seniors on clays basketball team, You guys made it a year that we panther fans will never forget... Rumor has it that senior Nathan burchett " 33" made it on the " District 14 All Star Team ".... Congradulations and make us panther fans proud, " Which we know you will ".....

[rockyraccoon]

Burchett had an outstanding year, I think he led the team in rebounds and points. This team was so balanced I don't think there was more than 2 ppg seperating the top 4 scorers.

[Burg_Grad_77]

you could have played zone and they would have just held the ball - you always go man when you are trying to get back in a game!!!

It's awfully funny then that Clay made both of their runs at FF when they were in the zone. FF couldn't throw it in the ocean from the beach when Clay was in the zone and like rocky said, they were 0-9 from behind the arc. Clay came back and took a 29-27 lead while playing zone and then Trainer went back to man to man and FF ran off about 6 or 8 unanswered points because they were way to quick for the Clay players. Like said above, once again the man out coaches himself. Some of the decisions he makes just baffle me at times.

[Wholly_Shnikeys]

I'm usually not one to rip on anybody... esp a coach when I'm not in his practices everyday, but I did see one thing last night that i will touch on... I was watching the games at valley last night and it was brought to my attention that a few of the panther players were seen showing poor sportsmanship during the SW/ND game... It looked as if they were cheering for ND/ against webster while standing above SW cheerblock... just another act of sillyness by hs kids that is unfortunate... but no punishment can be taken because clay has already been knocked out of the tourney... not knocking clay but thought that was very class-less by a couple clay seniors (i believe) that had just lost the night before.

[yabbadabbadoo]

Poor sportsmanship???? Why wouldn't Clay root for ND. They are in the same SOC and the SOC II has always looked down on the SOC I and there is also some history between Clay and SW and not just in Basketball. From what I've been told, the SW soccer team has pretty much been total tools towards the Clay soccer team and for no apparent reason. It was obvious that SW had the better soccer team but still yet they tried to score as many as they could in a game that was never in doubt, so if you want to talk about class, you might want to know some facts before you go saying stuff.

[svbt1112]

Yabbadabbadoo: You need to get YOUR facts straight....... Rockyraccoon will attest that SW did NOT run up the score this year in soccer. Our starters played half the game both times. We could have scored double digits and didn't. Secondly, the Clay kids who he is referring to are basketball players who chose to stand directly (one row) behind our cheering section and loudly and openly root for Notre Dame. They turned their back while our players were introduced and so on...... I was proud of our kids for not getting in a confrontation with them. The Clay kids could have stood with Notre Dames cheering section and that would have been fine----they could have stood or sat anywhere else in the entire gym, but they chose to stand directly behind our cheering section. Lost some respect for those involved----didn't think they would do that.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

They were standing in our block but it was alright because we made sure they knew they were out of the tournament and Webster was not gotta love the green eyed monster of jealousy

[chocolate]

I noticed that last night also. They were standing on SW side in the back row of the cheer block and turned their backs when SW team was announced. I don't see a problem with kids cheering for another team in their league but don't stand in the cheer block of the team you're cheering against.

As for the SW soccer team, they did not score more than 9 goals on anybody this year and it wasn't because they couldn't have, it's because they have a classy coaching staff.

[halftime]

The Clay kids were doing that in joke. The kids sitting infront of them they knew very well LOL. Not like they did it against Webster. The kids sitting behind the Webster cheering section were joking with Webster kids the whole night? So call it however you want it wasn't even bad.

[halftime]

But all aside here congrats to Webster. Good Luck the rest of the way!

[tartanterror_0eight]

I too stuck around to watch the second game last night. I seen this happen and I'm not surprised to be honest. The cheap shots and trash talk that those Clay guys provoke is just a reflection of how they act off the court. Sad but true. They played hard and lost the night before, so why would you come out and make yourself look bad like that? They should probably cheer for a good team though so they have reason to go to the convo, that only makes sense, unless they like cheering against SW so they can follow their tourney run (which could be a good one). If youre cheering for ND, thats cool. Just dont do it in the opposing teams cheer block and act tough... Prove it on the court if youre tough, and they didnt do that. Good for SW that they only had to deal with these guys once this year, unlike us who had two go arounds with the non-sense.

[halftime]

I too stuck around to watch the second game last night. I seen this happen and I'm not surprised to be honest. The cheap shots and trash talk that those Clay guys provoke is just a reflection of how they act off the court. Sad but true. They played hard and lost the night before, so why would you come out and make yourself look bad like that? They should probably cheer for a good team though so they have reason to go to the convo, that only makes sense, unless they like cheering against SW so they can follow their tourney run (which could be a good one). If youre cheering for ND, thats cool. Just dont do it in the opposing teams cheer block and act tough... Prove it on the court if youre tough, and they didnt do that. Good for SW that they only had to deal with these guys once this year, unlike us who had two go arounds with the non-sense.

Haha that's good. Clay threw cheap shots? Haywood threw elbows all year against the opponents ask anyone around. And no Clay knew the people in the cheering section? So you can't say anything bad about that and they weren't acting tough, if they were acting tough they would've been trash talking South Webster but they weren't so know the facts before you speak bud. lol

[GaryGroundhawg]

Hey, hey, hey I was reading this post and thought it was not for real. So I asked some people and they said South Websters soccer team was just joking with clay and that made it ok so they are not a bunch of tools like the clay kids were last night. ND played a great first half and just ran out of steam.

[Burg_Grad_77]

They are kids. Get over it.

[halftime]

It was just kids having fun. Your gonna get trash talk in games in every sport. That's just competition. SW is a good soccer team not like there just gonna sit out there and pass the ball around. But congrats to Clay, ND, Green and East on a fine season and good luck to SW in the rest of the tourney!!!!

[Tartan Sauce]

finally a voice of reason. All the clay fans should get over it picking on Haywood non stop for playing tough. For some reason bringing up soccer games. Soccer YUK!! Plus I don't think anyone has called the kids from clay tough?? Great season to all SOC teams

[svbt1112]

Burg Grad: Agreed that they are kids----not that big of a deal. Yabbablabba's defense was uncalled for though and I took exception.

I just wanted to go up to them and say----c'mon you are better than this-----it just made them look bad. They stopped cheering after a while and it's not that big of a deal. If Notre Dame would have been winning in the second half and they would have been going crazy........ that might have got some things stirred up---but it didn't happen.

[post101]

i found it funny im really surpised that none of the webster kids sid anything... MAYBE THE CLAY KIDS REALLY ARE "TOUGH"